Understanding Trauma Insurance: Types, Benefits, and Coverage in the New Zealand Marketplace.

Trauma insurance, also known as critical illness insurance, is a type of insurance policy designed to provide financial protection in the event of a critical illness or major health condition. In New Zealand, there are various types of trauma insurance policies available, each offering unique benefits and coverage. This article aims to shed light on the types of trauma insurance, their benefits, and the typical conditions covered in the New Zealand marketplace.

Types of Trauma Insurance

• Standalone Trauma Insurance: This policy solely focuses on critical illnesses and conditions, providing a lump-sum payment upon diagnosis of a covered condition.
• Trauma Insurance as a Rider/Addon: Some life insurance policies allow the addition of a trauma insurance rider, providing coverage for critical illnesses alongside the primary life insurance coverage as part of an overall bundled insurance policy. Sometimes securing multiple types of insurance under the same policy or from the same provider can result on better deals on premiums.
  
  

Benefits of Trauma Insurance

• Financial Support: Trauma insurance offers a tax-free lump sum payment upon the diagnosis of a covered condition. This payment can be utilized to cover medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, debts, or any other financial obligations during a difficult period.
• Flexibility in Usage: The lump-sum payment received from trauma insurance can be used at the policyholder's discretion, providing financial freedom to seek alternative treatments, hire caregivers, or even make lifestyle adjustments.
• Peace of Mind: Having trauma insurance offers peace of mind, knowing that you and your loved ones are financially protected against the potential financial burdens that may arise from critical illnesses.
  
  

Typical Conditions Covered

Trauma insurance policies in New Zealand typically cover a range of critical illnesses and conditions, including but not limited to:

• Cancers: Coverage for various types of cancer, such as breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and more.
• Heart-related conditions: This includes heart attack, coronary artery bypass surgery, and cardiac arrest.
• Stroke: Coverage for a significant stroke resulting in permanent neurological deficit.
• Major Organ Transplant: Coverage for procedures involving the transplant of major organs, such as heart, liver, kidney, or lung.
• Paralysis: Coverage for conditions resulting in permanent and irreversible paralysis.
• Loss of Vision, Hearing, or Speech: Coverage for the loss of sight, hearing, or speech due to illness or injury.
• Various major surgeries or procedures: Make sure that you check your specific policy wording whenever you undergo any medical procedure or receive a diagnosis, as in some cases, in our experience people with active trauma cover have often been able to make a significant claim and not known about it.
  
  

Trauma insurance plays a crucial role in safeguarding individuals and their families against the financial implications of critical illnesses. In the New Zealand marketplace, there are various types of trauma insurance policies available, offering benefits such as financial support, flexibility in usage, and peace of mind. Understanding the coverage and conditions included in trauma insurance can help individuals make informed decisions about their insurance needs and secure their financial well-being if anything severe does go wrong with their health.

Sometimes people can make the assumption that a severe health event will result in either a recovery or an unfortunate passing, but from 30 years in the Insurance Marketplace, this is not often the case. In fact, the most likely outcome is a protracted period of disablement during which you may no longer be able to continue earning an income. With a lump-sum trauma insurance claim though, your financial worries will be alleviated, allowing you to focus on your recovery and continue to provide for your loved ones and dependants.

*Please note that the coverage, conditions, and benefits of trauma insurance may vary between insurance providers. It is recommended to consult with a qualified insurance advisor or provider to understand the specific details of a policy before making a purchase

Investment Updates Q3 2022

Here are the latest Investment points, updates and commentaries from our Investment partners at Cambridge Partners. At the heart of Cambridge's Investment philosophy is making every decision in their clients' best interests and working with clients to develop an investment strategy that best fits their circumstances. 

1. The Sustainability Opportunity

Sustainability goes beyond reducing, reusing and recycling. Today more than ever, investors are calling for sustainability opportunities, and markets are answering. But investing isn't as simple as paper over plastic in the checkout line. Read More Here.

2. Key Market Movements

Volatility remained high through the third quarter of 2022 as markets priced in changing expectations on the economic impact of rapidly rising interest rates, increased European energy uncertainty and the lingering effects of COVID-19. Read More Here.

3. Economic Commentary - Q3 - 2022

The global economy has been hit by multiple challenges in 2022. Amidst sharply increasing inflation , tight labour markets, rapidly rising interest rates, ongoing uncertainties surrounding the continued war in Ukraine and the lingering pandemic, the global economy has puttered its way through the year. Read the full commentary for Q3 here.

4. Spreading Investment Risks with Diversification

Investing comes with risk. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but you need to understand the risk levels associated with different types of investments and be comfortable with a level that suits your appetite. As Financial advisers, determining your risk profile is an important aspect when we first meet. There are two main components to this: your financial capacity and your emotional capacity. Read more about diversification and its benefits here.

Surgical Waitlists in NZ - Health Insurance

Surgical wait lists

Due to the effects of COVID, closed borders and a staff shortage, New Zealand is currently experiencing a crisis of long waitlists for elective surgeries in public hospitals. 

Moreover, they are now growing longer and longer with the increase in COVID and Flu cases in the winter months. Hospitals around the country have also slashed elective surgery theatre operations due to the pandemic. And even those that are scheduled, many are cancelled or deferred at the last minute as a result of staff illness or hospital bed shortages.

In early May the wait list had grown to 27,000 for planned, non-acute treatment, up from 8000 in February 2020 before the first Covid arrivals in NZ and subsequent lockdowns took hold. One Christchurch based surgeon said there are over 6000 people waiting for elective hip. Over a recent 8-week period he would have expected to have completed over a dozen hip or new operations – in reality he performed just one.

It is certainly true that the Private Health care system and hospitals aren’t immune from delays in the current taxing environment, but they still do provide much more certainty, which means a good private health insurance plan remains the best way to ensure that you get the treatment you need with the minimum possible delay if something goes wrong with your health. 

With numerous individual and group plans available for you, your family, your business or your employees, we can help you get covered at the best prices today with a free, no obligation consultation on your insurance needs. Don't get waitlisted, let us help today.

Contact us for a free, no obligation quote today.

Insurance Advice and Tips from the Spratt Financial Team

Insurance works best when it is used as the foundation for a plan that will protect a business, family or estate that is confronted by serious illness, long term disablement or injury. If you already have an insurance package (or you’re looking for insurance) and you want to know whether your insurance will really be sufficient to provide for all of your financial needs, here are the questions you should know the answers to:

WHAT WILL YOU NEED THE INSURANCE COVER FOR?

We recommend that you grab a pen and paper and write down what your insurance claim proceeds will need to be used for when it is paid out. If you can’t do this now before tragedy strikes then you may be facing trouble later. Having this list in place can give you a reminder of where the money needs to go when it comes time to claim. With insurance, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

WILL YOU BE ABLE TO CLAIM SOON ENOUGH?

Life Insurance pays out in the event of actual or impending “medical death”. However, in 94% of cases in New Zealand, deaths are due to medical conditions not accidents. 65% are these are due to degenerative medical conditions such as cancers, heart disease and strokes which can kill slowly over what may be an extended period of time. During this time, unable to work and unable to support yourself, your family or your business, you will be facing tremendous financial strain which your insurance may not cover for. Will the bank or your creditors wait until you are terminally ill before your life insurance cover pays out? This is perhaps the most crucial consideration to take into account when assessing your insurance. We can help you ensure that you are fully covered financially in the face of these worrying statistics as unfortunately, basic life cover is most of the time, simply not sufficient.

IS THE SUM-ASSURED OF YOUR INSURANCE ENOUGH?

It may sound strange, but a $250,000 insurance claim may not be enough to repay a $250,000 debt. You may have additional interest payments, penalties for being in arrears and you may need to pay a Solicitor, Trustee or your Accountant to carry out these transactions for you. It is crucial that you set your sum assured at the right amount to cover your debt and provide adequately for your family and dependants should something happen to you. Take into account all factors, costs and if necessary, talk to us and we can help you find the amount you need.

DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT INSURANCE?

If you have income protection insurance – do you have the right kind? If you have health insurance – what does your health insurance actually cover and what do you need it to? If you have permanent disability or critical illness insurance – how are these insurances structured within your overall portfolio of insurance and how will they work if something happens to you? The bottom line is, you need to figure out what risks you are most likely to face, take into account your lifestyle and your financial situation and then select the right insurance to meet your individual needs. This is why it’s so important to have robust insurance advice from insurance professionals like us – we can find out what’s right for you. Sometimes having the wrong kind of insurance is almost as bad as having no insurance at all.

ARE YOU MAKING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT YOUR INSURANCE?

Making assumptions about your insurance without proper and solid research and planning is always a mistake. Even assuming that you or someone close to you will be physically, mentally and emotionally capable of applying the claim proceeds to your predetermined targets is not supported by our experience of dealing with over 200 insurance claims. Question everything, and get a second opinion from insurance professionals to make sure you’ve got it right.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? 

What have we learned? We recommend that you use our experienced professional advisers to not only design and review the underlying plan, but to execute it and carry out the tasks they are best suited to handle. If you don’t have a plan now, prepared with clear-headed purpose, then any insurance you do have may well be insufficient or not adequately fit to your unique needs. Use our experienced professionals if you need guidance or advice – our service is completely free and no obligation, so you have nothing to lose!

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

For more information on how Spratt Financial’s team of advisers can assist with managing your insurance program,  use our contact form below. You can also contact us by calling 09 307 8200 or by email at enquiry@sprattfinancial.co.nz.

Attraction and Retention - Solving an Employer Challenge

Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SME’s) are the lifeblood of the New Zealand economy, with over 470,000 SME’s employing over 584,000 staff. Much has been made recently of the staff shortages NZ businesses are experiencing, and the predicted “great resignation’’ once the borders open after prolonged closure. In a tight labour market, employers are always looking for new ways to attract and retain talent. A recent global wellbeing survey indicated that 82% of organisations believe wellbeing is important within their company. However, 'wellbeing' can have can have different meanings to different people.

Two meanings that are universally accepted in relation to it are Health Wellbeing, and Financial Wellbeing.  Employers can provide this wellbeing via “Employee" insurance programs that provide staff with Health insurance benefits so they can get better and back to work faster with insurance benefits that pay cash to staff should they suffer a major illness or disability, relieving financial worry and stress. 

Employee or “Group” insurance places value on employees’ wellbeing and shows that their employers genuinely care about them. If you are an employer with at least 5 employees, it’s a fantastic gesture to build loyalty, retain staff and reward them for their hard work. These plans also have the valuable advantage of providing a higher level of coverage, and at a much lower premium cost than an individual employee could access themselves.

A recent report by the Financial Services Council of New Zealand shows that “Group" insurance for employees is one of the fastest growing sectors of the insurance industry. This is because more and more employers realise the value it holds for employees from internationally mobile staff through to blue collar workers, and what great value it represents on ROI per dollar spent (cost is usually well below 1% of remuneration expenditure). Group medical insurance schemes are also available and are generally an exceptional and cost-effective option that gives your employees medical cover at lower costs than they could access themselves.

To find out more, or to receive a free no obligation consultation or quote you can contact our specialist Employee Benefits adviser to see how we can help you today. 

Peter Wilkening
Insurance Adviser 
(021) 190 5185
peter.wilkening@sprattfinancial.co.nz

Covid-19 and your Insurance: WHEN TO REVIEW YOUR INSURANCE AND WHEN TO MAKE CHANGES.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and spending many weeks and months in lockdown, many of us have undergone significant and impactful life changes. Our financial situation might be different, our job or employment role may have changed and we may be facing both new challenges and opportunities. moving forward. This could mean that now is a great time to review your insurance cover, what you have, what you need and if there could be better options out there for your new post-Covid life circumstances.

If you have current insurance, there may be clauses in your policy (life, critical illness, permanent disablement, medical insurance, income protection etc.) that allow you to make changes quickly and easily, without any additional medical tests or screenings. These clauses can be triggered if you have experienced certain special events in the last 12 months. These events include:

• Having a child (by birth or legal adoption) or become responsible for the care of a family member.
• Getting married.
• Getting divorced.
• Supporting a dependent child through a first course of full time tertiary education.
• Commencement of secondary school education for the first time by your child (if you are the life assured of your policy).
• Taking out or increasing a home loan, residential investment, vacation home or bare block of zoned land as residential.
• Becoming responsible for the full time care or payment for long term care of a close relative.
• Annual salary increase.
• Death of a spouse or de facto partner.
• You take out a new home loan or increasing an existing one.
• You gain a significant salary increase of 10% or more.
• Your spouse or partner passes away.
• You get married or finalise a divorce.
• You undergo significant changes to your personal financial situation.

Even if you don’t meet these particular criteria, the Spratt Financial team can help you make the needed changes quickly and efficiently with no hassle. We can also conduct a free, no obligation review to find out if you’re still getting the best deal possible and hopefully save you some money on your insurance cover.

We take the time regularly to review policies and make sure they still fit your unique needs and lifestyle, but we encourage you to contact us anytime something changes in your life and you want to ensure your cover still fits as it should. All aspects of our insurance service are completely free to you and we are always happy to help. Email us here, fill out our online contact form below or call us any time at 09 307 8200.

Contact our team to find out if your Insurance contains Special Events Clauses today.
Find out more about the insurance options we can provide.

Insurance Claims: The Importance of having a Will.

Throughout our 30 years of experience in the Insurance marketplace, there are a few key things that we always advise our clients to look into regarding their insurance. One of the most important of those things is having a will in place that is complete and current.

If you have insurance cover on your life for instance, without a current will in place specifying your wishes your crucial claims money could be delayed or misdirected in ways you did not intend. Your Life Insurance policy will pay out at the time of your death and you can use your will to specifically detail how the Life insurance payout should be used.

Fortunately, these days getting a will in place and certified is not a labour intensive or expensive process, and it is a crucial step to take. It is equally as important to ensure that if you do have a will, that you make sure it is current and check it each year at the same time as your Insurance Policy Review. Make sure that your specified dependants that your estate will be distributed to is exactly who you wish for it to be, and make any necessary changes so that in the event that a life insurance or critical illness claim needs to be made, the intended recipients can get the claims payout with as little stress or delay as possible.

The Public Trust of New Zealand offers services that will allow you to create your will online for as little as $69. This is a small price to pay when compared to the possibilities of your entire life claim being delayed by unnecessary days, weeks or more. For more information on the process and to visit the Public Trust’s Will Service you can click here, or contact any of our team for any help that you may you need.

Visit our official website for more information.

Request a free, no obligation insurance quote today.

Attraction and Retention - Solving An Employer Challenge for 2022

Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SME’s) are the lifeblood of the New Zealand economy, with over 470,000 SME’s employing over 584,000 staff. Much has been made recently of the staff shortages NZ businesses are experiencing,  and the predicted “great resignation’’ once the borders open after prolonged closure. In a tight labour market, employers are always looking for new ways to attract and retain talent. A recent global wellbeing survey indicated that 82% of organisations believe wellbeing is important within their company. However, 'wellbeing' can have can have different meanings to different people.

Two meanings that are universally accepted in relation to it are Health Wellbeing, and Financial  Wellbeing.  Employers can provide this wellbeing via “Employee" insurance programs that provide staff with Health insurance benefits so they can getter better, and back to work faster, and insurance benefits that pay cash to staff should they suffer a major illness or disability, relieving financial worry and stress. 

Employee or “Group” insurance places value on employees’ wellbeing and shows that their employers genuinely care about them. If you are an employer with at least 5 employees, it’s a fantastic gesture to build loyalty, retain staff and reward them for their hard work. These plans also have the valuable advantage of providing a higher level of coverage, and at a much lower premium cost than an individual employee could access themselves.
 
A recent report by the Financial Services Council of New Zealand shows that “Group" insurance for employees is one of the fastest growing sectors of the insurance industry. This is because more and more employers realise the value it holds for employees from internationally mobile staff through to blue collar workers, and what great value it represents on ROI per dollar spent (cost is usually well below 1% of remuneration expenditure). Group medical insurance schemes are also available and are generally an exceptional and cost-effective option that gives your employees medical cover at lower costs than they could access themselves.
 
To find out more, or to receive a free no obligation consultation or quote you can contact our resident expert,  Peter Wilkening of Spratt Corporate Employee Benefits for a chat.

Read More about Employee Group Schemes here.
Visit our official website.

New Sovereign and AIA Trauma Policy Upgrades

There is good news for Sovereign and AIA trauma insurance policyholders - as of March 12th 2019 your trauma policies have been enhanced with a number of additional benefits and upgrades. These enhancements come free and automatically - your existing premiums will remain unaffected by the change.

What has changed and what are the details? We outline the upgrades that your policy now possesses below:

Sovereign Trauma Insurance Enhancements

1. New ‘Severe Illness or Injury Benefit’. Rare or obscure medical conditions can have a major impact due to the unique treatment needs they require. This benefit gives peace of mind that if your condition meets the policy’s definition, even if not formally listed as a covered condition, that you will be able to claim the funds you need from your trauma policy.

2. Medical Advancements Protection Provision. Medical technology and techniques are always advancing and so under this new provision, if any diagnostic techniques or investigations used in your policy wordings have been superseded or improved, this advancement will be taken into consideration when assessing your claim.

3. 40 medical definitions have been updated. New claimable conditions have been introduced. The definition of what constitutes these claimable medical conditions have been enhanced, giving clients more opportunity to claim and more specificity, eliminating possible confusion and giving further peace of mind. Sovereign’s Comprehensive Living Assurance Trauma policies now cover the following: Heart valve replacement or repair, severe burns, cognitive impairment, pneumonectomy, systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus, severe illness or injury (as outlined above) and terminal illness.

4. A new Built-in Counselling Benefit. This benefit covers up to $2,500 towards the cost of a Psychiatrist or Psychologist consultation or counselling following a Trauma claim. This benefit is payable once per policy.

5. A new Built-in Return Home Benefit. This benefit will reimburse the cost of a standard economy flight back to New Zealand for the policy assured and one support person. Up to a maximum of $10,000 is payable should the assured suffer a condition covered under their trauma policy whilst overseas.

6. A new Built-in Bereavement Support Benefit. This benefit provides a lump sum payment that can be used to assist with funeral costs if a child of the policy assured dies. This benefit ceases when the child reaches age 21. It provides $2,000 if the child is under 10 years of age or $15,000 if the child is 10 years of age or more.

7. New Built-in Suspension of Premium Benefit.
This benefit enables the policy assured to temporarily suspend their Trauma cover if they go on parental leave or go on leave without pay for any reason for up to 12 months. The trauma cover can then be reinstated when you are again able to continue the premium payments

8. New Built-in Children’s Trauma Conversion Facility. This benefit allows the Built-in Children’s Trauma Benefit of your policy to be converted to a standalone Trauma policy for your child with a maximum sum assured of $75,000 or 50% of the life assured’s original sum assured.

9. Introduction of a Built-in Premium Conversion Facility. Your policy now allows you to convert all or part of the Trauma Cover premium to a level premium or further level premium structure without having to provide any new medical evidence or screenings.

10. New Built-in Standalone Conversion Facility.
This benefit allows the policy holder to convert your standalone Trauma Cover benefit to an accelerated Trauma Cover benefit with an equal amount of Life Cover without having to provide any new medical evidence or screenings.

11. The Optional Early Cancer Upgrade Benefit has been enhanced. For Prostate Cancer and Malignant melanoma - the amount payable on your claim has been increased to a maximum of $75,000 or 25% of your sum assured.

12. The Optional Children and Maternity Benefit has been enhanced. There has been an increase of the total benefit to $75,000 (or 50% of the sum assured) if your child suffers one of your policy’s specified conditions.

13. The Special Events Increase Facility has been enhanced.
There are now broader definitions of life events that will allow you to increase or change your cover without new applications or medical checks. There are now no restrictions on the Salary Increase Event definition, a new event has been added (‘child of life assured starting secondary education’) and the mortgage event definition has been broadened to include increasing the Mortgage for extensions to your property.

AIA Trauma Insurance Enhancements 

All of the above features also apply to AIA trauma policies. In addition, the following also apply:

1. Introduction of an inbuilt ‘Newborn Children’s Benefit’. Adopts the Sovereign Newborn Children’s Benefit to the AIA personal Trauma policy with a total benefit payable of $50,000 or 20% of the sum assured. This benefit is payable to you on the birth of a newborn child of the life assured who is born with any of the following conditions:

• Cleft palate
• Down’s syndrome,
• Spina bifida,
• Total blindness or;
• Absence of two or more limbs. 

2. New ‘Pregnancy complications benefit’.

This benefit is now part of the optional Children’s Trauma Top Up Benefit. It provides an additional $10,000 lump sum in the event that the life assured suffers one of these outlined pregnancy complications:

• Disseminated intravascular coagulation,
• Eclampsia,
• Hydatidiform mole.

3. Enhancements to the Return to Home and Financial Planning and Legal Benefits. It has been made easier for clients to claim through removing the condition for clients to have been working outside NZ for at least three consecutive months. In effect, this means policy holders can claim even when they are outside of NZ for leisure or non work related reasons. Also there has been an increase in the total benefit available to access Financial and Legal services from $750 to $1,000.

Any Questions or Enquiries? We're Here for You. With the enhancements to Sovereign and AIA policies now in effect, there’s never been a better time to be a policy holder. If you have any questions about your existing policies, or if you wish to review your trauma insurance needs in light of these changes, use the form below or call 09 307 8200 and one of our advisers will be happy to help.

Also, if you aren’t a policy holder and think trauma insurance could be right for you, contact us for a free, no obligation quote or consultation anytime.

Investment Update and Forecast June/July 2018

Investment Update - June/July 2018 Generally, the month of May was consistent with the 2018 story of a global economy entering a mature stage characterised by market volatility, the gradual emergence of inflation, higher interest rates (primarily in the US) and a softening of global economic growth indicators. This cooling off period, which is usually accompanied with weaker equity markets, is likely to represent a healthy return to normal levels of growth as opposed to alarming signs of an economic deterioration. However, it is also likely to be true that the consistent and highly profitable financial markets are now behind us. Geopolitical issues in countries such as Italy, Turkey and Argentina also added new concerns for global markets over May. Global The OECD’s most recent general assessment of the global macro-economic environment predicts that expansion is set to persist over the next two years, with global GDP projected to rise by close to 4% in 2018 and 2019. Growth in developed countries is predicted to remain around 2.5% per cent per annum, helped by fiscal easing in many economies. It is also considered that GDP will strengthen to close to 5% growth among some developing countries. Although job growth is likely to ease in advanced economies, the OECD-wide unemployment rate is projected to fall to its lowest level since 1980, with labour shortages intensifying in some countries. Wage and price inflation are accordingly projected to rise, but only moderately, given the apparent muted impact of resource pressures on inflation in recent years and the scope left in some economies to strengthen labour force participation. US 10-year bond yields started strong in May and pushed through the psychologically important 3% barrier. However, the political upheaval in Italy toward the end of May caused U.S. Treasury yields to post their largest daily decline in nearly two years, and at the end of the month, traded well below 3%. The rally continued in oil markets early in May. The latest spur for price rises stems from American sanctions on Iran which drove Brent crude close to $80 a barrel, the highest level in four years and up by almost 50% from a year ago. However, later in the month prices dropped and traded at around $70 a barrel as supply concerns eased. The US While America and China continued negotiations, trade conflicts opened on new fronts. Japan, Russia and Turkey notified the World Trade Organisation that they would follow the lead taken by the EU and India in applying tariffs on American steel and aluminium in retaliation for the duties America recently imposed on such imports, unless those duties are reversed. Mr Trump, meanwhile, signalled a new battle with Europe and Japan by ordering the Commerce Department to look at imposing tariffs on imports of cars on the ground of national security, the same argument that lies behind the levies on steel and aluminium. However, so far tough talk by the White House to renegotiate trade relationships has ended up as incremental concessions. The US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) preferred inflation gauge, the change in the core Personal Consumption Expenditure Index, reached 1.9% at the end of March. This supports the expectation that the Fed will increase the Fed Funds Rate by a further 0.50%-0.75% in 2018, with further increases expected in 2019. The Fed continues to include the word “gradual” in its commentary regarding the expected future path of interest rates, so not to alarm markets. If the current level of job growth is maintained and the proportion of people participating in the labour market remains unchanged, then a 3.5% unemployment rate could be hit in a year’s time. In this scenario wage inflation is likely to be the biggest concern for the Fed. The UK Although the Bank of England left rates unchanged in March, two members of the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) voted to increase rates suggesting a tightening bias existed for the UK. Europe Italy’s political turmoil unnerved markets. Italy had been without a government since its March election, which yielded a hung parliament with no party or coalition holding a majority.  The recent jolt to markets came after populists named Paolo Savona, an economist who thinks that Italy should quit the euro, as finance minister. President Sergio Mattarella vetoed Mr Savona and the populists threatened for a moment to impeach him and even hinted at a march on Rome. Amid talk of a political, constitutional and economic crisis, bond yields spiked and global stock markets shuddered. The yield on Italian sovereign bonds rose at a pace not seen since the euro-zone debt crisis. The ten-year bond yield rose to 3%, the highest level since 2014. Ignazio Visco, the governor of the Bank of Italy, warned the quarrelling politicians about the danger of “losing the irreplaceable asset of trust”. Emerging Markets Argentina faces pressure to hasten economic overhaul. President Marci’s efforts to curb inflation and jump-start the economy without shocking Argentina hasn’t gone as planned. Investors continue to question the Argentina central bank’s credibility as it cut interest rates in January to support growth despite inflation at 25%, well above target. They worried about the government’s ability to reduce expenses to plug the fiscal gap and enact regulatory changes intended to improve business competitiveness and cut red tape. Facing a currency crisis, Turkey’s central bank simplified its system of multiple interest rates. The one-week repo rate (the rate at which the central bank lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds) became its new benchmark, which it also doubled to 16.5%. The central bank’s governor met investors to offer reassurances that monetary policy would tighten further if inflation remains stubbornly high. The Turkish lira, which has taken a battering over concerns that the central bank’s independence is under threat from politicians wanting lower interest rates, rallied in response. Australia While Australia’s Reserve Bank and Treasury anticipate growth picking up to 3.25% over 2019 and 2020 many market commentators are predicting more conservative growth of around 2.5 – 2.7%. The sceptical commentators attempt to balance the growth story of strong non-residential construction, government investment and exports with reservations around slower residential construction and potentially weaker consumer spending.

Spratt Financial Services 09 307 8200 www.spratt.co.nz Jonathan Parsons, AFA, M.Mgmt, Dip. Fin Plng. 027 201 3470 jonathan.parsons@sprattfinancial.co.nz