NZI celebrated its 165th birthday, marking its status as one of New Zealand’s oldest brands.
Established in 1859 - 39 years before the first car arrived in NZ - the company began life underwriting policies from a local office on Auckland’s Shortland Street.
“Today, we have a team of 500 and a network of 3,500 broker partners who all play an important role in providing 300,000 New Zealand business customers with expert advice,” executive general manager Garry Taylor said.
“Over this time, the commercial landscape has evolved progressively, shaped by risks that have grown from advancing technologies, a changing climate, pandemics and geopolitical activity.
“It’s really important, now more than ever, to have a mix of both insurance and protection services to keep ahead of risk,” Taylor added.
More than a century later, NZI continues to develop new products to bolster risk management in NZ.
“Our market-leading Fleet Fit initiatives comprise a broad range of tools such as onboard GPS data analytics, driver safety seminars, culture and leadership programmes, real-time fatigue detection systems and more, to help drivers stay safer on the road,” Taylor added.
Looking to the future, the insurer has also released an EV Fleet Guide to help businesses adopt lower-emissions vehicles.
“We’ve learned a great deal through our very own EV Early Adopter Programme and working with our clients, so we were able to draw on this research when developing the guide,” Taylor said.
The business is also working to combat cyber risks in NZ, partnering with cyber security specialists UpGuard in 2020 to offer customers pre-loss assessments.
“Cyber incidents can be incredibly time sensitive and require expert engagement which is where our panel of breach coaches, legal and IT professionals stand ready to help,” Taylor added.
Other initiatives launched by the insurance brand include research on the risk of electric fires, one of the greatest threats to commercial properties.
“Since then, we’ve identified and rectified 1,500 electrical defects that could have potentially caused considerable fire damage. Our team of electrical inspectors plan to visit at least 1,000 customers annually.
“We’ll always be there when the unexpected happens, but prevention is equally important – because if we can help guard against cybercrime, prevent road accidents and help save businesses from being destroyed by fire, then everyone wins,” Taylor said.
