The New Zealand government has agreed on several changes to the insurance law that will make it easier for consumers to understand their insurance policies, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi has said.
Insurers' solvency ratios are low by international standard and may be compressed further in the low interest rate environment, says the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) in its November 2019 Financial Stability Report.
Munich Re has appointed Nicolas Carro as CEO for its life and health business and operations in Australia and New Zealand, with effect from 1 January 2020. Based in Sydney, Mr Carro will report to Munich Re CEO life & health in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa Daniel Cossette.
The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) has announced the winners of the 2019 New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards.
Rural fires cost the New Zealand economy about NZD$67m ($43m) each year, and the figure could grow by 70% in 20 years.
Wellington residents should no longer assume that risk can be transferred to insurers to mitigate the impact of natural disasters, says the Wellington Mayor's Insurance Taskforce in a discussion paper released earlier this week.
The Finance Minister Grant Robertson has said that he is concerned that there is more granular risk-based pricing being carried out now that could reduce the availability and affordability of property insurance for some New Zealanders. The government is investigating the shift, he said.
Life insurers have been too complacent when it comes to considering conduct risk, says the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in its 2019 annual report released last week.
PERILS, the independent Zurich-based provider of catastrophe loss data and indices, has recently extended its market coverage to include New Zealand. Via its database, the firm will now make available market-wide property sums insured exposed to the perils of earthquake, flood and extratropical cyclones in New Zealand. In addition, it will provide event loss data for any events above a market loss of NZ$300m ($193.6m) caused by these respective perils.
New Zealand's general insurance industry is forecast to see huge growth to 2023, according to data and analytics company GlobalData.