Industry super fund ditches AIA

Industry fund Rest, which has more than 1.9 million members, is entering a memorandum of understanding with TAL to provide life insurance to Rest members from 1 December 2019.

Rest and TAL, subject to final negotiations, will now complete work on a new insurance offering to commence on the same date.

“Rest is committed to providing affordable and flexible insurance as part of superannuation to our members, and we believe TAL’s insurance offer represents real value for members,” Rest chief executive Vicki Doyle said.

“We insure around 1.5 million people, or around one-in-eight working Australians. Our scale allows us to negotiate and provide insurance cover at the best-possible value to members.

“Rest is also continuing to invest in innovation and technology to improve the member experience, and we believe TAL is the right insurance partner to help us meet this strategic goal.”

Rest embarked on a comprehensive review of its insurance arrangements and said more information will be provided to members and the public about the new insurance offering once it has been finalised.

“Our new insurance offering with TAL will be designed to provide simple, flexible cover, representing value for members’ money,” Ms Doyle said.

Rest’s insurance has been provided by AIA Australia since 2004. These arrangements will remain in place until 30 November 2019.

“AIA Australia is a valued partner and, together, we’ve worked to provide insurance cover to millions of Rest members during the past 15 years. Importantly, AIA Australia has supported thousands of Rest members at what can be an extremely difficult time. We thank them for their valued partnership over the last 15 years and their input during the tender process,” Ms Doyle said.

“In recent years, we have worked with AIA Australia to simplify our insurance policy wordings and rules to make them more understandable to members, and streamline the claims process to support faster claims decisions.

“We will be working closely with TAL, AIA Australia and our administrator AAS to ensure a smooth transition of our insurance arrangements.”