What's your role at Chubb Life and what does a typical workday look like for you?
I’m a Senior Underwriter based in Auckland and have been at Chubb Life for three years now. A typical day for me includes assessing insurance applications including medical and financial information, talking to Advisers about their cases, working with other underwriter and our reinsurers.
I love that every day in my job is different, every customer is different and I’m always learning something new.
What’s your background and how did you get to where you are now?
I grew up in China and came to New Zealand in 2001 to study at Victoria University of Wellington. I first entered the industry in 2005 at AMP where I began working in existing business. It helped me build a solid foundation of knowledge about the life insurance industry and products. I got to see some really old whole of life policies that had reached maturity, the oldest one I saw was from the early 1900s which I found fascinating. I’d always been curious about underwriting work, so decided to complete a medical terminology course at AUT while on maternity leave with my first son.
Over the course of my 20 years at AMP, Sovereign/AIA and now Chubb Life, I’ve been lucky to have worked alongside some of the best leaders and colleagues who have generously shared their knowledge and experience in underwriting.
What’s your favourite thing about working with Advisers?
I enjoy getting to know and understand my Advisers, their business and how they like to work. This makes it so much easier to get the right information from them at the right time to support their customers to get the right outcome.
I’ve been with Chubb Life three years now but have developed relationships with Advisers that date back many years. I love how the Adviser/Underwriter relationship grows over time and the trust that builds between us. I now often get calls to discuss a potential case even before the first appointment which enables my Advisers to set expectations from the outset.
Why is advice so important?
Insurance products can be complicated, not one size fits all. Situations change and needs change so it’s important to have advice to ensure your insurance is tailored to meet your needs, to have someone who can negotiate an outcome on your behalf and support you to make appropriate adjustments in the future.
Do you have any tips for Advisers to make it easier to get their pipeline business assessed?
If the eApp indicates that the client's GP requires a signed consent to release medical information, I recommend obtaining this consent at the appointment to avoid delays later on when the application reaches underwriting. Konnect also provides status updates regularly so make sure you or your admin team have access to help keep track of progress of these requests.
Patient portals such as Manage My Health and Health 365 hold a great deal of medical information that we can use for our assessments. Ask your customer to check theirs and provide us relevant information such as blood results. Scanning these reports could help avoid potential waits in seeking the same information from their GP.
What’s something about your role that is not commonly known?
Underwriting isn’t just rule based, it’s part art, part science and part “outside the box consideration.” Over the course of our careers we build a mental “database” of patterns which make it easier to spot red flags when assessing risk.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
When I’m not busy with my two teenage boys, aged 15 and nearly 13, I enjoy gardening, cooking and doing jigsaw puzzles. I love tulips and am preparing to plant more shorting in preparation for spring. I also love tramping, I’ve done most of New Zealand’s Great Walks, next on my list is the Heaphy Track and Abel Tasman Track.
What are you watching on TV right now?
Nine Perfect Strangers. I find this interesting because it centres heavily on mental health themes, which is one of the more contentious areas of my job.