"[Advisers are] very pleased with what we’re doing"

Today is the last leg of nib New Zealand’s 14-location seminar series that featured, among other things, the insurer’s health ‘product refresh’. Head of distribution Chris Carnall (pictured) says the roadshow has gone well.

Speaking with Insurance Business in between the Auckland (Central) and Hamilton seminars – there was a gap of more than three hours that allowed Carnall to travel – the distribution head shared how advisers have responded to the series. He cited “great turnouts and really good feedback” from the attendees.

“They’re pretty pleased with the fact that we’re finally addressing the challenges with our legacy product suite by aligning all of the benefit terms and benefit maximums with our contemporary on-sale products,” Carnall said.

“That just makes an adviser’s life a lot simpler in terms of understanding the different benefits that their clients might be entitled to. It also makes a whole lot of processing efficiencies for us as well. The message that they’re sending us is that they’re very pleased with what we’re doing.”

What’s behind the product refresh?

As part of the seminars, which began in Queenstown on October 24 and wraps up in Tauranga today, nib New Zealand outlined the details of its updated health cover for members. Changes include higher benefit limits.      

Lifting the lid on the decision, Carnall told Insurance Business: “When we took over that Tower [Medical Insurance] health business back in 2012, there’s some 30-odd, 40-odd legacy products that had been introduced over the years, and they all had their own different benefit terms and benefit maximums.

“It was an opportunity to review all of those and take some of the complexity out of our existing product offer while clearly not wanting to disadvantage any existing members. So, it’s been a huge piece of work, [but] we should see a lot more value being delivered to all of our members.”

“We make the effort to get out”

According to Carnall, nib NZ is one of the few providers that still do the traditional New Zealand roadshow tours. For context, Thursday’s morning session had around 140 attendees.     

“We roadshow twice a year, and the highlight’s always just getting together with advisers in their communities to talk with them about what’s important to them and to us,” Carnall said. “In terms of this particular roadshow, one of the key highlights has been that I was able to share our views on what we call the health economy in New Zealand – so, looking at the factors that influence the supply of and the demand for health provision in the country.

“That’s absolutely been a highlight, and the advisers who have attended have said it’s been a really good session. We know that when we take advisers out of their businesses, it’s their time that they’re investing. So, we’ve got to have information that’s compelling, information that’s interesting, and ultimately information that helps them have better conversations with their clients…

“Advisers, I think, appreciate the fact that we make the effort to get out and be among their communities.”

Aside from the subject of health economy and the product changes, the roadshow’s agenda also included nib New Zealand’s updated commercial terms for its adviser business partners.

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