Zurich has secured a group insurance mandate from a Queensland industry super fund, its first since the acquisition of OnePath Life in June, 2019.
Energy Super, a specialist in the energy sector, manages $8 billion on behalf of 47,000 members.
Gerald Kerr, head of OnePath proposition and group insurance, said the mandate indicated the strength of the firm’s proposition in the group insurance market.
He said the firm’s claims service had been the deciding factor in winning the mandate from the super fund.
“Our strength in partnerships was recognised by Energy Super, in particular our approach to working alongside them to drive greater sustainability, efficiency and member engagement," Kerr said.
“Our award-winning claims service was also singled out as a factor in winning the mandate, in particular our innovative rehabilitation and wellness offering and our ability to develop deep insights from claims trends using artificial intelligence (AI) based models.”
Robyn Petrou, chief executive of Energy Super, said: “While we are energy sector specialists, our consistently low fees and high returns attract members from all industries, from right across Australia. This means our insurance products need to be flexible enough to cater to workers in lower-risk occupations".
The insurance company has joined this year’s awards as a principal partner.
The $135 billion fund has transitioned away from TAL Life Insurance following an “extensive tender process”.
The $80 billion fund is facing legal action over allegedly signing up new members to income protection insurance by default without active member consent.
In a Senate submission, the Financial Services Council has once again called for further clarification that the government will assess the consumer outcomes of group insurance against the enshrined objective of superannuation.