Tower Limited will close its Rotorua office and transfer work currently carried out there to teams in Auckland and Suva, Fiji, combining role relocations, remote-working arrangements, and redundancies as it adjusts its operating model.
The insurer has confirmed that the Rotorua site, which houses contact centre and technical employees, will be wound down following a consultation process. Earlier proposals outlined that about 29 office-based contact centre roles in Rotorua would either move to Auckland or be disestablished with redundancy offered, while around 20 technical team members would be able to remain in their roles on a permanent work-from-home basis based in Rotorua. In a Feb. 17 statement, chief executive Paul Johnston said Tower had finalised the overall shape of the new operating model but had not yet confirmed the final outcome for each role. “Our people first need the opportunity to express interest in the roles we are offering or take redundancy. We recognise this period of change may be difficult for some of our people, and we are committed to supporting them throughout,” Johnston said, as reported by NewstalkZB.
Johnston said the company is offering access to career development and wellbeing services, assistance in exploring redeployment within Tower, and relocation support where relevant. He said customers in Rotorua and the wider Bay of Plenty would continue to be served through digital and telephone channels after the office closure, with no change signalled to policy servicing or claims handling for the region. For Tower, the move consolidates its onshore operations into a single main office in Auckland, with a portion of work reassigned to its Fiji team, while retaining some Rotorua-based capability through remote work arrangements.
Workers First Union – which represents affected staff in Rotorua – has opposed the closure, focusing on the loss of regional jobs and the redistribution of work to Auckland and Fiji within Tower’s wider network. National organiser for finance Callum Francis said Tower was “offshoring and centralising a number of their roles” to Fiji and Auckland, and that “the entire Rotorua office is being disestablished with more than 50% of the staff losing their jobs.” He added: “What I know from our roles that are being affected is that half of them are going to, at least, under this proposal, find themselves without work." He said he understood the changes would come into effect in “a month or two.”
Francis added that Tower had a “significant footprint in New Zealand” but, in his view, it was not showing “the expected level of social responsibility or loyalty” to the country’s regions. He said companies could “extract money out of New Zealanders and then ship work overseas or automate work instead of improving and investing in decent work and more jobs within local communities”. In his view: “Tower needs to step up and slow down the process so that workers can focus on remaining employed or finding other employment so that they aren’t punished and disadvantaged because of Tower’s decisions and [its] rush to shut down operations in Rotorua.” He pointed to options such as fixed-term contracts to give staff more time to transition, arguing that a slower implementation timetable would lessen the employment shock for the local labour market. The union’s position highlights ongoing tension in New Zealand’s financial services sector between regional employment, the consolidation of operations in major centres, and increased use of offshore locations and remote work.
Responding to criticism, Johnston said Tower’s onshore operating footprint would be centred on its Auckland headquarters once the Rotorua site shuts. He linked the restructure to ongoing process and technology changes across the business that he said have reduced the volume of work requiring a separate Rotorua site. He said the changes stemmed from Tower’s “digital transformation, improved efficiency, and processes” reducing “overall workload.” He added: “While some work will be redistributed across our existing teams in Auckland and Suva, and other responsibilities will be picked up by new roles created in Auckland, no new roles are being created in Suva as a result of these changes.”
Johnston noted that Tower has operated in Fiji for more than 150 years and described the company as “a proud Kiwi and Pacific business.” He said the insurer runs a single operating model across New Zealand and the Pacific, with Fiji-based personnel employed directly by Tower rather than through an outsourcing provider. “All members of our Fiji team are Tower employees and an integral part of our team, and we operate as one organisation across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, with consistent training, benefits, terms and conditions, and competitive pay, for all our people,” he said.
Johnston said it remained too early to confirm how many Rotorua staff would ultimately exit the business, as employees still had the option to pursue Auckland-based roles, accept redundancy or, for some positions, remain with Tower while working from home in Rotorua. According to the union, the practical changes are expected to take effect within one to two months. For insurance professionals, the shift illustrates how Tower is reallocating work between New Zealand and Fiji while using in-house offshore teams rather than third-party business process providers, consistent with sector-wide moves toward central hubs and digital service channels.
At the same time, Tower is developing parametric products in Fiji through the launch of Rainfall Response Cover for the 2025-26 wet season. The cover pays a pre-agreed cash amount when rainfall exceeds specified trigger levels, without the need to demonstrate physical loss or obtain an assessor’s signoff, functioning as a trigger-based payout mechanism rather than traditional indemnity insurance. Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) Deputy Governor Esala Masitabua said: “The Reserve Bank welcomes Tower’s introduction of this innovative product to the market, which extends the suite of parametric microinsurance solutions available to all Fijians.” He said such products are enabling communities “to access insurance as a means of protection against financial loss,” particularly where heavy rainfall recurs during the year.
Tower’s product development in Fiji is occurring alongside premium growth and regulatory change in that market. According to the Reserve Bank of Fiji’s 2024 Insurance Annual Report, tabled in Parliament on Sept. 29, 2025, the domestic industry recorded gross premiums of FJ$476 million in 2024, supported by economic expansion. Industry assets increased 7.5% to FJ$2.9 billion, while the combined solvency surplus rose 22.6% to FJ$688.5 million. Despite the absence of severe catastrophe events in 2024, insurers paid FJ$254.2 million in net claims and policy payments. Life insurers accounted for FJ$139.3 million, largely in respect of matured policies, while general insurers paid FJ$114.9 million, mainly for medical and motor vehicle claims, indicating pressure from underlying portfolio activity rather than a single large event.
RBF Governor Ariff Ali said the central bank is continuing its review of the Insurance Act 1998 and progressing work to support the adoption of IFRS 17 by local insurers. He highlighted an August 2024 grant agreement with the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, designed to support the introduction and scaling of climate risk parametric insurance products in Fiji, including those delivered through local carriers and development partners. The RBF expects the sector to maintain positive performance in 2025 but has flagged climate-related loss volatility and global economic and geopolitical risks as key factors for pricing, capital, and risk modelling. For New Zealand-based insurers with Pacific portfolios, including Tower, these dynamics – together with the Rotorua restructuring and increased use of parametric products – provide context for decisions on where and how work, capital, and risk are allocated across the region.
