In an evolving market, removing complexity and maintaining a focus on people and partnerships will be crucial for ensuring insurance affordability in the future.
NZI’s executive general manager, Garry Taylor says NZI is committed to being an organisation brokers and customers can trust and have confidence in to be there when needed most.
“The three things that will enable us to deliver this strategy are underpinned by; our people, our partnerships and the simplification of our business,” he says.
“These three things are the key to ensuring the sustainability of NZI, one of New Zealand’s oldest and most reliable brands. They are also what will ensure we are successful as we face into a continuing challenging market; changing customer needs; and new and complex risks that simply mean traditional insurance models need to evolve and adapt.”
In recent years, insurers have seen increasing claims costs due to emerging and changing risks. NZI will be allocating reinsurance costs based on risks more so in the future.
Taylor says NZI has invested in new and sophisticated pricing technology to manage this.
“We now have access to improved data and analytics, so we have a better understanding of different risks. This means we are becoming more and more granular in how we price insurance.”
Taylor admits that maintaining insurance at an affordable level during the transition to risk-based pricing will be a big challenge, but says it’s a challenge NZI is determined to conquer.
“I work with some extremely talented people who are committed to developing new ways of doing things to continue to provide affordable and reliable insurance solutions.”
He identifies simplification of the business to remove duplication and inefficiencies as a crucial element to help with this.
“NZI will be leveraging offshore partners for parts of the business to ensure to keep the cost of insurance affordable while gaining access to world-class technology and insurance expertise.”
He says NZI’s partnerships with brokers are vital during this process and says he’s determined to strengthen these further to ensure his team are adding value through effective local relationship management.
Taylor believes the role of the insurance industry in sustaining the local and national economy is often underestimated.
“A robust insurance model is vital to New Zealand’s economy - that’s why NZI is continually seeking to develop new ways of doing things.”
“We’ve been here for 159 years and we will continue to be here for New Zealanders for at least another 159 more.”
