Kris Faafoi is CEO of the Insurance Council of New Zealand. Grant Milne is MD of the ICIB BROKERWEB Group. Andy Croy in GM Distribution for NZ at QBE. Neil Cousins is CEO of Steadfast and the current president of IBANZ, the industry body for Insurance Brokers that publishes this fine magazine.
We put these questions to them during November.
If you were to describe the year 2024 for your organisation in one or two sentences, what would that be?
Kris Faafoi: It’s been a rewarding year of change. Some big changes in the legislation space and readying ourselves for the new world of COFI. For ICNZ there is the obvious change of leadership with me arriving as CE and working with the team to hone in on what makes us effective, and allow the insurance sector to play its part leading and building a stronger Aotearoa.
Grant Milne: 2024 has been a year of reimagining our business with the amalgamation of our various acquisitions over the past two years. This has included defining our values, purpose and goals, and establishing our culture fit for our diverse team of professionals. It would be remiss of me to not mention that it's been a tough year for our teams, having to negotiate insurance solutions for our clients in a rigid insurance market and managing client expectations during hard economic times, all of which seems to be changing again as we come to the end of 2024!
Andy Croy: For QBE, 2024 was about adapting to and supporting our partners and customers through a rapidly changing environment. We leveraged our global capabilities and local expertise to deliver innovative business insurance solutions, ensuring our customers had the protection and service they needed.
Neil Cousins: With the hard market due to high inflation and the events in 2023, the market has seen strong growth. With the benign claims period over the past 18 months, it was just a matter of time before the calls from London started to come.
What are you most looking forward to as an organisation in the new year that is 2025?
Kris Faafoi: The ICNZ team has taken some time out to recalibrate where we can make a substantive and positive difference to the sector and New Zealand. So, thinking and influencing policy settings, debates, and discussions to keep Kiwis safe and insurance sustainable is where we are heading. New Zealand can be world-leading in many of these areas. We’re looking forward to the insurance playing a leadership role in 2025 and beyond. There is much to decide and do to reduce risk and build a strong Aotearoa. We are getting ourselves ready to play our part in that.
Grant Milne: Settling into a year as one business and moving forward with a focus on adopting AI to support efficiency around repetitive activities, and implementing our people resilience programme which we have been piloting in parts of the business.
Andy Croy: We’re looking forward to addressing the challenges of climate change and technological disruption as opportunities to innovate and enhance our solutions. We're also excited to strengthen our partnerships with brokers and use data analytics and advanced risk modelling to offer smarter, more adaptive solutions. By continuing to develop tailored insurance products and supporting businesses' evolving needs, we aim to help our customers navigate and succeed in a complex, dynamic market.
Neil Cousins: At Steadfast, we continue to invest in our market-leading technology. We have just announced the sixth partner to join SCTP for BusinessPack and in the new year we will have some exciting news to share-regarding new products. We have recently acquired a London based Lloyds brokerage which will support our overseas placements and ease of accessing London syndicates.
Changing legislation is one of the challenges on the horizon. What involvement does ICNZ have on this process, and what are the changes you are hoping to see?
Kris Faafoi: In the climate and adaptation space ICNZ, on behalf of the insurance sector, has played an important role to lead and elevate the importance of reducing risk for New Zealand. My predecessor Tim Grafton undertook a power of work on the Contracts of Insurance Act which sees the most significant reform of legislation in this space for close to a century. We believe the new law strikes the balance of consumers having much clearer rights at critical times and allows the fundamentals of insurers to be maintained. This kind of work is core to ICNZ.
What are you hoping for, and how will this impact the industry and your business?
Grant Milne: Regulation should be embraced with a positive attitude. There are many good things that come from a regulated environment, and mostly it is about reassuring and protecting the customers we strive to build trusted relationships with. What I hope for is that it will help lift professionalism and create greater consistency across our industry. ICIB BROKERWEB is well-placed with its operation within the new regulatory framework, and we are being proactive with the development of the skills, both technical and soft skill, of our people to produce the best customer outcomes.
Andy Croy: As the regulatory environment evolves, we hope for clearer frameworks on climate change risk, insurance affordability and pricing transparency. Given the growing severity of weather events in New Zealand, the industry will face increased scrutiny on risk assessment and pricing. We hope regulations foster innovation in risk management, enabling insurers to effectively respond to climate change while ensuring fair coverage. At QBE, we're already adapting to these changes, using global capabilities, advanced data analytics and AI to refine our pricing and risk models. We also prioritise ESG factors in our investment and underwriting decisions, aligning with sustainability regulations. While changing legislation presents challenges, it also offers an opportunity for QBE to lead in creating smarter, adaptive solutions, supporting long-term, sustainable risk management for our clients.
Neil Cousins: What we do in insurance is so important, by protecting the assets and liabilities of New Zealanders. I get concerned that we do not see ourselves in this light, and if we don’t see ourselves in this light, how will the public? As an industry, we need to up our game with regards to professionalism, transparency and quality advice, exactly as you should expect from a lawyer or accountant.
What are the key challenges facing the industry in 2025 and beyond?
Kris Faafoi: Climate adaptation, affordability and being ready for Kiwis when it matters.
What are the trends you see happening regarding capacity in the New Zealand market?
Kris Faafoi: Capacity remains strong and the challenge there is to ensure New Zealand is doing everything it can in terms of adaptation and risk reduction to ensure reinsurers maintain their confidence in our market. We have a great story to tell, and we all need to be telling it. Central and local government, insurers and the private sector must all work together to work locally and nationally to reduce risk. ICNZ plays a key leadership role here in campaigning and advocating for this to happen.
Grant Milne: We are definitely seeing more options available in the commercial space through the underwriting agency channels. So while most of these options are niche around a product or a particular industry segment, there are a lot more general property facilities available for the SME customer segment, too.
Andy Croy: Capacity in the New Zealand insurance market should be readily available, but the challenge will be how it's deployed, with pricing playing a key role. As climate change, technological advancements and evolving risks reshape the market, insurers must adapt to long-term changes. At QBE, we have the capacity to write business, and by leveraging AI, data analytics and focusing on ESG factors, we can provide more accurate risk assessments and pricing. The key will be balancing these elements to deploy capacity effectively in an ever-changing environment. Supporting local capacity and markets is essential to ensure we avoid service gaps, particularly during disruptions or peak demand periods. By integrating global expertise with local resources, we can consistently meet our customers' needs. With over 100 years in New Zealand, QBE is committed to remaining a stable, consistent presence throughout market cycles. We don’t move in and out of the market; we’re here for the long-term, dedicated to providing reliable service.
Neil Cousins: With calls coming in from the London market, it was only a matter of time before capacity increased and prices started to fall. This appears to be prominent in the corporate market but will gradually drift into Mid and SME markets. Does this worry me? for sure. The pricing increases following the large event in 2023 were too strong and therefore adjustment is needed, but to move to a soft market will only cause disruption when the next event or series of events come around. I predict that domestic market will continue to rise with the lack of competition.
What trends do you see happening with pricing in 2025?
Kris Faafoi: I am always going to be careful when talking about pricing. What we have seen since the North Island weather events of 2023 is pressure on pricing, and the Reserve Bank helpfully outlined in its Financial Stability Report in May that the trend in the wake of a large-scale event is an increase in reinsurance costs and house cover premiums as the market recalibrates. We’ve had a relatively benign period (touch wood) more recently and most commentators are saying that the rate of increase in reinsurance costs should plateau. At the same time, inflation is now showing signs of coming off levels that have meant increased costs. Insurers are also doing what they can to keep costs down for customers and be as efficient as possible.
Grant Milne: We have seen a sharp drop-off in pricing across the commercial segment in the past two months. This has happened a lot quicker than we had anticipated, so we are not sure how far pricing will drop at the moment. Unfortunately for our personal lines customers we are not seeing the price reductions, and in some regions the pricing is still going up. We still see the London and offshore markets as viable and competitive options, and they do play an important role with spread of capacity and smoothing of pricing.
Andy Croy: In 2025, downward pressure on premiums will likely continue in short-tail lines of business, influenced by global metrics and unforeseen weather events. While downward pressure persists in the short-term, long-term pricing stability will depend on how insurers balance innovation, climate change impacts, and technological advancements in risk assessment. QBE is well-positioned to navigate these adjustments, utilising advanced data analytics and AI to ensure fair and precise pricing. We are committed to leveraging our global resources and local expertise to offer adaptive and resilient solutions.
At the end of another busy year how do you intend to relax and prepare for the year ahead?
Kris Faafoi: The Faafoi family is off to Fiji on Christmas day for some fun and sun. My kids and wife are looking forward to it and deserve it, as they have been very supportive in my first year in this new role. I will also dust off my golf clubs for my annual thrashing with old school friends in Christchurch and my middle son Fred has a Hawkes Bay cricket tournament that I am looking forward to taking him on, as I haven’t had the chance to do much of that kind of thing in my life prior to ICNZ. I’m going to take this chance to also tautoko the team at ICNZ. We’re really looking at how we can make the best contribution to our sector and the nation in a different way. So, I hope they have a restful festive season and recharge for 2025.
Grant Milne: Well, at the time of writing this I am sunning myself in Fiji with my wife, celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, so Christmas this year will be a short trip back to Hawkes Bay to spend time with our extended family before returning to Auckland ready for 2025.
Andy Croy: After a busy year, I’m looking forward to some time to unwind and enjoy quality time with my family. I love exploring New Zealand's beautiful forests, so I’ll be hiking over Christmas, followed by some relaxation with my family in the South Island. It’s the perfect opportunity to recharge before the exciting challenges and opportunities the new year will bring.
Neil Cousins: 2024 has disappeared so quickly, maybe it’s a sign of getting old! I’m a man of routine and enjoy a quiet family Christmas at home and then off to Lake Tarawera for January. This year I have my oldest friend coming over from the UK, so I can show him the reason we moved here 16 years ago.
Kris FaafoiKris Faafoi joined the Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kahua Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) as Chief Executive in April 2024. He is a former member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister who served in a number of roles, including Minister of Justice, Immigration, Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Broadcasting and Media. Before that, Kris worked as a journalist, including at TVNZ and the BBC. He lives in Wellington with his wife Mae and is father to three young men George, Fred and Theo.
Andy CroyAndy Croy is a senior executive who brings over 25 years of experience, 18 of those with QBE. Andy has held company secretarial and governance roles in the consulting, environmental and education sectors in both Australia and the United Kingdom. From 2019 to 2023, Andy served as the QBE General Manager, Pacific, overseeing the strategic and operational leadership for QBE across six Pacific nations. In mid 2023, Andy took up the role of General Manager, Distribution NZ.
Grant MilneGrant Milne is the Managing Director and Shareholder of ICIB BROKERWEB Group. He has been in the insurance industry since 1988 starting his career as a cadet at State Insurance in Hastings. Grant has worked in several roles both client facing and senior leadership positions with Multinational and New Zealand owned business over his career.
Neil CousinsNeil Cousins joined Steadfast in 2017 to take on the position of Broker Services Manager and became CEO in 2022. During his tenure, Steadfast NZ has doubled the number of members and tripled in GWP. Neil started his career in London in 1991 and has been involved in the insurance industry both as a broker and underwriter. During his career, Neil has had the opportunity to create schemes and facilities, take recognised companies into different areas of business, and establish a brokerage under the highly compliant UK financial services legislation.
