The move was a surprise to some conference attendees as the firm has been in the spotlight over concerns about what its recent redundancies might mean for its financial health and its reliance on reinsurance funding, which the Reserve Bank has in its sights.

PAA chief executive Peter Leitch said the win did not mean the organisation was endorsing the insurer as a provider of choice.

He said the decision was made on the results of a survey to members, which asked about their experiences with the support they received and the quality of products offered. “We wanted to recognise our members were saying these providers are doing things right.”

Lender of the year was ASB and KiwiSaver/Investment provider of the year was Fidelity Life.

About 400 advisers attended the two-day conference, which Leitch said was a complete success.

“There were lots of very positive comments from people who said they’d had tremendous value out of it. In the words of Al Brown, the key thing is to be able to take the recipe, add to it and pass it on. That’s what we want, for people to go away with ideas to use in their business.”

Brown, a celebrity chef, was one of the conference’s keynote speakers.

It was announced at the gala awards and dinner event on Friday that Leitch is to stand down as chairman. He will be replaced by Bruce Cortesi, who is currently the chairman of the Bay/Waikato PAA region.