New Zealand insurer Partners Life has grown rapidly since its launch 18 months ago and is close to its five-year target of taking 20% of all new personal insurance written.

The company has more than 30,000 policyholders, which MD Naomi Ballantyne attributes to its new products and strong customer focus.

“With the advent of regulation steering advisers there wasn’t a lot of looking at product innovation,” she told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “We felt customers needed to be the focus.”

Ms Ballantyne says Partners Life uses a business model “where everybody wins”. 

Customers benefit from retrospective product enhancements, while premium discounts increase over time, she says. Advisers can receive shadow shares for placing business with Partners Life, to be cashed in at a later date.

Partners Life sells a range of life risk products, including life, trauma, medical, permanent disability and income protection. A range of business products is planned for early next year.

Ms Ballantyne was a founding employee of Sovereign Assurance, along with colleague Chris Coon. Mr Coon and Ms Ballantyne co-founded Partners Life, where he is chief actuary.