TOWER Limited
TypePublicly listed company
NZX: TWR
IndustryFire & General Insurance
Founded1869 (1869)
Headquarters
Auckland
,
New Zealand
Key people
Blair Turnbull, Chief Executive Officer
ProductsHouse, Car, Contents, Rural, Boat & Travel, Business.
Websitewww.tower.co.nz

Tower is a New Zealand-based insurance company that provides car, home, contents, business, boat, pet, travel and other general insurance.

History

In 1869 the New Zealand Government provided the capital for the creation of the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Department (better known simply as Government Life). It became Tower Corporation in 1987 at a time when several New Zealand government departments and organisations were being corporatized or converted into state-owned enterprises. Three years later, ownership of Tower was transferred to policyholders as the business was mutualised.[1]

Being a mutual caused difficulties in raising capital and nine years later, in 1999, Tower demutualised and listed on the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges.[2] Seven years later, in November 2006, Tower's Australian and New Zealand operations were separated with the approval of its shareholders and the high court. Today Tower is still shareholder-owned and listed on the NZX and ASX.[1][3]

Diversification from plain life insurance

In 1989, Tower bought the National Insurance Company of New Zealand Limited. Originally founding its Head Office in Dunedin in 1873, the National Insurance Company had now grown its operations throughout the world. National Insurance had bought the failed Standard Insurance Company Limited in 1961.[4] These businesses provided Tower's fire and general insurance divisions.

In 2012, Tower sold both its medical insurance (Tower Medical Insurance Limited) and its investment (Tower Managed Funds Limited) divisions. This was followed in 2013 with the sale of Tower's life insurance business.[5]

In line with many other New Zealand insurance companies, Tower announced on 10 April 2013 that it was moving away from full replacement house policies towards nominated sum insured covers, blaming international reinsurers.

In August 2021, Tower also began offering boat insurance policies online.[6]

In August 2022, Tower launched Contract works – Renovation cover. Where most house insurance policies only provide cover for minor alterations, Tower’s product, which is separate from house or builders’ insurance, covers large renovations.[7]

Digital transformation

Tower’s signature self-service digital platform, My Tower, was first launched in New Zealand in late 2019.[8] In March 2022 Tower launched My Tower in Fiji.[9] My Tower is the first insurance online portal in the Pacific that allows people to pay their insurance premiums, lodge a claim, get a quote, update their personal details, purchase a policy and view their insurance policies.  By March 2023, My Tower was available in all Pacific island countries that Tower operates.[10]

In December 2020, Tower released its mobile app, GoCarma. The app rewards motorists for driving safely and is available to all New Zealanders.[11] Within a year of launching, the app recorded more than 10.5 million kilometres of driving. In December 2021, data from GoCarma revealed the towns with the best and worst drivers in New Zealand.[12]

In June 2021, Tower launched Quick Quote, a simple online quoting tool that automatically pulls publicly available sources and pre-populates information to cut down the number of questions asked of customers when sourcing an insurance quote.[13]

With Quick Quote, customers are asked five questions for car insurance, nine for house insurance and seven for contents insurance policies.

In November 2021, Tower announced it would share flood risk ratings with all New Zealanders by using data to match flood premiums to risk more accurately.[14] Customers’ properties would be categorised into a low, medium, high or very high-risk category and premiums priced accordingly.

Pacific Islands presence

Tower Pacific operates in Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu.[15] Its Pacific operations hub is located in Suva, Fiji where it employs more than 200 staff.[16]

In November 2021, Tower announced it is taking complete ownership of its subsidiary National Pacific Insurance Limited (NPI) to streamline its New Zealand and Pacific operations.[17] In August 2022, NPI began re-branding to Tower.[18]

In October 2022, Tower began piloting a parametric insurance product, Cyclone Response Cover in Fiji, in collaboration with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).[19]

Today

Today, Tower operates across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands,[2] providing personal lines insurance and SME insurance for more than 319k customers,[20] and has ~9.2% market share of the NZ personal lines market.[21]

Tower’s 2022 full-year results reported underlying profit including large events of $27.3 million. Tower’s gross written premiums (GWP) rose 19% from the 2021 full year to $457 million.[22]

Tower’s head office is located in a 6 Green Star building on Fanshawe Street, Auckland.[23]

Tower’s recent awards include 2023 Canstar Home & Contents Insurance Outstanding Value Award, 2023 Canstar Innovation Excellence Award for its flood risk rating tool,[24] 2022 & 2021 Canstar Car Insurer of the Year Award & Canstar Outstanding Value Car Award,[25] 2022 Insurance Asia Insurtech Initiative of the Year - New Zealand[26] and the 2022 Insurance Business New Zealand General Insurer of the year.[27]

Tower released its new brand identity ‘Thinking Ahead’ in March 2022. The new branding matches Towers' growth strategy and customer-centric approach.[28]

In May 2022, Tower announced it will acquire TSB's insurance portfolio for $5.2 million. Tower has been underwriting TSB's portfolio since 2004. This is in addition to Tower’s recent acquisitions of Club Marine, ANZs insurance business and a small Westpac legacy portfolio.[29]

Industry partnerships

Tower has a long history of partnering with other businesses, showing how the insurance industry can work with other industries to provide value to customers. Tower's current partnerships include:

  • Trade Me Group, which offers online, home, contents and car insurance.[30]
  • The University of Auckland’s not-for-profit arm, UniServices, that analyses data on customer experience to improve insurance buying and claiming processes.[31]
  • Australia-headquartered insurtech firm, Open, that launched AI powered personalised insurance service Huddle in New Zealand.[32]
  • Allianz, one of the world’s leading travel insurance specialists, who deliver travel insurance and pet insurance products.[33]
  • The New Zealand Defence Force in 2021, providing tailored insurance policies, for current and former service men and women, and their families.[34]
  • Kiwi Advisor Network (KAN), an advisory firm, to streamline insurance referrals to KAN advisors and ensures a Tower adviser handles the insurance quote process from start to finish.[35]
  • Ray White, as a partner for its Concierge service. The service enables Ray White customers access to Tower’s leading My Tower platform, where they can update, claim and manage insurance quickly.[35]
  • MTF Finance, to enable MTF Finance customers to seamlessly insure a new asset. For a vehicle, this can be done before they drive it off the lot.[36]

Government Life postage stamps

A unique (in New Zealand) feature of the Government Life office was its use of custom postage stamps, first issued in 1891. This was the result of a dispute between the office and the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department over the correct calculation of postage costs.[37] All issues featured lighthouses, either in abstract designs or specific lighthouses from around New Zealand. New designs were issued in 1905, 1947 (surcharged at the time of decimalisation in 1967), 1969, and 1981. The use of these stamps was finally withdrawn in 1989.

References

  1. 1 2 "History - Financial Services Company Online New Zealand". TOWER. 29 May 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  2. 1 2 "NZX, New Zealand's Exchange". www.nzx.com. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  3. ↑ "Tower : Everything you need to know - Insurance Business". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  4. ↑ McLintock, Alexander Hare; James Oakley Wilson, D. S. C.; Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Standard Insurance". An encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, 1966. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  5. ↑ Hunter, Tim (9 May 2013). "Tower sells life insurance business to Fidelity". Stuff. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  6. ↑ "Tower hits the water with boat insurance offering - Good Returns". www.goodreturns.co.nz. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  7. ↑ Bell, Miriam (14 August 2022). "Do you know if your insurance covers your home renovations?". Stuff. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  8. ↑ Group, E. I. S. (17 December 2019). "Tower Deploys EIS Group's Digital Insurance Platform to Accelerate Digital Business Transformation". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  9. ↑ Journalist, Praneeta Prakash Multimedia. "Tower Pacific to continue investment". Fiji Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  10. ↑ "Insurance company expands digital offering in the Cooks". Cook Islands News. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  11. ↑ sale, Driven • 16/12/2020 Search Driven for vehicles for. "Tower Insurance app gives excess discounts for good driving". Driven. Retrieved 13 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Olano, Gabriel. "Revealed: New Zealand's best and worst places to drive". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  13. ↑ Stepanova, Ksenia. ""Some insurers still ask over 60 questions for a quote"". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  14. ↑ "Tower Insurance changes flood risk pricing, reduces part of premium". RNZ. 10 November 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  15. ↑ "Tower completes sale of Papua New Guinea business". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  16. ↑ "Tower retreats from Solomon Islands after 38 years - Insurance News - insuranceNEWS.com.au". www.insurancenews.com.au. 10 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  17. ↑ Olano, Gabriel. "Tower to complete takeover of National Pacific Insurance". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  18. ↑ "Tower rebrands recently acquired NPI". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  19. ↑ Azeemah, Aisha. "Insurer launches cyclone relief cover". FijiTimes. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  20. ↑ "Tower chief executive breaks down 2022 financial results". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  21. ↑ "Tower : Everything you need to know - Insurance Business". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  22. ↑ "BusinessDesk | NZ Economic News & Commentary by Leading Kiwi Journalists". businessdesk.co.nz. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  23. ↑ Reeder, Linda (15 March 2010). Guide to Green Building Rating Systems: Understanding LEED, Green Globes, Energy Star, the National Green Building Standard, and More (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781118259894.ch8. ISBN 978-0-470-40194-1.
  24. ↑ Pitchers, Bruce (19 April 2023). "Tower – Helping Kiwis Protect Against Flooding Risks". Canstar. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  25. ↑ Bijoux, Nile (30 September 2021). "New Zealand's best car insurers rated". Stuff. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  26. ↑ "Outstanding insurers recognised at the 7th Insurance Asia Awards". Insurance Asia. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  27. ↑ Introducing NZ's general insurer of the year, retrieved 10 July 2023
  28. ↑ "Tower Insurance is 'thinking ahead' with new brand identity via Shine". stoppress.co.nz. 29 March 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  29. ↑ "Tower buys TSB insurance business". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  30. ↑ "TradeMe launches insurance offering". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  31. ↑ "Tower Insurance finding answers - and profits - in data". iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  32. ↑ Stock, Rob (25 May 2021). "Door opens for 'pay as you drive' car insurance". Stuff. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  33. ↑ Olano, Gabriel. "Tower, Allianz Partners team up to provide pet cover". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  34. ↑ Stepanova, Ksenia. "Insurer partners with New Zealand Defence Force". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  35. 1 2 "Tower inks two partnerships for advisers and consumers". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  36. ↑ Wade, Harrison (4 November 2022). "MTF Finance partners with AMI and Tower". NZ Autocar. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  37. ↑ "Government Life Insurance". NZ Post Collectables. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
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