The Board of Directors, and Executive Management Team of Partners Life bring many years of experience in the financial services industry, both domestically and internationally and have come together to create an entirely unique business model that not only values but also tangibly rewards customer loyalty as well as the support of financial advisers.
Established in August 2010, Partners Life entered the market
with a fresh innovative offering for the protection of
New Zealand families and businesses. With unprecedented
growth since its launch Partners Life is now one of the most
substantial competitors in the New Zealand life insurance
industry. Products include life insurance, income protection,
medical insurance, disability insurance, trauma cover and
business risk protection.
Who
The Board
Naomi Ballantyne, Managing Director, has over 30 years of experience in the New Zealand life insurance industry. She is one of the most well-known and respected executives in the market today and has unprecedented experience in starting companies from scratch and then leading them to significant long-term success.
Naomi Ballantyne explains, “We are well on our way to filling the significant gap in today’s market where the consumer’s comprehensive protection needs are not being met and the impartial adviser channel is not being as supported as it should be. This gap may be the result of providers concentrating on the development of direct distribution channels or maybe as a result of market consolidation seeing a number of companies inwardly focussed on mergers and acquisition activities turning their attention away from the needs of customers and advisers. Partners Life closes that gap by balancing comprehensive cover with affordability for the consumer; recognising and rewarding customer loyalty; and supporting the adviser channel to deliver expert advice and service to their customers”.
Sam Knowles (MSc), Chairman and Non-executive Director - has had a successful career in the Australian and New Zealand financial sector with more than 20 years’ experience at a senior management level. Sam was Chief Executive Officer of Kiwibank from July 2000 to October 2010, Chief Executive Officer of At Work Insurance Limited from March 1999 to June 2000 and has held a number of other senior management roles in the banking industry.
Sam is currently Chair of Umajin Limited, OnBrand Limited and Adminis Limited and is also a director of Trustpower Limited, Synlait Limited, Rangatira Limited and Angel HQ Inc.
Paul Chrystall, Non-executive Director, is the Managing Director of the private equity firm Maui Capital Limited. As part of this role he sits on the board of various Maui Capital investments.
Before co-founding Maui Capital in 2008, Paul was Head of Private Equity at Goldman Sachs JBWere (New Zealand) where he founded and managed the Hauraki Private Equity Funds. Prior to his career in private equity, Paul held a number of senior positions across diversified industries in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
In these positions he focused on finance management, restructure and turn around, mergers & acquisitions, valuation and investment, performance management and investment strategy. Paul holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Auckland .
Lance Jenkins, Non-executive Director, has over 20 years of financial markets experience having worked in New York, Sydney and Auckland. During that time he held senior roles with Goldman Sachs JBWere in New York and more latterly as CEO and Managing Director of Goldman Sachs JBWere New Zealand.
Prior to joining Waterman Lance was Head of Cash Equities for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, based in Sydney. He is currently an Executive Director of Waterman Capital and was previously an independent director of Spicers Portfolio Management Limited. Lance holds an MBA from New York University (Stern) and an LLB and BCA from Victoria University of Wellington.
Joanna Perry (MNZM, FCA, MA(Cantab)) Non-executive Director, is Chairman of the Investment Advisory Panel of the Primary Growth Partnership and Chairman of the IFRS Advisory Council. She also holds governance positions with Genesis Energy (Deputy Chair), Trade Me Group, Kiwi Income Property Trust, Tainui Group Holdings, Sport New Zealand and New Zealand Rowing .
Joanna was previously a partner at KPMG, a member of the Securities Commission, Chair of the Financial Reporting Standards Board and a member of the Australian Accounting Standards Board.
Research consistently identifies chronic underinsurance within the New Zealand market which creates an opportunity for significant growth given the right products, distribution and communication strategies. Roy Morgan 2013 figures show that although 83.9% of New Zealanders over 14 years of age have some type of insurance, only 39% have life and/or risk protection. Additionally, many who do have some life insurance do not have enough. Partners Life is confident it has the right products and the best distribution channels to reach the underinsured businesses and families in New Zealand. The current regulatory environment introduced in 2010 places increased responsibility and accountability on the shoulders of advisers to prove they have given their clients the ‘best advice’ specific to their requirements. By providing advisers with access to market leading products at competitive prices Partners Life gives them the confidence that they can deliver the best results for their customers.
The recent GFC resulted in increased awareness and concern amongst New Zealanders about the long-term financial security of their families and businesses. This increased consumer focus on financial protection created an opportunity for substantial growth for Partners Life as we met the needs of these customers.
In addition to these unique market circumstances, historically the market has been heavily focused on new customer acquisition with enticing introductory offers whilst existing customers have seldom been rewarded for their loyalty. Partners Life delivers a fresh approach to appreciating and rewarding customers for their long term business – for becoming partners for life.
Partners Life has an exceptional management team, proven product development and marketing capabilities, modern systems and effective processes. Coupled with the company’s philosophy of sharing its rewards with customers and advisers, Partners Life is well on its way to achieving its goal of becoming New Zealand’s leading life insurer.
Why
The Partners Life name highlights our philosophy to share the value we create with all stakeholders, essentially building a partnership together. We deliver unique value propositions to our customers, distributors, staff and shareholders to ensure everyone benefits from the success of the company. As a life insurance company the relationships we form with our stakeholders are by default long-term – Partners Life rewards those relationships for their duration – hence the by-line ‘Rewarding partnership – for life.’
This business model is unique in its approach as it focuses on rewarding adviser expertise as well as customer loyalty. Essentially advisers are rewarded for identifying when Partners Life products deliver the best solution for their clients and customers are rewarded for their loyalty through increasing premium discounts over time.
The design of the Partners Life logo reflects this unique partnership philosophy. The concept comes from the idea that the sum of all parts is greater than each on their own in other words ‘we’ is better than ‘me’. It depicts our fresh approach of collaboration.
What
does the name
The Partners Life approach to providing best-in-class life and risk coverage for New Zealanders at competitive prices is underpinned by our commitment to regular, independent market research of policy wordings and to our process of inviting input from advisers on what they believe New Zealand families and businesses really need. With the regulatory environment requiring advisers to justify their advice
and product recommendations, an insurer’s product development capability is now significantly more important than ever before. For Partners Life, innovative and comprehensive product development is the cornerstone of the company’s focus; we know we have exceptional, proven product development capability meaning product is a key competitive advantage. Our approach is to develop products that deliver the strongest combination of coverage and value for money available in the market.
What
We understand how difficult and stressful it can be when it comes time to submit a claim and at Partners Life there are no surprises or shocks. We have a philosophy embedded into the fabric of the company that all genuine claims are paid as quickly and with as much empathy as possible. On the other hand for the protection of all of our clients we will simply not pay any claims that are clearly not genuine, based on the available evidence.
In circumstances where it is not clear from the available evidence whether a claim is genuine or not, our philosophy is to support the client and pay the claim i.e. if it’s grey, we will pay – we believe this is the fairest approach even though it is not necessarily followed by the wider market.
During the claims process an insurer can sometimes discover that a client failed to disclose or misstated a material fact about their health when they completed their application for cover. The penalties available to insurers in these circumstances are wide-ranging and, in our opinion, often extremely punitive to the client. While the law may allow the total avoidance of cover in these circumstances and most insurers rely on this to avoid paying the claim, the Partners Life approach is different.
We would re-assess whether that cover would have been offered and on what terms, had that material information been available at application time. Any decision whether a claim can be paid or not will then depend on this re-assessment. Again we believe this is the fairest approach.
These are the commitments we make to our clients and to the advisers who service them, giving them the confidence that we will always do the right thing at claim time. To prove this is not just lip service – we have formally documented these philosophies into our policy contracts committing ourselves for the life of those contracts.
What
In today’s market, customers like to buy financial services products in a variety of different ways, often via different channels. At Partners Life we want to make it as easy for clients to interact with us in a way that is comfortable and familiar to them. That flexibility will lead us to develop multiple distribution options as our customers’ preferences became clear. Our desire is for clients to interact with us in ways that are easy for them and via the channels they prefer.
However, we also strongly believe that the best outcome for each individual customer requires the careful analysis of their unique circumstances, needs and preferences and the careful selection of the products and product providers that are best going to meet those needs and preferences. This level of individual tailoring requires robust systems and processes along with in-depth market research, the combination of which are generally only available from impartial advisers. For this reason Partners Life is strongly supportive of the unaligned advice market.
How
does Partners Life
Like all insurers, Partners Life is required to meet solvency standards which are determined by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Partners Life maintains solvency standards through a mixture of shareholder capital and reinsurance quota share arrangements, which not only reassure a significant percentage of the claims risk but also help finance new business expense strain. This structure enables Partners Life to grow rapidly without being substantially constrained by its capital requirements.
Reinsurance for Partners Life is provided by the SCOR Group. SCOR is the 5th largest reinsurer in the world, and a winner of the industry’s “Global Reinsurer of the Year” award in 2013. The Group, which is listed in France, has 39 offices across 5 continents with over 4,000 corporate clients across the globe. It specialises in supporting innovative new businesses and propositions and has previously provided reinsurance support to successful new players in the New Zealand market.
Partners Group has a wide shareholder base, which includes a number of institutions and the majority of its management and staff. We believe having employees as shareholders creates an energy and commitment that may otherwise be difficult to achieve.
As of 31 March 2015, Partners Life Limited has a “Secure” financial strength rating of B++ (Good) from A.M. Best Company, Inc., an approved RBNZ rating agency.
This means that in A.M. Best’s opinion the Company has a good ability to meet its on-going insurance obligations. For the latest rating or further details around the latest rating, please visit www.ambest.com or www.partnerslife.co.nz/about/financial.html
Who are our business partners?
Legal Advisers: Chapman Tripp
Accounting/Audit/Tax Advisers: KPMG and Deloitte Bankers: Westpac New Zealand Limited
