OnePath, Cigna Life Insurance New Zealand admit to breaching fair dealing rules

OnePath Life (NZ) Ltd. and Cigna Life Insurance New Zealand Ltd. will jointly pay NZ$180,000 to the Financial Markets Authority, or FMA, after admitting liability for breaching the fair dealing provisions of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.

The breaches were related to misleading representations made by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. when issuing monthly credit card statements to some of its customers who held credit card repayment insurance policies with Cigna and OnePath.

In 2021, the bank paid a NZ$280,000 fine for making misleading representations to 307 credit card repayment insurance customers. OnePath and Cigna were the insurers for many of the credit card repayment insurance policies.

The case, filed by the FMA, was about duplicate credit card repayment insurance policies or credit card repayment insurance policies that offered no cover or benefit to customers. OnePath and Cigna notified FMA of the issues, and the regulator determined that the two insurers are accountable for their roles as the insurers of many affected policies in the case.

As of June 15, US$1 was equivalent to NZ$1.60.