Deloitte: Tricky to compare NZ insurance to other markets

The issues paper, which Deloitte said was expanding on observations made in a January bulletin from the Reserve Bank, was commissioned by Partners Life.

That bulletin, an overview of the life insurance sector in New Zealand, said local insurers were more profitable than their international peers, with high costs, high commission rates and more use of reinsurance.

But the Deloitte report said there were challenges in comparing insurance markets in different countries.

The paper was put together by a team including actuarial, insurance and economics specialists across the New Zealand and Australia Deloitte firms.