Speaking at the AIOFP 20th anniversary conference in New York, MLC Life Insurance chief investment officer and deputy CFO Shinichi Okamoto said Nippon Life’s mutual structure will impact the Australian business.
“The heart of our business is claims. we are proud of our ability to keep our promise with the customer,” he said. “This mindset is passing on to the MLC Life Insurance.”
Addressing the same audience, MLC Life chief operating officer Sean McCormack said the new ownership structure of MLC Life allows them to adopt a more customer-centric philosophy.
“NAB was a perfectly respectable owner but what has changed is that the conversation always starts with the customer now. It takes precedence over the shareholder.”
The MLC Life execs also indicated Nippon Life’s intention to expand the Australian presence to asset management.
“Nippon Life is eager to expand [our Australian business] into both asset management and life insurance,” Okamoto-san said.
“We believe we can leverage our asset management capability to enhance life insurance. The US life company, for example, is turning into a retirement lifestyle solutions provider.”
What a strange comment – “NAB was a perfectly respectable owner but what has changed is that the conversation always starts with the customer now. It takes precedence over the shareholder.”
Is that an admission NAB-owned MLC were a pack of Basxxxds when it came to claims? Some would say that’s well known!
So why didn’t ASIC’s much lauded ( by themselves ) audit of claims pick up that little jem. Oh, whats that, they did , but were not keen on upsetting the banks at the time. When will the RC get to claims behaviour ? BETTER STILL WILL THE RC ASK ADVISERS, NOT ASIC