What levels of life insurance business do you expect to write in 2019?
- I will write more life insurance business this year (51%)
- I will write about the same level of life insurance business this year (27%)
- I will write less life insurance business this year (22%)
The results from our latest poll are in, but we wonder whether we would have seen the same results if we’d released it following this week’s news and the Government’s declaration to ‘get rid of sales incentives’ for life insurance advisers.
As we go to press, only slightly more than half of advisers (53%) taking our poll think they’ll write more life insurance business in 2019, while the rest are evenly split in thinking they’ll write the same level or less new business this year.
We received a great comment during the week from a long-time industry adviser, Brent Smith, lamenting the recent and impending regulatory changes sweeping the sector. In a detailed statement, Smith noted:
“I will write less because I am losing interest in the profession I have been involved in since 1985. I am still an absolute believer in the products, but the Legislators have lost the plot.”
We wonder what Brent’s response may be to this week’s news of the joint regulators’ Conduct and Culture report placing the life industry in “…a poor light” (click here) and the subsequent declaration from the Government, in response to the Conduct and Culture report, that sales incentives no longer have a place in the life insurance sector (click here).
Challenging times for Kiwi financial advisers – and risk-focused advisers in particular, have now become even more challenging…
Challenging times for Kiwi financial advisers – and risk-focused advisers in particular, have now become even more challenging as surely more regulatory reform will appear on the horizon – aimed squarely at adviser incentives.
In the meantime, though, there remains an imperative for every adviser and advice business to focus on his or her own clients and on building their advice business, in what will definitely be a period of change throughout 2019 and beyond.
Our poll remains open for another week if you’d like to add your own take on how you think your business will go this year, and what you think the future may hold for you and your advice business…