Kiwibank to develop its own life products
27 August 2012
New Zealand Post-owned Kiwibank is to expand its insurance business to include life cover it has developed in-house…
Life Insurance
SMSF trustees ‘lack insurance knowledge’
27 August 2012
Self-managed super fund trustees have poor knowledge of life insurance products, resulting in lower levels of protection, a survey has found…
Record annuity sales for Challenger
27 August 2012
Challenger has reported a record sale of annuities for the year ending June 30, up 34%…
AMP advisers help cancer patients
27 August 2012
AMP and the Cancer Council have launched a new program to provide free financial planning services to cancer patients…
Super fund consolidation will hit group policies
20 August 2012
Thousands of group life insurance policies could be cancelled as members consolidate their super accounts, an expert says…
Direct life insurers fuelling growth in the sector
20 August 2012
Canstar has rated Allianz, Real Insurance and Zurich as the top three direct life insurers, and says the product is increasingly popular because companies that offer it are less likely to exclude customers…
Advisers seen to be fairer than banks
20 August 2012
Consumers see financial advisers as fairer than their banking and credit card counterparts, according to a Financial Services Institute of Australasia survey…
Commonwealth Bank insurance profit rises despite higher claims
20 August 2012
Commonwealth Bank’s income from insurance operations increased 12% to $960 million in the year to June 30, despite higher claims from its general and life insurance businesses…
ClearView profit jumps on stronger life revenues
20 August 2012
ClearView Wealth has reported a 158% rise in net profit, to $22.34 million, following a fall in discounting on its life insurance products, growth in new business and lower claim levels in the year to June 30…
Better results for NAB insurance
20 August 2012
NAB Wealth has reported a stronger June quarter for its insurance business…
Profit up at AMP’s wealth protection business
20 August 2012
AMP’s wealth protection business has reported a 21% increase in after-tax profit to $176 million for the six months ending June 30…
ANZ insurance business on track
20 August 2012
ANZ’s Global Wealth division, including OnePath insurance, is trading in line with market conditions, the bank has announced…
ACORD starts group life message standard testing
20 August 2012
Technology standards organisation ACORD is to begin testing its policy variation message standards with its Australian life insurance members…
AFS picks distribution expert as new CEO
20 August 2012
Australian Financial Services Group has appointed Bombora Advice director Alan Logan as its new CEO…
Medical upgrades for AMP’s income protection
20 August 2012
AMP has changed the eligibility criteria on income protection insurance in its Flexible Lifetime Protection, to allow more customers to access it…
FPA launches guides for Financial Planning Week
20 August 2012
The Financial Planning Association will launch a range of consumer tools during Financial Planning Week, which starts today…
Call to build investor confidence in life companies
13 August 2012
Investors value life insurance assets lower and the industry needs to boost confidence in the sector, TAL MD Jim Minto says…
Government’s role in health insurance questioned
13 August 2012
The Federal Government should look at its involvement in the health insurance sector before calling for the industry to cut premiums, an actuarial consultant has claimed…
New chairman for Cigna NZ
13 August 2012
Cigna New Zealand has appointed former ANZ executive Steven Fyfe as its chairman…
Plan B accepts IOOF’s takeover
13 August 2012
Plan B has recommended shareholders accept IOOF’s takeover offer…