AIA New Zealand, Sovereign to cease overseas recognition trips

AIA New Zealand / Sovereign, New Zealand’s largest life insurer, will cease overseas recognition trips for advisers beyond 2019. The decision forms part of a wider review AIA / Sovereign is proactively undertaking to support good customer outcomes.

Commenting on the decision, AIA New Zealand / Sovereign CEO, Nick Stanhope says: “Our aim is to ensure our relationship and responsibilities with advisers remain closely aligned to supporting best practice and promoting good outcomes for customers.

“As the largest life insurer in New Zealand we take the responsibility of earning and maintaining the trust and confidence of our customers very seriously.

“We are actively engaged in the current regulatory reform process and support the work of the FMA and the Reserve Bank to improve transparency and to ensure that customers continue to have every confidence in New Zealand’s life insurance sector,” said Mr Stanhope. 

“We have briefed our staff and advisers on the decision. The reaction has been very encouraging,” he added.

AIA New Zealand / Sovereign will be in a position to apply its new policy on overseas recognition trips from late-2019. Next year it has an existing contractual obligation to complete one last overseas recognition trip.

AIA, as one of the world’s largest life insurance companies, believes that there is significant benefit in giving its advisers the opportunity to learn from AIA Group best practice. Any additional adviser travel from 2019 onwards will be limited to education and training programmes that support our partners in continuing to deliver best in class services for the benefit of their customers.

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About AIA New Zealand / Sovereign: 

In New Zealand AIA and Sovereign together employ almost 900 people. Since AIA arrived in New Zealand in 1981, it has consistently provided the market with innovative personal and business insurance products that suit the Kiwi way of life. In July 2018, the AIA Group acquired Sovereign, becoming the largest life insurer in New Zealand. AIA and Sovereign offer a complete range of risk management products that focus on the needs of customers. The companies are both based in Auckland, with regional offices in Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. Both companies are members of the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme and the Health Funds Association of New Zealand. AIA has an insurer financial strength rating from Standard and Poor’s of AA-. Sovereign has a rating of A+, from AM Best.

About AIA Group

AIA Group Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively “AIA” or the “Group”) comprise the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group. It has a presence in 18 markets in Asia-Pacific – wholly-owned branches and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Macau, Brunei, Cambodia, a 97 per cent subsidiary in Sri Lanka, a 49 per cent joint venture in India and a representative office in Myanmar.

The business that is now AIA was first established in Shanghai almost a century ago in 1919. It is a market leader in the Asia-Pacific region (ex-Japan) based on life insurance premiums and holds leading positions across the majority of its markets. It had total assets of US$221 billion as of 30 June 2018.

AIA meets the long-term savings and protection needs of individuals by offering a range of products and services including life insurance, accident and health insurance and savings plans. The Group also provides employee benefits, credit life and pension services to corporate clients. Through an extensive network of agents, partners and employees across Asia-Pacific, AIA serves the holders of 32 million individual policies and over 16 million participating members of group insurance schemes.

AIA Group Limited is listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited under the stock code “1299” with American Depositary Receipts (Level 1) traded on the over-the-counter market (ticker symbol: “AAGIY”).