Asteron Life increases premiums

Asteron Life has announced that prices of its "stepped premium"and "level premium" suite of life insurance products will increase from July 1, when the new tax life comes into effect.

Stepped-premium policies will increase by 7.5 per cent and level-premium polices by 22 per cent.

Asteron says that as per its guarantee, level-premium policies issued before July 1, 2010 will not be affected by the life tax increases.

It also says it will continue to guarantee level-premium policies issued at the new rates. 

No other Asteron products are affected.

Asteron says it has worked hard to only pass on costs that it is unable to absorb itself.

It has initiated Business Process Reengineering team to limit the cost impact on customers through ongoing efficiency improvements.

The increase works out to around $1.80 per month for a 41 year old non-smoking male with $200,000 life cover.

- © Fairfax NZ News