The Medical Assurance Society (MAS) has reported a $73.1 million profit for the year ended March 31, 2026, its third consecutive year of profitability, at a point when weather-related costs have pulled down results elsewhere in the New Zealand market.
MAS underwrites its general insurance products, including house, contents, car and boat cover, through its subsidiary Medical Insurance Society Limited, alongside a life insurance business carrying the same weather-exposed property risk profile as any general insurer active in those lines - a scope of business the mutual's medical-society name doesn't obviously signal, despite its 1921 founding by doctors.
The mutual's 2026 annual report also sets out a 2030 target to become what it calls a "truly Member-first mutual," backed by plans to overhaul technology and advice capability.
Equity rose to $380.5 million over the period, and total assets reached approximately $572 million. MAS also retained its A (Strong) financial strength rating from Standard & Poor's.
Comparing MAS's result against other New Zealand general insurers is complicated by differing reporting periods, and by how recently each has actually reported. MAS and Tower report to March 31; IAG's New Zealand business and Suncorp's New Zealand operations sit inside ASX-listed parents that report half-yearly, with full-year results for the twelve months to June 30, 2026 not yet released as of this article's publication. QBE reports on a calendar half-year to June 30, with no recent figure yet available.
The most current disclosures actually available paint a considerably more mixed picture than MAS's own strong run. IAG's group-wide first-half FY26 results, released February 12, 2026 and covering the six months to December 31, 2025, showed net profit after tax falling to $505 million from $778 million a year earlier, with the decline driven substantially by a $174 million one-off impact from severe seasonal weather following the integration of its RACQ Insurance acquisition. Excluding that one-off item, IAG's underlying insurance margin improved to 16.3% from 15.1%. Suncorp's equivalent first-half FY26 result, covering the same six-month period, showed New Zealand gross written premium falling 5.6% to NZ$1.412 billion, alongside a reduced interim dividend.
Older, full-year figures for IAG New Zealand (AU$606 million profit for the year to June 30, 2025, up from AU$457 million) and Suncorp (profit growth exceeding 40% over the same period), along with QBE's 27% profit increase in its June 2025 half-year result, remain the most recent full-year benchmarks publicly available for those businesses specifically - but they predate MAS's own FY26 result by more than a year and should not be read as describing current 2026 trading conditions.
Tower Limited's own result is the one genuinely contemporaneous comparison available. Tower reported that its profit fell to $22.9 million in the half year to March 31, 2026, down from $49.7 million a year earlier, after large weather-event costs rose to $18.5 million from $3 million. Gross written premium grew just 1% to $301 million, which the insurer attributed to lower average pricing, stronger competition and continued growth in lower-risk properties.
Against that most current and directly comparable data point, MAS's third straight year of profitability, alongside more than $7 million in weather-related claims paid out during FY26, points to a markedly different cost and pricing trajectory than at least one of its listed peers over the same period.
The pressure Tower and others have absorbed is consistent with a wider pattern in claims data. A Wild Weather Tracker report covering the 12 months to February 28, 2026, recorded 46 storms nationally, generating 33,174 storm-related claims, a 256% increase on the 9,324 claims recorded from 29 storms the year prior, with 61% of storms occurring in spring and summer rather than the cooler months typically associated with storm activity.
The ombudsman's office noted that MAS had begun contacting members it identified as potentially affected by the event, joining other insurers using triage processes developed after earlier major weather events, including Cyclone Gabrielle.
"MAS exists for its members, not external shareholders, and that gives us the ability to take a long-term view. This year we have continued to build on our financial strength while listening carefully to what our Members are telling us they want from their mutual," said MAS chair Dr Doug Hill (pictured).
MAS is one of only two mutual insurers left in New Zealand, serving more than 50,000 professionals and their families, a much smaller base than IAG NZ or Suncorp's local brands.
"FY26 marked our third consecutive year of strong profitability and leaves MAS in an excellent position to invest in the future on behalf of members," said chief executive Jo McCauley.
"Our focus now shifts from building strength to using that strength wisely. We are investing in transforming our business, modernising our technology, strengthening our advice capability and improving how Members can engage with us across every touchpoint," McCauley said.
Some of that investment is already visible. MAS appointed Matthew Ineson as chief transformation officer in April 2026, and in May signed an agreement with SaaS provider OMNIMax to build a custom advice solution for use across its adviser network.
That advice push lands against a documented access gap. A March 2026 Financial Markets Authority review found that only 28% of New Zealanders had accessed financial advice in the previous 12 months, with the regulator flagging room to grow access.
Treasury separately found home insurance premiums rose 40% in the two years to early 2026, and a 2025 Consumer NZ report found insurance now ranks among households' top four financial concerns.
MAS also paid out more than $30 million in life, trauma, disability and total permanent disablement claims during FY26, while Member Funds under management grew by $398 million. The MAS Foundation committed $2.9 million to community health initiatives, with Foundation funding rising to $4 million for the year to support further programmes in FY27.
