Podcast News Wrap for 2 June 2020
CEO resigns
Life insurer Fidelity Life announced the resignation of its CEO Nadine Tereora last week. The Fidelity Life’s Board will start searching for a new CEO immediately.
Chief Distribution Officer Adrian Riminton and Chief Financial Officer Simon Pennington have been appointed as joint acting CEOs as this is Tereora’s last week at the firm.
Bonus commission
Bonus commission rates of up to 40% will be paid to financial advisers selling AIA New Zealand’s Living products until September.
The company had already increased its basic initial commission on Living products from 10% to 20% to promote use of its eApp and online quoting tool.
But its Small Business Support Package adds a further 20% commission for Living products.
Restrictions lifted
Partners Life has lifted many of the temporary underwriting restrictions to disability products it imposed as a result of Covid-19 on March 24.
At the time it also introduced a stand-down period for all new policies; requiring six months of premiums to be paid before eligibility for benefits such as Premium Holiday and Policy Suspension would arise.
Those restriction have now been removed.
Partners Life appointment
Partners Life Group appointed Shelley Ruha as an Independent Director of Partners Life on 14 May but only made the announcement last week.
In a media statement the company says Ruha has extensive governance experience in financial services, fintech, technology infrastructure and payments innovation.
Solvency concerns
Low solvency buffers among some of New Zealand’s life insurance companies have been highlighted in the RBNZ’s Financial Stability report.
It says some insurers have been adversely affected by falling interest rates and that in the past six months it has applied licence conditions to some insurers requiring them to have stronger capital buffers and to mitigate the impacts of further cuts to interest rates.
The report avoids naming any of country’s 90 licensed insurance firms it is advising.
Investment standards
AIA Group has adopted the Global Investment Performance Standards saying it is the first asset owner to achieve compliance with the standard in the Asia-Pacific region.
The GIPS standards provide an ethical framework for the calculation and presentation of investment performance for investment management firms and asset owners.