Gerard Kerr

ANZ has welcomed corporate clients, super-fund trustees, insurance brokers and financial advisers to its OnePath Group Insurance innovation roadshow to demonstrate the improvements it is making in client experience.

The innovation roadshow is being held in state capitals to highlight a range of enhancements for clients as a result of ongoing investment and innovation in areas such as product, underwriting, analytics and mental and health and wellbeing.

OnePath’s focus on enhancing Group Insurance clients’ accessibility and experience has led to a range of corporate product enhancements, including:

• More benefit period options including new 7 and 10 year benefit periods
• Enhanced recovery assistance benefit to compliment short-term cover
• More tailored TPD definition for employees based on ‘activities of daily work’
• Improved overseas coverage
• Updated medical and TPD definitions
• Higher maximum entry ages
• One easy-to-read document

Commenting on the roadshow, OnePath Head of Insurance Gerard Kerr said: “We are excited to showcase our new improvements for Group Insurance clients and how we’re responding to their feedback to develop solutions for the future.”

The roadshow also featured the rollout of phase two of the Group Portal, which launched an underwriting status enquiry and reporting, and extending access to brokers and financial advisers. Phase one involved the rollout of claims status and reporting for trustees, administrators and members.

“We’re also planning further enhancements as part of the OnePath innovation roadmap which will see improvements in the analytics of claims and underwriting data, data exchange with funds and the simplification of processes to support budget changes,” Mr Kerr said.

The Group Insurance innovation initiatives are supplemented by OnePath’s ongoing focus on mental health and wellbeing programs, the use of wearables and the partnership with the University of Technology (UTS) Advanced Analytics Institute.

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Peter Tilocca

ANZ has announced its OnePath life insurance underwriting engine received an ‘Excellent’ rating in an independent adviser survey, with advisers ranking their experience a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +53.

NPS has a scale from -100 to+100 with anything over +50 regarded as ‘Excellent’.

Commenting on the results, ANZ Wealth Chief Underwriter Peter Tilocca said: “These results show OnePath is delivering on its promise to provide advisers and their clients with an efficient, easy to use underwriting engine.

“We’re very pleased advisers are reaping the rewards from our investment in underwriting innovation, allowing them to spend more time with their clients and building strong, sustainable advice businesses.”

Overall, advisers rated their experience 8.1 out of 10, with 65 per cent of advisers rating it 9 or 10. 18 per cent ranked it 10 out of 10.

Adviser’s feedback demonstrated high satisfaction with the new underwriting engine, with ‘speed of application’ and ‘ease of use’ the highest ranked categories.

• Advisers ranked the following:Easy for me to complete – 8.4 out of 10
• The time it takes to complete the application process – 8.1 out of 10
• It was clear what information was required – 8.1 out of 10
• Experience over the past two weeks – 8.1 out of 10
• The amount of information required – 7.9 out of 10

Verbatim feedback from advisers included:

• “The application is user-friendly and easy for clients to understand.”
• “Straight-forward, easy process, can complete offline.”
• “I find compared to other providers that OnePath is the smoothest application process to complete.”
• “The application is great as is and does not overwhelm the client with too many unnecessary questions.”

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ANZ’s OnePath is sponsoring free BBQs across Australia for men and their families.

ANZ has announced a new a partnership with Mr. Perfect, a grassroots men’s mental health network that encourages conversation and connection through informal BBQs.

Over the next 12 months, ANZ’s OnePath will sponsor more than 120 free BBQs across Australia for men and their families, with the first BBQ taking place this Sunday 21st October at Redfern. These casual BBQs will provide food and plenty of conversations to make sure all members of our community feel safe, supported and acknowledged.

Commenting on the partnership, ANZ’s Head of Mental Health and Wellness, Life Insurance, Maria Falas said: “Our OnePath mental health claims portfolio shows us the need for organisations like Mr. Perfect.

“Male customers have lodged about three quarters of our mental health-related income protection claims, which just highlights how over-represented men are in this space.

“This partnership is an opportunity for OnePath to continue its advocacy of preventative mental health measures for customers, while giving back to the community in a meaningful way.

“We are really proud of this partnership and look forward to 12-months of great conversations, great connections, and helping support communities to discuss the importance of mental wellbeing,” Ms Falas said.

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The support reduces barriers to making claims, stress for the claimant and time to decision.

ANZ’s OnePath has extended support for retail clients making a mental health claim through their total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance.

The service, provided by CaseWorks Australia, makes the claims process simpler and more personalised, with a qualified nurse helping claimants fill in their form at home. This support reduces barriers to making claims, stress for the claimant and time to decision.

Mental health issues currently account for about 20 per cent of OnePath’s TPD claims – the second-highest reason for making a claim.

ANZ’s Head of Mental Health and Wellness, Life Insurance Maria Falas said customer satisfaction had grown since the introduction of the CaseWorks support for OnePath’s income protection clients in June 2017.

“Customer feedback demonstrates the value and benefits of giving our clients access to additional expert support to help them fill in their mental health claim forms.

“Our clients have told us this service has led to improved peace of mind, reduced anxiety, greater transparency and a feeling of confidence that it is being done correctly,” she said.

According to Mindframe*, mental illness is the third leading cause of disability in Australia.

Ms Falas said extending mental health support to OnePath’s TPD clients was important given the predicted growth in mental illness cases across Australia.

“Statistics show that mental illness is a significant cause of claims under disability insurance,” she said.
“It is important that those in the position of protecting people’s lives and financial wellbeing make changes now to ensure customers can receive the protection they need, when they need it.”

*Mindframe is a national media initiative funded by the Australian government under the National Suicide Prevention Program.

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Gerard Kerr

ANZ’s OnePath has made its OneCare life insurance available through HUB24, providing advisers and their clients with a greater selection of insurance products.

OneCare offers advisers a comprehensive range of insurance cover that can be tailored for clients’ needs throughout their different stages.

For the past two years, OnePath has won The Consumer Choice Awards Best Turnaround Time Award and Claims Team of the Year, supporting its best in class commitment to claims service and support.

According to ANZ’s Head of Life Insurance Gerard Kerr, OneCare’s flexible structure and easy accessibility provides advisers and their clients with a true lifetime insurance solution.

“With OneCare now available on the HUB24 platform, we are making life insurance cover more accessible for advisers and their clients,” he said.

OnePath is offering a 10 per cent platform discount on new applications to 1 March 2019. This discount will apply for the life of the policy.

The decision to make OneCare life accessible through HUB24 builds on an agreement announced earlier in the year to offer OneCare life insurance through Macquarie Wrap, giving advisers complete visibility of not only their clients’ OneCare insurance policies, but all their investments including superannuation.

“We are constantly reviewing the OnePath range to ensure we continue to meet clients’ needs,” Mr Kerr said.

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Don Sillar

ANZ has commissioned a mental health and wellness portal for advisers to help them develop a greater awareness about their own mental health and to facilitate more meaningful conversations with their clients about their wellbeing.

Mental health and wellbeing company Mindstar has developed the portal for ANZ giving advisers access to tools, information and education about mental health and wellness issues.

Advisers who attended the ANZ APEX Inspire national roadshow in May also received access to support via Mindstar’s wellbeing professionals; available for themselves, an employee or a family member.

Information about how to access support for small-business owners, support contact numbers and monthly e-newsletters are also available on the portal.

Almost half of Australia’s population will experience a mental illness at some stage in their lives, impacting thousands of workplace and families and costing the Australian economy $28.6 billion a year.

According to ANZ Wealth head of sales Don Sillar, advisers are in a powerful position to positively impact those affected.

“Advisers are on the frontline when it comes to listening and responding to highly personal and confidential information about their clients. However, a recent poll commissioned by ANZ revealed that on average, advisers ranked their knowledge of mental health issues and wellness at six out of 10.

“Nearly two thirds of the 500 advisers surveyed also told us they would like more information and training to help them identify and understand common mental health conditions such as stress, depression and anxiety.

“Our new health and wellness portal will equip advisers with resources to better understand their own health and wellbeing, as well as how to talk about such issues with their clients – and importantly, where to get help,” Mr Sillar said.”

The ANZ APEX Inspire events are designed to take advisers beyond advice, providing them with unique content and practical strategies and insights that they can implement in their personal and business lives.

The ANZ APEX Inspire roadshow held in May featured Samuel Johnson, 2018 Victorian Australian of the Year and 2016 Medal of the Order of Australia recipient, Mindstar CEO Aaron Williams and Mr Meditate’s chief meditation officer Tomas Jajesnica, who led advisers through a guided meditation session.

Johnson encouraged advisers to try and be open about mental health issues. “I really want to urge you to say something if your gut tells you something is wrong.”

He established the Love Your Sister charity with his sister Connie after she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer in 2010. The charity has raised more than $7 million for cancer research, including $2.5 million in 5¢ coins.

More than $24,000 was raised for Love Your Sister at the APEX Inspire events.

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Gerard Kerr

ANZ has launched two new digital tools that offer trustees and members the convenience of real-time digital access to a reliable and centralised source of claims information.

Accessible via any digital device, RiskWorks Insurance Manager allows trustees to ‘self-serve’ and obtain member updates at any time, giving them greater control and delivering a faster and better customer experience.

Superannuation funds and trustees can easily access performance data online to help meet their reporting and monitoring requirements under the Insurance in Superannuation Code of Practice.

RiskWorks Insurance Manager was developed in response to direct feedback from trustees and is already being used by 26 funds. Other features of the tool include:

• a sophisticated and tailored dashboard of claims information
• bespoke claims reports such as claims paid duration, finalised claims and outstanding data
• the ability to tailor reporting to periods, claim types and claim durations
• exportable information, such as details on a member’s claim
• a content library with useful information and educational material for members.

ANZ has also launched RiskWorks MyClaim, a tool that provides members with electronic access to up-to-date claim information at any time. Together, trustees and members can view and discuss the information, giving both parties greater transparency and clarity about a claim’s status.

According to ANZ Wealth Head of Insurance Gerard Kerr these portals put trustees and members in the driving seat when it comes to accessing the information they need and want.

“At OnePath, innovation means change that adds value for clients. In early 2017, we devised a detailed innovation roadmap that details our service proposition to our clients. This is being delivered through a number of service initiatives and new technology, including the trustee and member portals which give trustees and members self-service capability.”

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ANZ launches their OnePath mental and health wellness program.

Mental health and wellness issues are transforming the insurance sector, with more than 23 per cent of income protection claims now involving a mental health condition.

In response, insurers are changing the services they provide and taking a more active role in preventative programs for the wellbeing of their customers.

According to ANZ Wealth Head of Mental Health and Wellness, Life Insurance, Maria Falas, the Australian insurance sector will continue its significant transformation over the next two years in response to this market development.

“Our sector must evolve so it can meet the changing expectations of customers and their needs. There is now an enhanced focus on wellness across the developed world, which is a valuable opportunity for insurers to create deeper and more lasting relationships with customers.

“By focusing on mental and physical wellness, insurers can help provide a pathway to better health for consumers and a more meaningful role in their customers wellbeing.”

Mental health and wellness programs are central to OnePath’s product innovation, adviser support, trustee services and customer experience. According to Mindframe*, every year approximately one in five Australians experience mental illness.

Ms Falas said because the impact of mental health conditions on the community are better communicated and understood today, there is greater demand for insurers to provide more support upstream when customers are well.

“We are continuing our work to better support our customers across the life of a policy to include mental health and wellness, with a focus on health continuum and prevention,” she said. “We consider our customer offering for early engagement in mental health claims to be market leading.”

OnePath’s mental and health wellness program includes:

• Health Coaching – Launched in November 2016, health coaching offers underwritten OneCare customers with a high body mass index or cholesterol/blood-pressure problem the opportunity to reduce their loading with the help of a health coach. To date, 95 per cent of the customers who have used the program have lost weight, with 70 per cent of customers having their loadings reduced and/or removed.
• CaseWorks early engagement program– Customers who notify OnePath of a mental-health claim can get help filling in their claim application, providing them with a more personal service in the comfort of their own homes.
• In November 2017, OnePath launched its mental-health coaching pilot for OneCare income-protection customers, in partnership with Remedy Healthcare. Customers lodging income-protection claims relating to depression or anxiety will be offered a

Remedy Healthcare MindStep program. This phone-based support program will be complimentary and individually tailored. They will also be offered the support of a Caseworks registered nurse to visit their home and guide them through their claim application process.

• Doctor-to-doctor interactions – OnePath facilitates doctor-to-doctor case management, providing a centralised service with a customer’s treating doctor to help the customer regain their health and return to wellness sooner.

*Mindframe is a national media initiative funded by the Australian government under the National Suicide Prevention Program.

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Shayne Elliott

ANZ yesterday announced it would begin implementing a range of initiatives to help improve the quality of financial planning, and customer remediation when things go wrong.

The industry-leading initiatives mean ANZ will remove all sales incentives for financial planning bonuses, speed up customer remediation, quickly remove planners that provide inappropriate advice, and demand new professional standards.

Commenting on the new measures, ANZ Chief Executive Officer Shayne Elliott said: “Financial advice is an important part of the services we offer, but it’s also an area where we’ve failed some of our customers.

“We know it has taken too long for changes to occur, so where we see solutions we will act. That’s why we are getting on with these initiatives now,” he said.

“It is important customers feel confident in the quality and trustworthiness of seeking advice so they can save for retirement and protect the things they care about in a complex system,” Mr Elliott said.

The new initiatives mean ANZ will:

• Remove all sales incentives for bonuses and only assess performance on customer satisfaction, ANZ values, and risk and compliance standards
• Quickly identify and remove planners that provide inappropriate advice – two audit fails and their contract will be terminated
• Only employ new planners with a relevant under graduate degree and industry certification, and require existing planners to be enrolled in further necessary training by January 2019
• Commit to completing compensation on about 9000 current inappropriate advice cases by the end of the year
• Offer an advice review, at no expense, for any of our financial planning customers who may have concerns about their current financial position

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Gerard Kerr

ANZ has welcomed corporate trustees, super-fund trustees and insurance brokers to a technology and innovation roadshow designed to demonstrate how clients can benefit from recent technology and process improvements to its OnePath range.

Commencing in Melbourne and continuing on to Brisbane and Sydney this week, the roadshow showcased a number of innovations spanning claims, underwriting, mental health and including a soon-to-be released trustee portal.

Some of the enhancements included:SMS customer communications, saving 800 hours in the past 12 months and resulting in increased customer gains such as satisfaction and engagement online claims lodgement and tele-claims process available for terminal illness, TPD and income protection event-based SMS triggers prior to GSC payment, the receipt of a new claim, attempted contact by OnePath or to follow up outstanding requirements improved mental health claims management through the procurement of medical evidence on behalf of the customer and upfront case conferencing and triaging new ways of accessing the electronic insurance applications that delivers real-time underwriting outcomes at point of sale.

Process improvements were also a feature of the roadshow, in particular, the recent partnership with Caseworks Australia which offers mental health claimants the assistance of a nurse while filling out their claim form.

According to ANZ’s head of life insurance Gerard Kerr, technology and innovation has the potential to streamline or indeed revolutionise aspects of the OnePath range.

“Technology is such a game changer for our clients so we want to make sure we integrate it where it is of most use to them. They have asked for tools that give them more visibility, transparency and convenience, and our focus has been on delivering in these areas.”

Further technology innovation and process enhancements are set to come from OnePath’s work with the University of Technology’s Sydney’s Advanced Analytics Institute which is using analytics to greatly improve efficiency and sophistication in the underwriting process.

Recently, OnePath was identified as the overall leader across the Beddoes Claimant study, a study that measures with the highest overall rank across the industry.

“OnePath is building recognition of the work it is doing to meet and exceed best practice process standards, utilising technology where it makes sense and is beneficial to do so,” said Mr Kerr.

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