COVID-19.

Other updates.

• I’m currently receiving an income protection claim benefit – how will I be affected?

  During lockdown we conducted all medical and provider consultations via tele-health. The quality of medical reports remained high, and customer feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

  So we’ve decided to continue with tele-health moving forwards, unless its deemed clinically inadvisable by the assessing clinician.

  We accept some clinicians don’t have tele-health capability and / or prefer to only undertake face-to-face assessments. In these instances we’ll do our best to limit your travel requirements.

  If you have any concerns please phone your case manager. They’ll be happy to discuss other options to ensure we meet your needs.

• Investment-linked policies

  Covid-19 is having a global impact on countries, economies, companies and individuals.

  A large portion of the world is effectively closed. Governments have imposed border restrictions or even closed borders completely, shut down towns and cities and banned gatherings of large numbers of people.

  Many businesses have closed temporarily or will be directly affected by the closure of international borders e.g. cafes, restaurants, tourism operators and airlines to name a few.

  This will likely lead to a global economic recession, the depth and length of which is unknown at this stage. Markets do not like uncertainty and so this has seen a very sharp correction in asset values.

  Central banks and Governments are taking steps to provide stimulus through cuts to central bank cash rates and economic packages to support their own domestic economies.

  However, with no definitive timeline until a resolution to the situation markets will continue to remain volatile as will the value of your policy.

  We understand that this may cause some uncertainty and recommend you speak with your adviser for more information and advice about your policy.

• Applications for redundancy cover no longer being accepted

  It’s become clear the impact of Covid-19 on the economy will be significant. In our view this is likely to lead to an increase in redundancy-related claims.

  Therefore we won’t be accepting any new applications for redundancy cover under our Mortgage Protector suite effective from 18 March 2020. This also applies to applications to add redundancy cover to existing policies.

• Other new applications or adding cover to an existing policy

  We pride ourselves on our robust underwriting process and to date we haven’t put any broad, mandatory exclusions in place. However in order to prudently manage our risks in relation to Covid-19 we’re making some small changes.

  • Due to the government’s advice that New Zealanders don’t travel overseas at this time, new applications for customers who have any overseas travel planned will require greater underwriting consideration. We’ll consider each case individually and may choose to place an endorsement on your policy, or postpone cover until the travel has taken place (and any required self-isolation has finished).
  • On a case by case basis we may also ask a few more questions than usual, including about occupation, industry and medical conditions.

  We’ll continue to monitor the situation closely in partnership with our reinsurers – and we’ll let you know about future changes as they happen.

• More info about coronavirus

  The government’s Unite Against Covid-19 website provides important information about the four alert levels and what they mean, as well as support available to businesses, families and individuals. Click here.

  The Ministry of Health website is the place to go for important information, including the latest updates on hygiene, public gatherings or events, and travel and self-isolation guidelines. Click here.