Three in four Australian pre-retirees find the range of superannuation retirement income products confusing, and only 6% of retirees currently use a lifetime income product, according to the Super Members Council’s (SMC) Retirement Revolution report released in October 2025. A new partnership between AIA Australia and Allianz Retire+ is attempting to address that gap by combining retirement income and health insurance into a single cross-referral arrangement.
Under the deal, AIA health insurance members will gain access to Allianz Retire+’s lifetime income solutions, while Allianz Retire+ clients can access AIA’s health cover. The companies said the partnership targets two risks retirees face simultaneously: outliving their savings and managing rising healthcare costs at a time when health insurance premiums are climbing at their fastest rate in a decade.
For brokers and financial advisers working in the life and health insurance space, the partnership creates a single referral pathway where two separate provider conversations previously existed. An adviser discussing longevity risk with a client nearing retirement could introduce both an income stream product and health cover through a connected process rather than managing two separate relationships.
Damien Mu, chief executive of AIA Australia, said the tie-up reflects a shift in how insurers approach retirement. “This partnership between AIA Australia and Allianz Retire+ represents a significant step forward in helping Australians protect both their health and financial wellbeing in retirement. By combining our strengths, we’re addressing a critical gap in the market,” Mu said.
David Kane, chief executive of Allianz Retire+ in Sydney, said the collaboration responds to fragmentation in the retirement product market. “Together with AIA Australia, we’re creating a more holistic approach to retirement planning that addresses both the financial and health needs of retirees,” Kane said.
Neither company has disclosed the commission or fee structures for advisers participating in the cross-referral, or the eligibility criteria for clients. Those details will be significant for brokers weighing whether the arrangement simplifies their workflow or adds another product to an already complex retirement conversation.
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The SMC report estimated that a typical new retiree who fails to optimise their drawdown strategy could forgo as much as $136,000 over the course of retirement, or roughly $6,500 a year. It also found that 41% of pre-retirees find the rules for withdrawing money from super difficult to understand.
Separate research from the AMP Retirement Confidence Pulse, published in September 2026 and based on a Dynata survey of 2,000 Australians, found that 58% worry about running out of money in retirement.
The Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA) has pointed to the gap between advised and unadvised Australians as evidence that professional guidance makes a measurable difference. The FAAA’s Value of Advice Index, published in October 2025 and based on a survey of 1,226 respondents, found that 88% of advised Australians believe they will have sufficient funds for retirement, compared with 62% of those without advice.
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The AIA-Allianz Retire+ partnership sits within a broader move toward combining accumulation, decumulation, and protection products. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has been pushing superannuation trustees to develop comprehensive retirement income strategies under the Retirement Income Covenant, which took effect in July 2022, and Treasury’s best practice principles released in late 2024 raised expectations that funds would offer integrated solutions rather than standalone accumulation products.
As longer lifespans put new pressure on Australia’s life insurance market, several product providers have moved toward combining longevity protection with other coverage in the past 18 months.
For advisers, the practical question remains whether bundled products genuinely reduce the number of conversations needed with retirement clients, or whether they introduce another layer of complexity. With private health cover enrolments at a record 12.7 million and retirement income product uptake still in single figures, the demand side is clear. How well the supply side delivers for advisers will depend on the operational detail AIA and Allianz Retire+ have yet to release.
