During 2002 10 life insurers whose total in-force premium represented over 90% of the New Zealand life insurance market, participated in the first Market Evaluation of individual risk products.

The success of the evaluation has resulted in the 2003 edition, conducted by Harvest Partners, being greatly expanded. It will focus on current industry issues and trends to provide participating companies with insight into some of the key areas affecting performance.

According to Steven Davidson from Harvest Partners, “the 2003 Market Evaluation will prove to be a unique and invaluable tool. It will be of significant benefit to life insurers in their annual planning process and assist in formulating strategies that sustain growth and improve profitability.”

The Market Evaluation will provide a comprehensive overview of developments within the risk insurance industry as a whole and provide an authoritative voice on factors driving the industry and forecasting changes in the medium to long term”.

The evaluation will also provide life insurers with a process of identifying, understanding and adapting outstanding practices with the aim of improving their performance and achieving operational excellence.

Davidson says that “users of the Market Evaluation, which provides extensive benchmarking analysis, will be the big winners. The companies will be more informed when making decisions that address key operational challenges such as underwriting performance, claims cost management and optimising the use of reinsurance.”