New Zealand's insurance regulator, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has published new research addressing significant knowledge gaps within Aotearoa New Zealand's financial system about experiences of local indigenous people with insurances.
The report, ‘Experiences of tangata whenua with insurances’, highlights that while insurance is of significant interest to Maori, the current system does not consistently meet their needs.
Said, FMA Executive Director Governance, Policy and Strategy, Liam Mason, “This research is part of our Matangirua programme of work, which seeks to understand the experiences of Maori within New Zealand’s financial system and asks the question: what does fair look like for Maori?
“We know from previous FMA research that Maori are consistently less likely to hold insurance products than the wider population. This report helps us better understand the perspectives and experiences that sit behind those observations and provides a foundation for future discussion and action.”
The report found affordability was the strongest and most consistent barrier to insurance, with 82% of survey participants agreeing that people do not have enough money for insurance costs.
Other barriers include:
- Distrust and mistrust
- Accessible information
- Climate change and weather event related risk
- Product suitability
“The issue is not whether insurance is valued, but that a range of barriers make insurance impossible for some to access and hard for some to maintain,” FMA Strategic Adviser Maori, Hannah Chapman.
“Seventeen per cent of participants experienced problems with insurance in the last two years which is almost double the rate found in a similar survey of the general population.”
The report also identified the need for mutual literacy, and for the insurance sector to build cultural literacy including collective ownership structures and the relational nature of trust.
Participants also identified practical solutions, expressing strong support for Maori-designed approaches (71%) and trusted navigators as ways to support with claims processes (71%).
The FMA’s report, titled ‘Experiences of tangata whenua with insurances’, can be accessed here.