Asteron Life has unveiled a series of updates and refinements to its range of personal and business insurance products.
This move, according to the company, is aimed at better addressing customer needs and simplifying the process for insurance advisers. The enhancements include both new features and the clarification of existing policy terms to ensure greater transparency and ease of understanding.
Claire Sutton (pictured), executive manager life portfolio and new business at Asteron Life, shared insights on the company's strategy to integrate feedback from policyholders and advisers into its service improvements.
“It's key that our range of covers continue to add value for our customers, policies and terms are easy to understand, and insurance remains as affordable and accessible as possible. We know that these things really matter for our customers and advisers. We also worked hard to ensure that these improvements have not increased customer premiums, given we know how tough it is for many New Zealanders right now,” she said.
Among the notable updates is the introduction of new benefits for both personal and business insurance plans. These include a benefit for repatriation under the Life Cover, an advancement benefit for terminal conditions on personal Life Cover, and shortened waiting periods for Income Protection and Mortgage and Living Cover. Business and Farmers Disability Cover now feature a conversion benefit.
The enhancements extend to the improvement of funeral benefits, adjustments in the definitions for Trauma Recovery and Major Trauma, and the elimination of a mandatory 14-day total disability condition from several business cover options.
Moreover, the changes include the introduction of a suspension option for premiums under the optional Needlestick benefit and the removal of certain limitations on benefits such as the Specific Injury support and Crisis benefit within the Immediate Assist package.
To further support policyholder understanding, Asteron Life has revised its policy wordings to align with its commitment to using plain language. This includes a new definition addressing congenital conditions under Kids Cover and clearer terms regarding the Income update benefit and optional Terminal illness support benefit.
These policy enhancements and clarifications, effective from March 25, apply to all new policies in the personal and business insurance categories. Additionally, these benefits will be retroactively applied to relevant policies issued since 2004, with no required action from policyholders or advisers to activate these updates.
The product improvements follow the appointment of a new executive manager for life distribution.
