AIA’s South Island Relationship Manager has left and it is believed that two other positions are under threat.

The company is still dealing with the large lapse effect it suffered as a result of the Te Rau Aroha Longevity Trust deal with BT funds, which ended with a controversial bailout.

Bonds were issued in life insurance policies taken out against Maori lives. But when deaths did not happen frequently enough to provide income to cover premiums, the scheme folded.

AIA chief executive Wayne Besant said both the pre-tax loss for 2011, of $7.8 million, and 2012, of $4.8 million, were the result of a one-off portfolio event: “This was not a surprise and had been planned and provisioned for some time… The financial impact of this event was anticipated and planned for across both years and has now concluded.”

After-tax losses were more than $11 million in both years.

Besant said AIA had enhanced its capital position and invested in a new end-to-end technology platform that supports the adviser market. “We have also developed a new direct marketing capability and invested in our Asian-consumer-focused financial services network (FSN). Very recently, the FSN investment included the recruitment of 16 new agents and a specialist underwriter for the channel."

He said there had been some changes within the adviser-facing sales team. “These have been driven primarily by the need to achieve better alignment of our business model to our value proposition, and also reflect the wider ownership of customer relationships across our business.”