Darren Wickham

Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) has launched the first dedicated corporate income protection benefit designed specifically to cover female health conditions and events.

The benefit seeks to address the needs and experiences of Australian women and follows research that finds that three-quarters of working females have suffered negative career impacts due to conditions such as menopause and endometriosis. 

The research, based on a survey of close to 800 women across the country, sought to uncover experiences related to female health conditions, including: menopause; pregnancy-related conditions such as Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), early pregnancy loss or still birth; endometriosis; and menstrual disorders such as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD).

For the approximately two-thirds of women experiencing these conditions, the research finds:

• 80 per cent had decreased productivity at work and/or home
• 60 per cent required significant time off work to manage symptoms, and
• 30 per cent had incurred financial loss.

In addition, almost 70 per cent of women reported not informing their employer of their health condition(s) due to concerns relating to discrimination or lack of support. Of those who did disclose their condition, one in three women indicated they had experienced discrimination or bias, particularly those working in healthcare, social welfare or education sectors.

Darren Wickham, Head of Group Insurance at Zurich Australia & New Zealand said: “It is widely acknowledged that women’s health conditions are under-researched and misunderstood. This gap extends to many workplaces, where women experiencing these conditions are facing productivity and career impacts, and in some cases, discrimination and isolation.”

“Women experiencing these conditions also often do not meet the definition of total or partial ‘disability’ under traditional income protection products given the typically intermittent nature of these health events. This has created a significant protection gap for women in the workplace.” 

“As a first for Australia, this new benefit is an important step in the journey to improving support and recognition of women’s health and ensuring those experiencing these health issues receive the protection they need,” Mr Wickham said.

The ‘Women’s Health Benefit’ forms part of Zurich’s refreshed Corporate Care Income Protection product and is payable to women on behalf of their employer if they experience: ectopic pregnancy; HG; pre-term birth, still-birth or neonatal mortality; endometriosis; PMDD; or menopause.

Beyond the financial benefit, eligible women will also have access to several free resources including educational content, masterclasses and digital health programs to support their return to health.

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Justin Delaney

Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) has announced it has been appointed by Brighter Super to provide group insurance for its members from 1 July 2023.

Queensland-based Brighter Super manages approximately $30 billion in assets on behalf of around 250,000 members.

Justin Delaney, Chief Executive Officer, Zurich Australia & New Zealand said: “Zurich has made a significant commitment to group insurance globally and is focused on bringing the best of the wider Zurich enterprise for the benefit of superannuation members.”

“We are excited at the opportunity to deepen our partnership with Brighter Super to support their members with great value and fantastic service,” Mr Delaney said.

Darren Wickham, Head of Group Insurance, Zurich Australia said: “Zurich and Brighter Super share a common commitment to providing market leading services to members. Through this new agreement, Brighter Super members will have access to Zurich’s award-winning claims service, health and wellness offerings and sustainability initiatives.”

Kate Farrar, Chief Executive Officer, Brighter Super said: “The decision was ultimately guided by which offering was in the best financial interest of our members, and we are delighted to deepen our partnership with Zurich as a key strategic partner to our business.”

“Zurich’s purpose is to create a brighter future together, and this outlook obviously resonated for our business,” Ms Farrar said.

Zurich currently provides group insurance for the Energy Industry division of Brighter Super. Brighter Super members will not see any changes to the terms of their policies or coverage because of this change.

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Darren Wickham

Mercy Super has appointed Zurich Australia Limited (Zurich) as its new insurance partner, effective 1 August 2022.

First established to provide benefits to employees of the Sisters of Mercy Queensland in 1962, Mercy Super now has $1.7 billion in funds under management. The partnership will see Zurich provide a comprehensive insurance offering and benefits to Mercy Super’s 13,000 members.

Mercy Super awarded the mandate to Zurich following a competitive tender process. In naming Zurich as their insurance partner, Mercy Super cited Zurich’s strong global brand and innovation, as well as the opportunity to provide a bespoke insurance offering to its members. Mercy Super will also benefit from the opportunity to integrate Zurich with their administrator, GROW Admin Co.

The new partnership will give Mercy Super members access to Zurich’s market-leading health and wellness solutions such as its LiveWell app, our tailored rehabilitation services and the new My Wellbeing Hub, an information portal providing resources for both Mercy Super and its members.

Wendy Tancred, CEO at Mercy Super said: “Mercy Super has a long-standing tradition of providing its members with quality insurance cover that is fit-for-purpose for our membership community – supporting them in their time of need. We’re proud to be able to continue this tradition in our new insurance partnership with Zurich.”

Commenting on the appointment, Darren Wickham, Head of Group Insurance for Zurich, said: “We’re delighted to be given the opportunity to provide the members of Mercy Super with peace of mind via great value insurance. We are passionate about members understanding and engaging with the fund about the cover they have, and we look forward to helping Mercy Super do this”. News Release 1st June, 2022

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Francis Burgess will join Zurich Life & Investments in the newly created role of Head of Pricing, Group Insurance. Francis will join Zurich from TAL where he was most recently Head of Pricing. Prior to TAL, he spent time at Pacific Life Re as the Head of Pricing. During his career, Francis has played a key role in winning some of the industry’s largest tenders.

Francis is appointed alongside Jennifer Faglioni and John Mirotsos, who respectively have taken up the roles of Head of Product and Head of Partnerships. Jennifer and John were internal appointments, in line with Zurich’s commitment to career development.  They took on their new responsibilities in September and June respectively.

A Head of Member Engagement and Innovation is also being recruited to the Group Insurance leadership team and is expected to fill the role in October.

These roles report to Darren Wickham, Head of Group Insurance.

On the appointments, Mr Wickham, said, “We are delighted to have the deep expertise and diverse capabilities of Jennifer, John and Francis coming together to reinforce our group insurance capabilities and in boost our partner and member service approach.

“Francis brings with him deep technical expertise and professional leadership. His appointment will help boost Zurich’s actuarial strength, whilst delivering new insights and innovation to our partners. His skillset will be complemented ably by John’s relationship experience and Jennifer’s deep knowledge of member needs and future product imperatives.

“Zurich is the largest retail insurer in Australia and is investing in its group insurance business.  These appointments demonstrate our determination to be successful in the market.”

Jennifer was previously the Head of Group Claims at Zurich and has 14 years of industry experience. Prior to her time at Zurich, Jennifer spent time at both ANZ and MLC Australia.

John was previously the National Sales Manager of Group Insurance at Zurich Australia and has over 30 years of industry experience at institutions such as ANZ Wealth and ING.

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The key changes include the realignment of the business around two business lines – Individual Life and Group Life and Investments.

Previously TAL’s Chief Distribution Officer, Tim Thorne has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer – Individual Life and is responsible for the end-to-end customer and adviser propositions within TAL’s Direct and Retail markets. Previously TAL’s Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Howard has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer – Group Life and Investments, leading TAL’s activities and capabilities in the Group Life, Investments, Health Services, and retirement markets.

In addition, Darren Wickham has been appointed as Executive General Manager, Group Life and Gavin Teichner appointed as  Executive General Manager, Individual Life – these appointments reflect the size and scope of their responsibilities within these business lines.

Critical to the delivery within Individual Life and Group Life and Investments is TAL’s commitment to its customers, particularly around claims. Reflecting that priority, TAL has recently appointed Jenny Oliver to the newly created Executive role of Chief Claims Officer. Jenny was previously General Manager – Group Insurance.

TAL Group CEO and Managing Director, Brett Clark said, “It’s important that our leadership structure reflects our ongoing commitment to our customers, partners and community, and the importance we place on each of the markets in which we operate. Executive Leadership roles with an end-to-end focus on customer and partner outcomes in those respective channels, will enable us to realise greater agility in a rapidly changing landscape and allow for more effective and efficient management of our relationships with our customers and partners.

“I am confident that this structure, which is aligned to our overarching business strategy, will set us up well for ongoing success as we continue striving to deliver for our customers, partners, our people and the business as a whole.”

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FCRs are a “health check” of the financial and risk management of a superannuation fund and can make a substantial contribution to achieving better risk and financial management in the sector.

Darren Wickham, chair of the Actuaries Institute FCR Taskforce, believes these reports will be extremely valuable for trustees and fund executives going through the MySuper licensing process as they can help answer the following questions:

    • Does the fund have adequate operational risk reserves?
    • Does the fund have scale?
    • Will the fund have sufficient liquidity under different stress scenarios?

“The reports provide useful information to assist trustees in the development of their risk appetite statements as required by the new prudential standards. They provide both a methodology for the trustee and a clear demonstration as to how they reached their conclusion,” said Wickham.

Speaking at the ASFA Conference today in Sydney, Darren Wickham and fellow leading actuary James Collier, two of the co-authors of the new professional guidance added, “FCRs are widely used in the insurance industry and provide an objective assessment of the key risks faced by the entity as well as an assessment of financial strength. FCRs also involve modeling the fund into the future and provide stress testing under different scenarios.”

In relation to the use of an FCR for prudential standards, it is considered the areas covered by an FCR (as set out in the guidance) will also provide valuable information in relation to the best financial and risk management practice of superannuation funds.

The guidance was approved after a period of consultation and a thorough due diligence process. As well assisting actuaries working in this area, it represents the Institute’s commitment to quality – providing a common framework, terminology and approach in preparing FCRs.

“The Institute has developed this guidance to assist super funds to better comply with the APRA prudential standards, particularly important given the size and significance of the sector in safeguarding Australians’ retirement incomes,” Wickham concluded.

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