Making insurance easier

The insuretech company has just launched a new online process which allows customers to fully manage and modify their insurance policy without having to wait for a confirmation.

This includes being able to increase or decrease the replacement value or excess of their rental property.

Live Policy uses a personalised dashboard to facilitate this and enables customers to make changes instantly at any time of the day or week.

Initio CEO Rene Swindley says Live Policy gives more control to their customers.

It also helps them avoid the traditional, clunky process which requires the customer to make direct contact by phone or email to request cover changes, he says.

“It’s about giving the customer total control over their insurance and it’s about getting away from having to wait in-line at a call centre.

“We felt that being able to modify your insurance when you wanted adds significant value to a more transparent and responsive insurance experience – so we built Live Policy.”

Since its launch in 2011 Initio has always used technology to push the boundaries of insurance for the benefit of the end user, Swindley says.

“Insurance doesn’t need to be complicated. Our overriding mission is to make insurance more approachable for homeowners and landlords.”

The launch is timely as it comes just days after the release of a major global insurance report, conducted by reinsurer Lloyds, which lists New Zealand as the second riskiest country for insurance.

A World at risk: Closing the insurance gap, ranked 43 countries on their expected loss from disaster by looking at the probability of a natural disaster happening and multiplying that by the cost.

New Zealand has an annual expected loss of 0.66% of its GDP – which puts it second behind Bangladesh on 0.83%.

Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton says the report shows how risky New Zealand really is.

“Since the last report in 2012, we’ve seen the cost of the Canterbury earthquakes continue to rise, a second major earthquake striking Kaikōura and Wellington and a major flood in Edgecumbe.”

“As a risky country, it’s important we remain well-insured. That means not only ensuring we insure our assets but making sure coverage of those assets is sufficient to replace them.”