As a small island nation New Zealand has always lived with weather risk, but industry tracking shows storm-related claims were up more than 250% in the 12 months to February 2026. Storms struck somewhere in New Zealand roughly once every eight days, compared with a long-run average closer to once every 19 days.
The first quarter of 2026 alone saw weather-related states of emergency were declared across five North Island districts in February. Northland was hit again in March, and in early April Cyclone Vaianu made landfall followed by flooding across Greater Wellington towards the end of the month.
For our industry these events are moments of truth; golden opportunities for brokers to demonstrate one of the key benefits of our service. Each time IBANZ acted quickly to provide the media with a clear message about professional insurance brokers being available, expert and ready to help.
Chief Executive Katherine Wilson put the case to media for broker value clearly and repeatedly - the broking industry is here to help clients in their toughest moments meaning New Zealanders who work with a broker are ahead of the game when disaster strikes because they have instant access to expert advice and advocacy.
By the time Cyclone Vaianu rolled around, IBANZ was also able to alert the media to potential problems facing clients who had unresolved losses from previous weather events, pointing out that a new event can introduce complexity around damage attribution, documentation and settlement sequencing. This is where broker expertise really earns its value and Wilson was able to deliver this message to media at the very moment it was most relevant.
The perceived value of brokers at claims time is backed up by research from our colleagues across the Tasman at the National Insurance Brokers Association of Australia (which is explored in more detail elsewhere in this edition of CoverNote) where 95% of client respondents viewed brokers as critical to claims resolution. As a profession we know that having an expert on your side advocating for a fair outcome at claims time makes all the difference and it’s an important benefit to communicate on behalf of our industry.
IBANZ's role is to ensure that the public understands the broker advantage, that policymakers and regulators recognise the profession's contribution, and that the sector is represented credibly when events demand a response.
