Big Four bank wields Axe

Beverley Head
Wednesday, 07 September 2011 11:09

Business IT - Technology

One of Australia's big four banks is kicking the tyres of the locally developed Axelerator insurance platform, further catapaulting the Sydney based Axe Group into the big time.

Last week Axe Group announced that BNZ Insurances, a subsidiary of the Bank of New Zealand (itself a subsidiary of the NAB), had signed up for its Axelerator Insurance Platform for bancassurance. This is the first New Zealand customer for the company - and one of the biggest brand names yet to adopt Axe Group technology.

The company this week said that it was now working with one of the big four banks in Australia, and hoped to make an announcement soon regarding a purchase. While the company would not be drawn on which of the four big banks was exploring its technology, it's fair to assume that NAB has a keener understanding than most given its ownership of BNZ.

Kimberley Lathe, Axe Group CEO, said that in general companies adopting the product were unwilling to go public before they actually launched a product because of the risk of eroding a perceived competitive advantage.

Speaking about the NZ sale she said that she expected bancassurance to develop more prominence as banks looked to expand the range of products they could offer. She said that in the past the complexity of insurance products offered at BNZ Insurance meant that there might be one specialised employee able to explain and sell products.

'This system allows other people to sell insurance and do the business right there and have higher conversion rates,' because tellers were provided with a system that allowed them to step customers through the selection of an insurance product rather than simply provide them with brochures and forms to read and fill out on their own. BNZ Insurance has installed Axelerator and offers life and health insurance products using the same platform in all of its 180 outlets.

Axe Group was established in 1997, and launched its first products in 2000, aimed at the larger insurance company sector. It has now sold systems to three of the top eight Australian life insurance companies. Clients include AIA Australia, Calliden Group, AHI, Macquarie Life and ARHub.