The Steadfast Client Trading Platform (SCTP) now includes products offered by four insurers – NZI, AIG, Ando Insurance and QBE, and CEO Bruce Oughton said that Steadfast is looking to bring another major insurer on to the platform towards the end of the year.
With all of the major New Zealand insurers covered, brokers will be able to compare quotes and policies without having to enter client information separately into every insurer platform – something Oughton said will be a huge efficiency boost for them.
Read more: Steadfast Group reports major turnaround
“The SCTP connects our brokers directly to those four insurers,” Oughton said. “They can enter their client’s information, and those insurers will come back with a quote – usually within 30-60 seconds.”
“This removes the need to be submitting the information separately for each insurer and waiting for them to come back to you with their information,” he explained.
“That enables the broker to make a comparison very quickly and present it to their client, and they can then make an informed decision around their cover.”
Oughton said that while insurers and brokers have traditionally had separate systems, the SCTP allows them to interact with each other for quicker, more efficient delivery of coverage. He said the system has also helped advisers with their new obligations around documentation, which have toughened significantly with the start of the new financial advice regime.
“With the new legislation in force, advisers also needed to find a way to document everything – and that’s one of the things that the SCTP does,” Oughton said.
“It provides documentation that gives a comparison between the different insurers so that the client can easily understand their options.”
“Once the client decides who they want to insure with, the broker can select that option and the relevant insurer will be informed, and they can issue a policy number,” he explained. “And if there are any alterations that need to be made during the year, the broker can put those into the SCTP and send it to the insurer, which will then come back with a price for that alteration.”
“Overall, it makes life a heck of a lot simpler,” Oughton concluded.
“We believe this is the first system in New Zealand where brokers can talk ‘one to many,’ rather than just ‘one to one’, and getting four insurers on board is quite exciting for us.”
