Major rural insurer FMG (Farmers Mutual Group), which is already settling claims and making emergency payments following the recent battering taken by New Zealand, is assuring members and clients that it can handle the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle and the wider North Island storms.
“There’s no doubt it will be a long recovery,” FMG chief executive Adam Heath (pictured) told Insurance Business. “And I know there’s been some concerns aired regarding how FMG and the wider insurance industry will cope with such a sequence of events.
“FMG has an excellent reinsurance programme in place and the funds to support our clients when they need us. We’ve been supporting rural New Zealand/Aotearoa for 118 years, and our intention remains to be here for the next 100 years doing exactly that.”
Part of FMG’s response has been to meet not only with those directly affected by the floods but also with the government.
“This is an unparalleled event for rural New Zealand, and its impact will be felt for considerable time,” Heath said. “I recently travelled to Hawke’s Bay along with our board chair, Tony Cleland, to FMG’s Hastings office and spent time with our team who have been doing the hard work/mahi over recent weeks.
“Words fail to do justice to the devastation we saw, and it was a real privilege to meet and spend time with some of those impacted by the cyclone who shared their stories of remarkable endurance with Tony and I. There will be similar stories along all of the East Coast of the North Island from Wairarapa to Gisborne and up to Northland.”
Heath shared that he has spoken with Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor, who he said is interested in the rural insurance giant’s perspective on the recent events.
“FMG has also written to Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Duncan Webb seeking a meeting to provide both a mutual and rural perspective on the impacts and implications for rural communities,” Heath told Insurance Business.
“As Aotearoa’s largest 100% New Zealand-owned mutual and rural insurer, it’s important we give a voice to our members, clients, and people. We remain committed to our vision of helping to build strong and prosperous rural communities.”
The current priority, according to the insurer, is assisting the most vulnerable, such as claimants who have lost their properties.
“We’ve moved our in-house assessors from around the country to the areas most impacted,” a spokesperson for FMG told Insurance Business. “We’ve also contracted in additional assessing support to reach people as efficiently and as safely as possible. We’re already settling claims, making emergency payments, and supporting clients that need it with temporary accommodation.”
Meanwhile, those with claims not related to the floods are encouraged to consider lodging them online, to help keep FMG’s phone lines accessible for those in need of immediate support.
The mutual has also been in contact with insureds to provide information on how to access assistance and advice.
“We’ve been using a broad range of channels to communicate with our clients throughout our response,” FMG said. “Initially we emailed and texted some 6,000 clients across the East Coast region, and we also emailed some 20,000 in the wider Northland region and have been in touch with regular updates. To support this, we also ran an outbound calling programme to check in with close to 6,000 potentially impacted clients.”
Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary flooding, as highlighted by the Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa, have resulted in around twice as many claims lodged following the Kaikōura earthquake in 2016.
