- Zurich Insurance Added to Praemium Platform;
- Frydenberg Headlines Inaugural WSSA Conference;
- Wearable Technology to Transform Insurance;
- AFA Designation Enrolments Continue to Rise
Zurich Insurance Added to Praemium Platform
Zurich’s suite of life insurance solutions is now available on Praemium’s SuperSMA platform.
Advisers using the Praemium platform will be able to recommend and offer Zurich’s range of protection options, structured both inside and outside of super, to allow advisers to set up a life insurance framework for clients, which provides them the optimum level of protection to their needs whilst still also balancing affordability and tax treatment.
Praemium Commercial Director, Andrew Varlamos, said the inclusion of Zurich on the Praemium platform provided more choice and flexibility for advisers.
“As an independent ‘open architecture’ platform we know that advisers value a choice of insurance options to help them look after the best interests of all their clients,” he said.
Frydenberg Headlines Inaugural WSSA Conference
The Workplace Super Specialists Australia group (formerly the Corporate Super Specialists Alliance) will hold its inaugural conference in Sydney this year, featuring the Assistant Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, as a keynote speaker.
Mr Frydenberg will feature alongside Director of Chant West, Warren Chant, and Chris Wrightson, Centurion Market Makers Director. Former NSW Opposition Leader, Kerry Chikarovski, will MC the event. The program also includes three panel sessions, including a debate between senior executives from the life insurance industry.
“The Conference will allow us to announce the WSSA’s recent rebranding and exciting new direction,” WSSA CEO, Douglas Latto, said. “It will also provide an excellent opportunity for all those currently in the workplace financial education space, and those thinking of entering it, to network with peers and understand the challenges of this exciting industry going forward.”
The event will be held on 26 August 2015 at Sydney’s Shangri-La Hotel. Click here for more information.
Wearable Technology to Transform Insurance
Wearable technology will revolutionise the insurance industry over the next two years, a report from Timetric’s Insurance Intelligence Centre (IIC) has found.
Wearable technology, or ‘wearables’ are devices, such as wrist bands or glasses, that record data about the individual wearing them. The sensors in wearable devices can monitor the breathing patterns, heart rate, or body mass index of an individual, they can sense stress and according to IIC they even have the potential to improve the outcomes of heart attack through early detection.
While primarily focused on the health insurance market, the report says insurers will be able to use wearables to more effectively determine premiums, because they provide genuine insights into actual behavioural patterns. Insurers generally calculate premiums based on estimates, the report observes, but using wearable devices clearly increases the validity of insurers’ calculations of risk.
The report says insurers may also be able to reduce the size and duration of claims by utilising wearables, because they can more accurately measure risk and reduce the occurrence of serious health incidents. Insurers could also use the information to set targets and incentives for policy holders to live a healthier lifestyle. For example, John Hancock, an American based life insurer, has released an Apple Watch application that enables customers to record their activities in order to earn up to a 15% discount on their annual premium.
AFA Designation Enrolments Continue to Rise
Enrolments into the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA)’s Fellow Chartered Financial Practitioner (FChFP) designation have increased to over 500 since late 2013, when the FChFP curriculum was relaunched with the AFA’s newly appointed education partner, Kaplan Professional.
AFA General Manager, Member Services & Campus AFA, Nick Hakes, said the Association was delighted with the growth of enrolments, particularly as the early adopters of the FChFP designation begin to graduate.
Mr Hakes said the AFA is again reinvesting into the FChFP curriculum, focusing its efforts on making it even more relevant and practical for financial advisers to use as a tool as they adapt to the pressures they are under at the moment and the pressure to take advantage of the opportunities they have for the future.
“Now is the time when many are choosing to hardwire post-graduate academic thinking into how they will provide great advice into the future. Life-long education has always been a core component of the AFA and we applaud new thinking for a new profession,” he said.
