With any major change, there will be sector stakeholders who will breeze through it and those who will essentially have to overcome a hurdle. Insurance Business recently spoke with industry players who, in a sense, have had it easy – and are sharing why – in terms of regulatory reforms, including the new financial advice regime.
For Selwyn & Canterbury Insurance Advisers director Sam Baker (pictured immediately below), the changes didn’t seem too drastic, based on the way he was already operating as an adviser.
“A lot of the stuff from the new legislation – I felt like I was doing probably 90% of it,” declared the Insurance Advisernet New Zealand principal. “So, I guess it was an advantage that I didn’t really have to adapt or change too much, and it was just doing things in a bit of a different order and revisiting the initial steps, I suppose.
“If you hadn’t been trying to be that advice-first business and you’re all just about getting something cheap and fast across the line, there would have been a lot of work involved for you trying to adapt to the new legislation.”
“It flows on to the ethics and conduct of our employees and our brokers,” Milne told Insurance Business. “If a customer understands the value that we’re earning, then they translate that into the value of the relationship...
“That really does change the dynamic of how the customer sees us and how we feature as an important part of their business.”
Milne, who leads the brokerage that is born out of the merger between ICIB and AUB Group’s BrokerWeb Risk Services, added: “The professionalism that comes from regulation is a good thing.”
Meanwhile, it was a case of good timing for Bridges Insurance Services’ Coral Stroud (pictured immediately above), whose foray into insurance broking coincided with the elevation of qualifications and standards.
The Insurance Business NZ Rising Star, who is in her late 20s, believes it is a lot easier to conform to the new regulations when you’re just starting out, as opposed to having been in the industry for, say, four decades.
“Also, we knew about the changes so long ago that our compliance and office manager, as soon as it was coming out, was like, ‘Right, this is what we’re doing’,” said Stroud, who finished her New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services Level 5 in 2021. “It was when I was moving into broking, so it worked out quite well.”
How did you find your transition into the new advice regime and industry regulations? Share in the comments below.
