The future life insurance industry winners will be companies that adapt quickly to using technology for distribution and dealing with legislative changes, according to ANZ Wealth MD John Van Der Wielen.

He says the winners will be “those who are technology-advanced”.

“All these reforms will make major changes to our industry,” he told the Financial Services Council (FSC) conference last week.

“But the biggest changes will be through technology and the winners will be those who adapt.”

Mr Van Der Wielen says the numerous regulatory reforms being proposed are a challenge for the industry and they can be a distraction.

“Regulatory reforms do consume a lot of time for a major player such as ANZ,” he said. “But alternatively we can miss what the consumer wants as a result.”

TAL MD Jim Minto says there is a danger of too much legislation arriving at the same time, which could impact on the consumer.

“Operational changes from regulatory reform have become overwhelming for the industry,” he said at the same FSC conference session.

“Everybody has become frustrated with the timing of all these changes.”

Mr Minto says advice will become more costly as a result of the regulatory changes, which come at a time when consumers are already distrustful of the industry.

“People have lost confidence in the superannuation system because of all the changes,” he said. “If the life industry remains internally focused we will also be run down, so we have to become focused on consumer outcomes.”

Mr Van Der Wielen says the industry could do more about education instead of spending millions of dollars on promoting products.

“Imparting technological knowledge to consumers is something we have to do,” he said. “It is about delivering trust to consumers.”

He says younger consumers are no longer interested in the creative part of the advertisement, but want to know what the product actually does.