The Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand (IBANZ) has agreed to jointly host its annual industry awards night with the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF).

An ANZIIF statement says the two organisations are “delighted” to form a partnership to present the New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards this year.

IBANZ CEO Gary Young says the two organisations have agreed to a 50/50 joint venture. “We are in discussions as to the best way to do it,” he said.

ANZIIF announced in April that it would run a separate awards event in New Zealand, despite IBANZ running a successful and identical event since 2007.

It’s understood the decision was not discussed with IBANZ before the announcement or for several months after. Written questions on the issue submitted to ANZIIF by insuranceNEWS.com.au in November remain unanswered.

Mr Young says holding two awards events “would have been disastrous for both of them”.

“Some understandings on judging criteria and the methods of judging, in particular, still need to be established,” he said. “We haven’t reached a final conclusion yet.”

“We [IBANZ] want to be sure we will still have a valuable and uniquely New Zealand awards event.”