Mr Garsin joins from Suncorp where he is currently Head of Home Claims, specialising in complex natural hazards and vulnerable customers. He has more than 20 years’ experience in financial services, including across life and general insurance.

As Zurich’s Head of Claims Excellence, Mr Garsin will be responsible for driving Zurich’s claims strategy and transformation, including the continued investment and implementation of technology to improve customer claims engagement and outcomes.

Matt Paterson, Chief Claims Officer, Zurich said: “I am delighted to welcome Morris to the claims team and look forward to the valuable insights and leadership he will bring.”

“Claims is our moment to deliver on the promise we make to our customers. As Head of Claims Excellence, Morris will be responsible for ensuring we uphold and continually improve Zurich’s customer-centric claims approach, which centres on care and empathy.”

“Morris will also play a pivotal role in accelerating our investment in claims technology, including utilising, where appropriate, Artificial Intelligence (AI), which we are already seeing provide significant benefits across claims management timeframes, vulnerable customer identification and data processing,” Mr Paterson said.

Mr Garsin will be based in Sydney and will commence in the role in August 2025.

The post Zurich Australia appoints Head of Claims Excellence appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Justin Delaney

Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) recently convened the inaugural meeting of its Mental Health Roundtable, a bi-annual forum of key academic, clinical and civil society representatives to discuss key trends and areas for greater collaboration with the life insurance industry. 

Attendees discussed recent developments Zurich has pursued in relation to utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify key mental health factors. Recent academic research was also presented, together with an exploration of the issues contributing to a growing prevalence of mental health conditions in Australia and factors for driving improved resilience.

The forum also explored mental health-related challenges and opportunities within the life and health insurance sectors, with a view to improve customer outcomes and opportunities for greater collaboration.

Justin Delaney, Chief Executive Officer, Zurich Australia & New Zealand said: “Mental health is obviously a critical issue for individuals, our society and the broader economy. As a leading global insurer and one of the largest retail life insurers in Australia, Zurich continues to witness the rising and profound impact of mental health issues across the breadth of our diverse customer base.” 

“The rich discussion and shared insights from this forum are an encouraging sign. No one wants insurance to be a barrier to individuals seeking and receiving the appropriate advice or care.”

“We hope and expect this bi-annual roundtable will act as an important advisory mechanism, promoting more meaningful engagement and understanding across both the mental health and life insurance sectors to support improved resilience,” Mr Delaney said. 

Professor Alison Calear, Co-Head, Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University (ANU) said: “Research shows that the prevalence of mental health conditions continues to rise, particularly for young Australians.”

“The drivers of poor mental health and the changes required to improve it remain very complex. Forums like this are an incredibly important opportunity to share unique insights and perspectives in order to adequately address this growing issue,” Professor Calear said.

Belinda Elworthy, Chief Executive Officer, Gotcha4Life Foundation said: “In a landscape that can feel increasingly complex, it is connection, commitment and collective action that can help us to drive meaningful change. I appreciated the opportunity to come together and share insights and diverse perspectives.’

Dr Daisy Brooke, Chief Executive Officer, Mental Health Professionals Network (MHPN) and Tackle Your Feelings Steering Committee member said: “The roundtable was a fantastic opportunity for stakeholders in the sector to collaborate and share insights around the evolving nature of mental health presentations in the Australian community.”

“Zurich’s ongoing commitment to host a forum dedicated to discussing research and innovation in mental health is an example of the leadership they are showing in the financial services industry,” Dr Brooke said.

Approximately one quarter of Zurich life insurance applications include a disclosure for a mental health condition. Mental health was the third most common cause for claim at Zurich in 2023, representing close to one in five claims*. For some Zurich retail life insurance products, mental health accounted for up to 35 per cent of claims, representing one of the most common reasons for claim. 

The inaugural Zurich Mental Health Roundtable was attended by:

• Professor Alison Calear, Co-Head, Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University (ANU) College of Health and Medicine
• Katherine Newton, Chief Executive Officer, R U OK?
• Jackie Hallan, Director of Service, ReachOut
• Belinda Elworthy, Chief Executive Officer, Gotcha4Life Foundation
• Dr Simon Benson, Clinical Director, Bupa
• Dr Daisy Brooke, Chief Executive Officer, Mental Health Professionals Network (MHPN) and Tackle Your Feelings Steering Committee member

Zurich Executives in attendance included: Justin Delaney, Chief Executive Officer; Jacqui Lennon, Head of Retail; and Matt Paterson, Chief Claims Officer.

The post Zurich Australia convenes inaugural mental health roundtable appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Matt Paterson

Following the release of its ‘Cost of Care’ report, Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) has published new analysis of its life insurance claims data^[1], which found musculoskeletal conditions, cancer and mental health were the most claimed illnesses in 2023.

Musculoskeletal claims represented the highest volume at more than one third of all claims (34 per cent), followed by cancer (21 per cent), mental health (18 per cent) and cardiovascular conditions (9 per cent). The top conditions claimed were consistent with figures from 2022.

Cancer represented the highest average claim amount at $187,000, followed by cardiovascular claims at an average of $150,000, neurological claims at $144,000 and mental health at $118,000. Some of these conditions saw significant double digit average claim amount increases since 2022.

Data also revealed male customers were more likely to claim for musculoskeletal conditions than females, while females were more likely to claim for mental health conditions and cancer than males.

Matt Paterson, Chief Claims Officer at Zurich said: “Behind every claim is a person or family experiencing challenging times. We are proud to have supported more than 12,000 claiming customers in 2023 at a time when they needed us most.”

The analysis reflects similar trends found in Zurich’s ‘Cost of Care’ report, which also highlighted strong prevalence for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, as well as significant lifetime costs to manage conditions such as cancer ($65,000 on average) and acute coronary events ($66,000 on average).

“Both Zurich’s claims data and ‘Cost of Care’ analysis highlight a growing need for Australians to prioritise resilience and prevention across their health and finances,” Mr Paterson said.

“This area will continue to be a strong focus for Zurich and the value we offer our customers, with data playing a key role in the continued evolution of these services. 

Zurich claims data can be found at zurich.com.au/lifeclaims and OnePath claims data at onepath.com.au/lifeclaims.

Read the report.

———–

Notes:
[1] Retail, Direct and Group Insurance customers, inclusive of OnePath Life

The post Zurich releases 2023 life claims analysis appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Matt Paterson

Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) has released updated analysis on the growing incidence and cost of disease in Australia.

The report, ‘Cost of Care’, analyses and collates publicly available health and economic data for more than 30 major medical conditions – including: mental health; cancer; respiratory and heart disease – comparing prevalence, incidence & survival rates and calculating lifetime & out of pocket cost estimates for many conditions.

The report finds that mental health conditions – including affective disorders, anxiety and substance abuse – were the most prevalent in Australia in recent years, with over 12 million active cases between 2020 and 2022. This is followed by COVID-19, which has seen approximately 11 million reported cases over a similar period.

For cancer, the report finds increasing incidence estimates in eight out of 10 types since 2018, driven by: prostate (+44 per cent since 2018); breast (+14 per cent) and melanoma (+27 per cent). Despite this, most cancer types saw marginally improved survival rates.

Lifetime cost estimates vary by condition, led by spinal cord injury (between $6.8 million and $12.9 million), childhood cancer ($1.09 million) and Motor Neurone Disease ($201,340). Other highly prevalent health conditions recorded costs including $143,000 for diabetes type 1 (lifetime cost) and $41,748 for chronic kidney disease with kidney failure (average cost per year).

Matt Paterson, Chief Claims Officer, Zurich Australia & New Zealand said: “There is a significant financial burden associated with the treatment of certain medical conditions in Australia. Concerningly, many of these are growing in prevalence against a backdrop of increased cost-of-living pressures and issues with access to insurance.”

“As health diagnoses and treatment continue to rapidly advance, this analysis can serve as a useful single source of truth for insurance professionals, financial advisers and the broader community, assisting individuals and families to make informed decisions to improve their collective health and financial resilience.”

“Likewise, this data will play an important role in the continued delivery and ongoing evolution of wellness and rehabilitative health services offered to Zurich’s customers, particularly given the preventable nature of many of these conditions,” Mr Paterson said.

In 2023, Zurich paid more than $1.53 billion* in life insurance claims, with the most claimed conditions being: musculoskeletal at a total of $353 million (representing 34 per cent of all claims); cancer at $473 million (21 per cent); and mental health at $256 million (18 per cent).

Cost of Care: Volume 2 is the second iteration of the report originally released by Zurich in 2018. In addition to updated data, the report includes new analysis for conditions including Motor Neurone Disease, COVID-19 and a section dedicated to infants and children.

The post Zurich releases Cost of Care Report on health conditions in Australia appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer, Justin Delaney, the Chief Claims Officer will have enterprise-wide responsibilities for all claims teams and functions across Zurich’s Retail Life, Group Life and General Insurance business segments.

Mr Paterson has over 20 years’ experience across customer service, financial services, telecommunications and consulting. Most recently, he was Group Chief Operations Officer for nib, with responsibility for operational contact centres and claims functions across the Group. Earlier in his career, Mr Paterson was awarded the AFR Boss ‘Young Executive of the Year’ (2009) and the Customer Service Institute of Australia ‘Leader of the Year’ (2007).

Mr Delaney said, “I am delighted to have an executive of Matt’s caliber and experience join Zurich. As the only major composite – life and general – insurer in the market, this appointment represents an important structural change to our team and our business more broadly.”

“A positive and efficient customer claims experience is core to our promise as an insurer. Bringing our claims teams together into one collective function provides a unique opportunity to integrate and scale our claims management and service delivery functions.”

“More importantly, with representation on our senior leadership team, claims will have even greater visibility and focus to deliver improved experiences and efficiency for our individual and commercial customers,” Mr Delaney said.

Since 1 January 2022, claims handling and settling has been a fully regulated activity and included in the definition of a ‘financial service’ under the Corporations Act 2001 with an obligation to provide services efficiently, honestly and fairly.

Mr Paterson will be based in Sydney and will commence in the role on 13 June 2023.

The post Zurich appoints Chief Claims Officer appeared first on AdviserVoice.

In this role, Mr Paterson will be responsible for overseeing the management, delivery and execution of TAL’s core customer administration processes and underwriting across all of TAL’s distribution channels.

TAL Chief Operating Officer, Justin Delaney, said, “We are delighted to welcome Matt to the team. Matt brings with him 15 years’ experience in financial services with a strong focus on wealth management and life insurance.

“He has extensive knowledge of customer facing businesses that he can bring to TAL, having excelled in customer operations transformation across digital operations, traditional front and back office, program management and process optimisation.

“We have every confidence that Matt’s depth of experience will ideally position him to drive and enhance TAL’s continuous improvement of our customer experience,” he said.

Before joining TAL, Mr Paterson spent 12 years at ING and four years at Vodafone managing the company’s onshore and offshore customer operations.  Most recently, Mr Paterson was a Principal at Limebridge Australia, a global leader in customer experience – from transformation to design. In this role he worked with Australia’s leading organisations across a diverse range of industries to deliver better sales and service interactions with customers.

Mr Paterson commences the role yesterday in TAL’s Sydney office.

The post TAL appoints new General Manager, Customer Operations and Underwriting appeared first on AdviserVoice.