Pinnacle Life has received an exemption from the FMA to provide digital advice to its customers, joining the growing number of financial services companies to be given the go-ahead.
Pinnacle Life says it is now working on a new online digital advice platform, which is expected to launch later this year. General manager of operations Amy Cavanaugh says the new offering will be able to offer more personalised advice to customers regarding their policies, and will help them make informed decisions regarding their level of cover.
“Now that we’ve got our exemption from the FMA, we can now move forward with developing our platform,” Cavanaugh told Insurance Business.
“Customers can be asked questions to draw out more detailed information about their current situation, and they’ll get a more informed opinion on what type of life insurance product will suit them, how much cover they need and what the cost is likely to be.
“The software really allows customers to get a more personalised view of their insurance needs than what we can currently provide.”
Signa is the other life insurer operating in New Zealand to be granted an exemption from the FMA, but it hasn’t yet brought any robo-advice products to market. Cavanaugh says the Pinnace Life team is always working to ‘push the boat out’ for customers, and that New Zealand is going through an exciting time of exploring new options when it comes to interacting with customers at their own convenience.
“Given the recent amendments to the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill (FSLAB), digital advice will be available for everyone once that regime begins, whereas at the moment it’s purely on an exemption basis,” Cavanaugh explained.
“In a few years’ time, that door will open for other insurance providers to be able to utilise that too. There’s a real opportunity in the New Zealand market to provide different options for customers – there are direct players, and there are those who deal through brokers, and digital advice is just another option for Kiwis to be able to understand more about life insurance, and what it means for them.”
