Kelly Power
Colonial First State has announced an insurance premium reduction for customers of its FirstChoice Employer Super, Essential Super, FirstChoice Personal and FirstChoice Wholesale Personal products. The changes follow the reappointment of AIA as Colonial First State’s insurer and will benefit almost 220,000 customers, saving them a combined $40 million a year, effective from the first quarter of 2022.
AIA has been reappointed following a thorough and strongly contested process. Proposals were independently assessed by an external consultant, who evaluated the insurers on their strength and stability, terms and conditions, services and technology, claims management, and premiums proposal.
Customers will benefit from an average 18 per cent reduction in insurance premiums across all Colonial First State products.
Kelly Power, CEO of CFS Superannuation, said: “We’re delighted to reappoint AIA as our provider of insurance following a highly competitive tender process. AIA demonstrated significant uplifts in proposed service, technology, underwriting and claims management capabilities when compared with the other proposals we received.
“The reduction in insurance premium for almost 220,000 customers is another example of how CFS continues to share the benefits of our scale with customers. We will continue to review our products and services to ensure our customers receive the best possible benefits at the lowest possible price.”
Colonial First State has been consistently reducing its fees over the past two years with more than 770,000 customers benefiting from aggregate savings of more than $215 million per year during that time.
Colonial First State is in the process of establishing itself as a standalone superannuation and investments business following the sale of a 55 per cent stake to KKR, which is expected to be completed in the coming months. Following completion of the transaction, Colonial First State will be owned by CBA and KKR in partnership.