Partners Life has stopped offering funeral cover with immediate effect.
In a statement, the company says that in the recent Life Insurer Conduct and Culture review from the FMA and RBNZ, guaranteed acceptance products such as funeral cover were highlighted as a potential area of poor customer outcomes.
This, says the insurer, is due to the relatively high premiums and the “…often limited benefits” as well as the possibility of misunderstanding of coverage and eligibility.
The company says: “While we know funeral cover is a good solution for some clients, we have had a very low level of demand throughout the existence of the product, as most of our clients are provided with full advice and fully underwritten products.
“As such, we have made the decision to discontinue Partners Life Funeral Cover for new policies effective today (15 June 2020).”
The company says that while this change may seem sudden, it had planned to discontinue funeral cover earlier in the year.
“However, [we] wanted to ensure it did not get swept up in, or lost among, Covid-19 related changes and communications.”
Partners Life says clients with existing policies will continue to remain covered and receive product enhancements and full support from the company as long as they stay in-force.
The company says it will honour any active funeral cover quotes already generated and presented to clients prior to 15 June 2020 until their expiry – 30 days from the date the quote was generated.