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A moment with Matthew Drennan

Australia wide, the start of 2020 has been tough for many on multiple fronts with devastating bushfires followed by local flooding in some areas, not to mention rising concerns over the emergence of Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19. While the peak of the bushfire crisis has now passed, the huge rebuilding task from the devastation has just begun.

If you’re looking to make a donation to support those people and communities in need, the Z Zurich Foundation has donated $100,000 to the bushfire crisis and will continue to help by adding 50 cents to every dollar you donate to The Australian Red Cross (up to $500,000). Please use www.redcross.org.au/zurich to donate and Z Zurich Foundation will help your dollar go even further to help devastated communities.

Our Investments Business is Celebrating 40 Years in Australia!

Building on the strong momentum from 2019, our investments business has had a very positive start to this our 40th year of operation in Australia.

Our Concentrated Global Growth Fund topped the Global Equities performers for the previous year based on the Morningstar universe, delivering a return to local investors of 41.1% for 2019 which was more than 13% above the benchmark. It was subsequently named in the top 5 performers for the 2019 according to quant based FE Analytics universe where it has the top “5 crown” rating. Encouragingly it’s performance is also off to a solid start in 2020 and the Fund has been nominated for a number of industry awards.

We have American Century representative Bernard Chua in town in during the first week in March and are holding lunch events in Sydney and Melbourne. He will be updating clients on the all Zurich’s Global Growth Fund offerings and the outlook for equities more generally. If you would like to attend, please contact your Zurich Investments BDM today.

Our Global Thematic Fund manager Lazard has announced several updates to their themes which are delivering strong performance. Find out more about the changes, and hear directly from Steve Wreford on one of the newest themes in the ‘Sustainable exposure to Energy?’ article.

Despite the global upheaval caused by the virus, impeachment proceedings and trade concerns in the US, at this stage equity markets have managed the negative news-flow quite well. Some markets have even hit new highs. While valuations are somewhat stretched and some caution is warranted, company earnings have generally been better than expected. Please see our Market Update article for more detail on the market outlook, with insights direct from our Global Investments Strategy team.

APRA Sustainability measures

Last year APRA released its sustainability measures for individual Disability Income Insurance. Find out more about the impending cessation of agreed value policies and what this means for advisers and your clients when dealing with Zurich, in particular the impact to new applications, quotes, as well as clients retaining their agreed value policies. 

2020 Zurich & OnePath National Conference – Save the date!

2020 will be a transformative year for financial services. Together we begin to imagine the future of our industry – and shift our focus from the issues to the opportunities that lie ahead. Our actions today will help us shape positive futures and now is the time for positive change. These events are also a chance for you to hear from and meet our new Chief Executive Officer, Justin Delaney, as we look into the forces of change reshaping the landscape, and the implications for advisers. Look out for your invitation to our 2020 Zurich & OnePath National Conference signature events, in the coming weeks.

Let’s make 2020 the year of realising opportunity!

Regards
Matt