- MetLife Most Admired Life Company;
- ASFA Sets Out Best Practice for Death Claims;
- Andrew Baker to Leave Tria;
- FPA Sees Spike in CFP Enrolments
MetLife Most Admired Life Company
MetLife has been named the ‘Most Admired’ life insurance company in an international survey.
The survey, conducted by Fortune Magazine, ranks companies in a variety of industries based on their performance across nine key areas, including: people management, innovation and quality of products/services. Over 1400 companies are included in the review.
MetLife scored the highest ranking in the life and health insurance category.
MetLife Australia CEO, Deanne Stewart, said the insurer was delighted to be recognised in the Fortune ‘Most Admired’ companies list.
“It’s something that should give our customers and business partners confidence that we are committed to delivering high quality, globally competitive and sustainable solutions in Australia,” she said.
ASFA Sets Out Best Practice for Death Claims
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia has released a new Best Practice Paper on managing death benefit claims.
The Best Practice Paper covers a range of topics including: the payment of death benefit lump sums and income streams, and the tax treatment of each; dealing with binding and non-binding nominations; and determining the eligibility of dependents and the allocation of benefits between them.
“Death is an emotional time for members and their families. Handling claims in a consistent manner, and with sensitivity, can help ease the complexities of this process, and improve what is generally a somewhat difficult experience for fund members,” said ASFA CEO, Pauline Vamos.
“The majority of the time, claims are paid in a timely manner. Many claims can be made online, and help is available through your fund and they rarely require legal input. Most of the time, involving lawyers can drive up the costs and complexity of the process unnecessarily.”
Andrew Baker to Leave Tria
After eleven years at the helm of specialist wealth consultancy, Tria Investment Partners, Andrew Baker will step down, passing responsibility to Oliver Hesketh.
Tria Investment Partners became part of NMG Consulting two years ago. Mr Hesketh, who was also recently promoted to Partner at NMG, will report to Mark Prichard, CEO of NMG. Over the past 18 months, Mr Hesketh has taken on an increasing role in running the Tria business and has been integral to the recent integration of the two businesses.
Mr Hesketh will be supported by Mark Watmore, whose role has been expanded to include responsibility across NMG Consulting’s business lines in Australia, particularly identifying and executing opportunities for cross-collaboration between the NMG Consulting divisions.
Mr Baker will continue to be involved as a non-executive director of NMG Consulting and its parent, NMG Holdings, and as such will continue to support the ongoing success of the business and its people.
“Although this transition is an important milestone, it’s really just another logical step in Tria’s progression and our aspiration to build the best consulting firm in the wealth, asset management and insurance industries. We’ve been able to hire outstanding people over the firm’s history and retain the great majority of them for the long term; their time to lead has arrived,” Mr Baker said.
FPA Sees Spike in CFP Enrolments
The Financial Planning Association said it had recently experienced a spike in enrolments to its Certified Financial Planner certification program.
Part of the reason for this increase, said the FPA, was the flexibility of the program, which allows advisers to take a study break to balance work and family commitments, and to study at their own pace.
Of the 700 students enrolled in the program this semester, a number are returning students who are re-entering the program after taking a break. The FPA said it was also committed to working on a one-to-one basis with financial planners to find a tailored solution for those who want to join the program and complete it with the necessary tools and support, including online subject rooms, comprehensive webinars and the option to join study groups for peer-to-peer support.
“For the first time ever, the CFP certification program enables advisers to choose which unit they want to study first and provides them with a pre-admission service,” said FPA CEO, Mark Rantall. “This makes it easier to create a ‘personalised’ pathway into the program – one that works around planners’ lifestyle and work commitments.”
