Tower Insurance has welcomed a halving of its minimum solvency margin requirement to $NZ25 million ($23.22 million) by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ).

The lower amount now required recognises decreasing risk related to the devastating earthquake sequence which struck Christchurch and the surrounding region a decade ago, Tower CEO Blair Turnbull says.

The ongoing minimum licence condition, which will be reviewed by RBNZ in 12 months, reflects residual uncertainty related to the Canterbury earthquakes which Tower says it is confident is shrinking.

Tower’s solvency margin was well in excess of the minimum at $NZ140 million ($129.53 million) at the end of September, including a settlement of $NZ42 million ($39 million) from the Earthquake Commission (EQC).

Tower also reveals more than 270,000 customer policies are now on its cloud-based digital platform and two-thirds of new business is via online channels, while close to half of all claims are being logged online.