AIA New Zealand has moved simpler life insurance applications in one of its largest group schemes to an automated underwriting engine built by a New Zealand insurtech. Eligible applications are now accepted and issued without an underwriter reviewing them.
The change completes a two-year overhaul of the New Zealand Police Association’s group insurance scheme, which covers about 14,000 members and has run since 1996. Members can now enrol online, with automated rules deciding eligible applications. AIA said this would give its underwriters more time for complex cases. The scheme is administered by the association’s insurance arm, Police Welfare Fund Insurances Limited, with AIA as the underwriter.
The underwriting rules run on technology from Intelligent Life, a New Zealand company that has been building automated life underwriting systems since 2007. Its engine can be set up to make decisions on life, trauma, disability, income protection and health applications. Its first system, for Pinnacle Life, sold fully underwritten life cover online without an adviser.
Jonathan Beale, AIA NZ’s chief distribution officer, said the programme had simplified enrolment, cut manual administration and made the scheme easier to grow. Bryan McConnell, the association’s chief operating officer, said speed mattered for police officers.
“Our members have demanding careers and busy lives, so making insurance easier to access and manage is an important improvement,” McConnell said.
The project adds to AIA NZ’s growing business outside the traditional advice channel. The insurer launched online-only starter plans in 2022, describing them as a source of new leads for advisers, and has since formed a partnership with Woolworths.
AIA also said the changes would help the scheme meet regulatory requirements. Since March 2025, life insurers have had to run fair conduct programmes under the Conduct of Financial Institutions regime. Automated rules apply the same criteria to every applicant and record how each decision was made, which can help an insurer show customers are treated consistently.
Group schemes like this give members cover with very little friction, but it has limits. The association says sworn members are provided with up to $300,000 of life cover through the scheme, which may fall well short for an officer with a mortgage and young children. Group cover also generally depends on membership, so members leaving the force or retiring need to check what continues. Both are points where advice still matters.
The bigger question for advisers is whether the same automation will reach the applications they submit. AIA NZ was first to market with an adviser e-application through its AIAHub portal. The release doesn’t say how many scheme applications are now issued without manual underwriting, or whether similar rules will apply to retail business.
