Willis Towers Watson recently lost senior client director Bret Taylor to retirement after a 50-year career in the insurance industry.
Insurance Business spoke to Taylor, who reminisced on how the insurance sector has helped New Zealanders weather many storms - from earthquakes and fires to marine disasters - during his tenure “in addition to evolving considerably.”
He pointed out that in the 1960s commercial property policies only covered fire, lightning and explosion.
“An innovative development added perils such as flood, snow, wind, burglary, malicious damage, water, smoke smut and fumes, even sonic boom – not exactly a big risk in New Zealand!” he exclaimed.
He elaborated that even though earthquake insurance was covered by the
EQC’s forerunner, it was only up to the “arcane” indemnity value.
“Insurers provided the top-up to give the required replacement value cover,” he said. “Material damage ‘all risks’ type insurance contracts first emerged in the mid-1970s. Household policies were similar.”
Taylor explained that in the mid-to-late 1960s the first rayon and nylon shirts that had melted on ironing boards were rejected by the claims department on the basis that the damage was not on the insured perils’ list.
“Later, in 1973, household contents ‘all risks’ type insurance policies were introduced,” he said.
He pointed out that there were no statutory liability policies because this risk only came to the fore from 1991 when a raft of new legislation was introduced - such as the Resource Management Act, Fair Trading Act, new Companies Act, Health and Safety in Employment Act, and Employment Contracts Act (the latter two since superseded).
The workers’ compensation and employers’ liability policies did exist but they were rendered obsolete by the implementation of the Government-owned and operated
ACC in 1974, a globally unique accident compensation plan, said Taylor.
ACC gave the employed at work and citizens at play an outright entitlement to compensation for injury resulting in an inability to work and loss of earnings, as well as for medical costs.
“Coupled with this absolute right of compensation came a trade-off by way of the removal of personal injury liability rights,” he said. “This was and still is an extraordinary Government-inspired social development with a big and lasting impact on New Zealand insurance and legal businesses.”
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