Kiwi tech platform recognised for changing property insurance (media release)
Hamilton, New Zealand – 1st October 2019
Specialist online property insurer, Initio, has been named as a finalist in the 2019 New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards, run by the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF). Nominated as ‘Innovation of the Year’, the Waikato-based insuretech is being recognised for its customer-centric digital insurance products that enable customers to instantly change and update their policy themselves online.
This innovation, called Live Policy, was launched in October 2018. The product promotes instantly modifiable house and contents insurance: self-service innovation that enables customers to modify, add to, start or stop their house and/or contents insurance policy as and when they need to. The customer simply logs into a personalised dashboard to edit the detail, with any policy changes effective immediately.
The traditional process of modifying an in-force insurance policy remains clunky, with other insurance companies requiring additional human input and manual confirmation of policy changes from the insurer or broker.
“Live policy is about giving the customer total control over their insurance, without having to wait,” said Initio CEO, Rene Swindley.
“We found that many customers would set up their insurance online only to want to change something after the policy was created. These changes included things like increasing the insured value, updating an insured or interested party, adding specified contents items, such as jewellery, and simple fixes like a spelling error in their name or address.
“We felt that in allowing customers to modify their insurance when they wanted to, we added significant value to a more transparent and responsive insurance experience – the way insurance should be.”
In addition to Live Policy, Initio is improving the end-to-end claims process; currently able to pay simple claims to the customer in under an hour, the company’s mission is to pay out to customers just as fast as customers purchase their premiums online – in seconds.
When Initio was founded in 2011, it was transformative in giving homeowners and landlords the ability to effortlessly quote and purchase house insurance online in real time through its website, initio.co.nz.
Setting out to make insurance less complicated, Initio was the first provider in New Zealand to bind and receipt payment for a house insurance policy, 100% online with no human intervention, and since then has completed over 30,000 automated insurance transactions online. Remaining at the forefront of insuretech in New Zealand, Initio continues to challenge traditional insurance processes by developing innovations and claims experience that make for a far superior customer experience.
The ANZIIF New Zealand Insurance Industry Award Winners will be announced on Wednesday 27 November at the Cordis in Auckland.
For more information on the ANZIIF New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards, visit https://anziif.com/events/nz-insurance-industry-awards/2019–finalists
For further information or to arrange an interview with Rene, please contact:
Kelly King
022 045 5933
About Initio
Initio is a New Zealand-based online insurance provider, insuring over $2.5 billion in property. Founded in 2011 by a couple of Kiwis, Initio set out to change the broken insurance industry by using technology to put control back into the hands of the customer.
Covering landlord insurance, short-term holiday rentals and home and contents, Initio specialises in tailored online property insurance, including an all-in-one landlord insurance with built-in cover for loss of rent and damage by the tenant.
Having completed over 30,000 automated insurance transactions, Initio’s market-leading policies can be quoted, bought and amended online – all in an instant.
Initio is underwritten by NZI, a business division of IAG New Zealand Limited.