Fidelity Life, founded in 1973 by Gordon and Shirley Watson, is celebrating 50 years as a homegrown business this year.
Speaking in a video produced by the firm, its CEO Melissa Cantell – who is leaving for a position at AON NZ – says Fidelity Life now employs more than 400 people and has 375,000 customers across the country.
“Financial advisers have been fundamental to our success so far,” says Cantell. “We are still the only major locally-owned insurance company in the country – that’s something we are really proud of and is something we want to continue. It means we always have New Zealanders making our decisions.”
Cantell says the biggest challenge affecting the industry is change.
“Sometimes it feels like everything is changing at the same time, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she says.
“As an industry we are changing for our customers, across the board all insurers are trying to become more customer centric.”
Cantell says she’s proud of the firm’s acquisition of WestPac Life under her watch.
“Scale is so important for life insurance,” she says.
Planned for later in the year, says Cantell, are a number of events including its annual Engage conference which will have a “50th celebration flavour”.
“There will be promotional collateral on our sites and we’ll be releasing a video looking back at our history,” says Cantell. “There will be plenty going on for people to get involved in.”