Chubb Life New Zealand chief executive Gail Costa (pictured), whose insurance career started more than four decades ago via her first job at Colonial Mutual, believes attracting people into the industry would have to start with the public gaining a better understanding of the trade during their schooling years.
Speaking with Insurance Business, Costa said: “I’m sure that people don’t really understand insurance because we don’t teach it in school. We know from New Zealand being underinsured that there’s a financial literacy issue. Let’s talk about what the industry does and how it works.
“There’s the general insurance industry, and then there’s the life insurance industry. They both work largely on the same principles of a pool of money to protect assets and people. But there’s a lot more to it; you can actually have a career.”
In Costa’s case, she was fortunate to have had a mentor who took her under their wing and pushed her to take on new roles – seeing her move up from her initial function as someone retrieving past policies (to see if new applications have existing business with the company) for underwriters.
“They actually encouraged me to make use of the study leave and go to university and get a qualification,” Costa said. “So, I actually started my degree as part-time study, full-time working.”
For the uninitiated, Costa believes it’s important to have a grasp of the sector, particularly the benefits it provides, to get an appreciation of insurance.
She said: “We’ve got to start getting it taught in schools and maybe university as part of courses. You get a feel for the banking system when you’re growing up or when you’re going through education. I remember having to describe what insurance was to my own children.
“I just sort of said that a whole lot of people give us money and we look after it. And then if somebody has a fire or their house falls down or they die, we give them back what we committed to. And not everyone has those bad things happen, so the many is paying for a few, if you like.”
Interestingly, Costa’s daughter now works at the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) - Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko.
“I know that she enjoys it, and she understands the industry very well,” the Chubb Life NZ boss said.
Needless to say, the same applies to Costa herself.
“[What I love about insurance is] the people you work with,” she told Insurance Business. “Some of the advisers I’ve met 40 years ago are still around. I think the top thing is actually seeing the benefit of what it means to a customer… That’s what we’re here for. And that’s the thing that warms your heart the most, that we’re actually, at terribly difficult times, making life easier for people.”
Now if only people were taught that in school.
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