Returning for its 11th year, the annual Group Life Seminar is a paramount event for professionals in the life insurance sector and those connected to it.
In an ever-evolving world, the life insurance industry is constantly undergoing changes and improvements. This seminar provides the opportunity to reflect on recent advancements, discuss ongoing challenges, and explore the future direction of group life insurance.
This year’s seminar will feature
- A regulator’s update from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) sharing share insights about complaint, current data, trends and themes
- A look at the use of AI in fraud detection
- A look at the changing face and evolution of administration
- A snapshot exploring attitudes to group insurance and mental health
- A panel discussion looking at the successes and challenges of health and wellbeing platforms within the life industry
Join us to stay ahead of industry trends, network with peers, and contribute to the dialogue shaping the future of life insurance.
For further information please contact Amy Milnes, Event Coordinator.
Learning Outcomes
By attending this event, you will be able to:
- Understand of the significance of current AFCA data on insurance complaints within superannuation and discuss typical trends and themes to interpret their implications for the sector.
- Explain the implications and consequences of document fraud on life insurance companies and their clients and identify the advantages and improvements AI software can offer in identifying and preventing fraudulent claims.
- Describe how removing intermediaries can lead to cost reductions and faster service delivery in the insurance industry.
- Discuss the challenges Australian workers face regarding mental health and how life insurers support them.
- Understand the evolution, impact, and key learnings from life insurers' health and wellbeing platforms over the past 10-15 years, including implications for products, pricing, and member outcomes.
Who Should Attend
Anyone working in the life, life adjacent and superannuation sector, including:
- Insurance Professionals
- Policy Service Representatives
- Product Development and Client Relationship Staff
- Underwriters and Underwriting Directors
- Brokers
- Adjusters
- Superannuation Funds
- Claims Assessors
- Compliance Risk and Governance Staff
- Claims/Broking/Underwriting Consultants
- Administrators And Operations Staff
Acknowledgements
ANZIIF gratefully acknowledges the generous assistance and support of the event organising committee.
- Emily Bridger – Head of HESTA Partnership, AIA Australia
- Frank Crapis – Head of Group Life Protection, TAL
- Princess Navarro – Senior Manager, Insurance Governance, Cbus Super Fund
- Kristine Nugent – Head of Marketing, Hannover Re
- Dr. Matthew Paul – Chief Medical Officer, Munich Re
![Carola Moore](/-/media/images/headshots/moore_carola.jpg?h=310&iar=0&w=310&rev=ab2b6edbbf584d67aacbc064547d097b&hash=433F713247F87D89A2C3DBFEC14F652D)
Carola Moore (MC)
Carola Moore (MC)
Head of Group Claims
AIA Australia
Carola Moore is currently the Head of Group Claims at AIA Australia. Carola has a diverse background, gained through performing leadership, business operational and transformation roles across 5 industries and 3 continents.
Carola has spent the last 14 years in the Canadian occ rehabilitation and Australian life insurance sectors, where she performed roles of Claims Transformation, Claims Operations, and Consulting. Prior to that, she worked in the South African mining, manufacturing, and professional services sectors. These experiences are supported by postgraduate degrees in Psychology and Leadership.
Carola is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, an ALUCA Board Director, and a member of the ALUCA Education Working Group. She represents AIA in these and other industry forums, and speaks on topics of leadership and human performance. She has written and spoken on topics of Claims leadership and capabilities of the future.
![Alison Bodinnar](/-/media/images/headshots/bodinnar_alison.jpg?h=310&iar=0&w=310&rev=ee346356b4a94030963ba473dc68b5f9&hash=26BCD9C9B04386F93F983B42B18F2193)
Alison Bodinnar
Alison Bodinnar
Head of Product and Proposition
MLC Life Insurance
Alison Bodinnar, a seasoned professional with over 25 years of industry experience across both local and international markets, leads the Group Product & Proposition team at MLC Life Insurance.
Driven by a deep commitment to improving outcomes for members, Alison empowers her team to deliver innovative life insurance solutions that cater to the diverse and evolving needs of superannuation fund members. Her experience in both domestic and international markets gives her a well-rounded understanding of the industry and allows her to bring a broader perspective to her role.
Alison is a passionate advocate for design innovation and is spearheading the disability design initiative at MLC Life. She is committed to enabling change across the group industry and ensuring that the system provides the necessary support for members when they need it most.
![Christine Cupitt](/-/media/images/headshots/cupitt_christine.jpg?h=310&iar=0&w=310&rev=d628afd16ce3445796a865607438ec77&hash=AB6BCAFD40E0F558C58E1CB0D77201E7)
Christine Cupitt
Christine Cupitt
Chief Executive Officer
Council of Australian Life Insurers (CALI)
Christine Cupitt is a widely respected and credible leader with a passion for ensuring fair, high-quality outcomes for consumers across the financial services sector. She is particularly focussed on enhancing the economic and social contribution of the life insurance industry.
She is the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Australian Life Insurers and has 20 years’ experience working in legal, strategic, external relations and public policy roles.
Christine is the former Chief of Policy and Strategy at the Australian Banking Association (ABA) where she led the industry’s response and submissions to the banking Royal Commission. She was instrumental in subsequent changes to the Banking Code of Practice and provided considered industry guidance that helped shape the banking sector of today.
She also led the banking industry’s policy response and regulatory program for COVID 19 as well as the development of the ABA’s climate change and net zero transition program.
Christine is a co-founder of the debt relief charity, Way Forward Debt Solutions, and a Vincent Fairfax Fellow.
![Heather Gray](/-/media/images/headshots/gray_heather.jpg?h=310&iar=0&w=310&rev=635d72431ec64ebe866e6860e657a218&hash=B8DACA5E6BA367E8992686A4248BEEB5)
Heather Gray
Heather Gray
Lead Ombudsman – Superannuation
Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)
Heather Gray is the Lead Ombudsman – Superannuation at the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. In that role she leads a team of Ombudsmen and Adjudicators in determining a wide range of superannuation complaints.
Prior to joining AFCA, Heather had more than 30 year’s experience in private practice as a superannuation lawyer, and most recently was a partner at law firm Hall & Wilcox. She has a strong interest in superannuation law and policy, and has consulted widely to Treasury, ASIC, APRA and the ATO on draft legislation and other instruments, and on the development of policy.
Heather was for many years a member of the Law Council of Australia’s Superannuation Committee, including a term as its Chair, and represents AFCA on the ATO’s Superannuation Industry Stewardship Group. She is a frequent speaker at superannuation conferences and events.
![Lucy Hartley](/-/media/images/headshots/hartley_lucy.jpg?h=310&iar=0&w=310&rev=19917d0d0dd24de48506fb753eae0410&hash=07040A2AFF458EA24F3346EBA277F6DF)
Lucy Hartley
Lucy Hartley
Head of Wellbeing
AIA Australia
Lucy Hartley is Head of Wellbeing at AIA Australia. She has worked in rehabilitation and claims for more than 20 years, leading teams in Australia and the UK. A Registered Psychologist by background, Lucy is passionate about supporting the health of Australians - helping to prevent ill health and supporting those on claim to recover and return to health/work.
Lucy is a Director on ALUCA's Board, representing the voice of rehabilitation, and highlighting the important role that wellbeing services play in changing customer lives.
![Mathew Keeley](/-/media/images/headshots/keeley_mathew.jpg?h=310&iar=0&w=310&rev=d8e7998c5bd14efba1368bd3ca2d0bf0&hash=D8CF7D9C168AA2956304398A04F21E5F)
Mathew Keeley
Mathew Keeley
Co-Founder & CEO
GROW Inc
![Huyen Penny](/-/media/images/headshots/penny_huyen.jpg?h=310&iar=0&w=310&rev=623ed8235527436fa85322c769cc67b5&hash=27F47FAFE1F3629B478E9DBCACD04EC9)
Huyen Penny
Huyen Penny
Health Program Manager
TAL Australia
Huyen is an Allied Health Professional with over 20 years’ experience in Injury Management, Health and Rehabilitation across Life Insurance, Workers’ Compensation and CTP markets in Australia.
As TAL’s Health Program Manager and Dai-ichi Life’s Global Innovation Consultant, Huyen is always looking for new ways to empower customers to live their best life through good health.
With a passion for collaboration and partnership, Huyen works closely with our panel of health provider partners and drawing on the insights of Dai-ichi Life Global to develop, design and enhance the range of health programs which TAL offers our customers.
![Amy Sworden](/-/media/images/headshots/sworden_amy.jpg?h=310&iar=0&w=310&rev=5279ae73b9d14302b5cada6429c23040&hash=27CD414489156B2763173AAD815C2BC8)
Amy Sworden
Amy Sworden
Head of Claims Operations
Hannover Re
Amy is Hannover Life Re Australasia’s Head of Claims Operations, with accountability for all aspects of Claims Handling across their direct life insurance portfolio. She is proud to say she has worked in the life insurance industry for 24 years, and is passionate about the work the industry does to help customers during the difficult moments in their lives.
Amy has leadership experience across all elements of the customer value chain, including Claims, Underwriting, Customer Service, Operations, Retention Management and Dispute Resolution.
Amy also has 8 years of experience in the transformation and change space, having led large scale transformation projects, as well as continuous improvement and customer experience projects. Most recently, Amy has led the implementation of Fortiro Protect into Hannover’s claims process – making Hannover the first Australian insurer to use their document fraud detection software. The continuous theme throughout her career has been her passion for customers, leadership, developing others and continuous improvement.
Group Life Seminar Program
Time | Session |
12:30pm – 1:00pm |
Registration, networking and light lunch |
1:00pm – 1:10pm |
Seminar Welcome
|
1:10pm – 1:40pm |
AFCA Insights – Group Life Insurance in Superannuation
Synopsis: Heather Gray, Lead Ombudsman, Superannuation at AFCA, will share insights about complaints brought by members about insurance within superannuation, including current data, trends and themes. |
1:40pm – 2:10pm |
Utilising AI in Fraud Detection of Claims
Synopsis: Amy will give an overview of Hannover Re’s recent learnings about the prevalence of document fraud, and how this may be used to lodge fraudulent claims. She will share the journey the Hannover Re team went through to implement AI software “Fortiro Protect” into their direct life claims processes, how they have tailored the software to be life insurance specific and the plans for further expanding this capability in future. |
2:10pm – 2:50pm | Afternoon tea |
2:50pm – 3:20pm |
The Changing Face and Evolution of Administration
|
3:20pm – 3:35pm |
Insights into Australian Workers’ Financial Resilience, Attitudes and Wellbeing
|
3:35pm – 4:20pm |
Panel Discussion: Evolution of Wellbeing Programs within Insurance Moderator:
Panellists:
Synopsis: This panel will delve into the critical aspects of life insurers' health and wellbeing platforms, providing a comprehensive evaluation of their development and impact over the past 10-15 years. Topics covered will include: measures and metrics, what are the implications, what are the impacts to products, pricing, and member outcomes and what have been the key learnings from the past 10-15 years. |
4:20pm – 4:30pm | Seminar Close |
4:30pm – 5:30pm | Networking drinks sponsored by Hall & Wilcox |
Award Categories & Criteria
Sponsorship
Are you interested in sponsorship opportunities for this event? For more information on how your organisation can benefit as a sponsor of this leading professional development program, please contact Barbara Maruno, Partnerships Manager.