It's time to celebrate insurance and Christmas

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Some people think life insurance is boring, but 2018 is testament that it's an exciting and changing industry. Here's our little wrap on the year, some thoughts for 2019.

Friday, December 21st 2018, 7:54AM 1 Comment

The biggest change has been to the ownership of life insurance companies. Who would have guessed there would be so much change in a year; the AIA/Sovereign deal was completed, ANZ sold OnePath to Cigna, for what some suggest was a rather rich price, and AMP is being sold to Resolution Life.

It's a story of conflicting outcomes. On a sad note, AMP, a brand which has been prominent in New Zealand for 160 years is dead and soon to be buried. The new owners won't be writing any new business and will gradually wind up the company.

At the other end it's an exciting time for OnePath which gets an owner who is really interested in growing the business and making it thrive. 

The AIA/Sovereign deal is going to be fascinating to watch. As the biggest player in the market it has to defend its position while at the same time going through a massive corporate mission of bringing the two firms together. 

Regulation has been a constant during the year too. While not much has changed for advisers during the year, it will be a different story in 2019. 

There is already a lot happening behind the scenes, particularly with dealer groups. While many are looking to become FAPs (Financial Advice Providers) responsible for their members, they will take an invitation-only approach. 

A couple of the groups though have already decided they won't be FAPs. Market chatter suggests Newpark has changed its mind and won't be a FAP, nor will the Solutions group run by Kevin Smee.

A wrap of the year can't ignore the bloody regulators. We're had more churn reports and the FMA and RBNZ have completed their conduct review of life insurance companies. Currently, this report is scheduled to be released at the very end of January. If was I was a betting man my money would be on the two regulators taking a much tougher approach to this report than they did with the bank one earlier this year.

Despite all this it's important to remember all the good things that life insurance companies and advisers do. 

This quote from the FSC's recent report sums it up nicely:

The insurance industry contributes significantly to the health and well-being of New Zealanders, and claims/benefits paid to customers totalled $1.2 billion last year, an average of $3.3 million every day,

Here at Good Returns we would like to thank you for all for being loyal readers of the site and ASSET Magazine.

We would like to thank all those risk companies who have supported the Good Returns and ASSET during the year. 

Without that support we wouldn't be able to bring you the news and information we provide.

And finally we would like to wish you and your family all the best for Christmas and the New Year.

- Philip, Susan, Heidi, Amanda and all the team at Tarawera Publishing.

Tags: Opinion

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