Business Protection Insurance in New Zealand
Business insurance NZ planning helps protect revenue, debt obligations, and ownership continuity if a key owner or employee cannot work.
You get a licensed adviser’s written read on what happens to the business, the bank debt and the other shareholders if the person it depends on cannot work. Free, and no obligation.
Written by Henry Smith, Financial Adviser (FSP1010699). Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Updated 8 September 2026. How we compare · How we are paid
AIA New Zealand accepted 92% of all claims it received in the year ended 31 December 2024. AIA New Zealand, Claims Compass media release (CY2024 data), Retrieved 14 August 2026.
An adviser's view
Owners insure the vans and the building and forget the person the revenue actually depends on. The first question I ask is a plain one: if you could not work on Monday, who pays the bank, and who buys out the other shareholder’s family? If the answer is the business’s own cash, the business is the insurer, and it is usually underfunded.
What the review covers
- Whether your business has key person cover if someone critical to operations can't work
- If your shareholder or partnership agreement includes buy-sell protection funded by insurance
- Whether business loans and guarantees you've personally signed are covered if something happens to you
- How your personal risk profile interacts with your business structure and obligations
What people usually miss
Too busy running the business to think about it
It's the classic owner-operator trap. You're focused on revenue, clients, and operations. Insurance for the business itself keeps getting pushed to "next quarter." Then something happens.
Don't realise business debt is often personally guaranteed
If your business has loans, overdrafts, or credit facilities, you've probably signed personal guarantees. If you can't work, those debts don't disappear. They land on you, personally.
Never planned for what happens to partners or shareholders
If a business partner dies or becomes disabled, what happens to their share? Without a funded buy-sell agreement, their family could become your new business partners. Or you could be forced to sell.
More about business protection in NZ
Business protection insurance in New Zealand can include key person cover, shareholder protection, and buy-sell funding. The goal is to keep the business stable if a critical person dies, is disabled, or cannot continue working.
Strong cover planning links directly to legal agreements and debt structure. Without funded agreements, surviving owners can face severe cash pressure, ownership disputes, or forced sale outcomes at the worst possible time.
For sole traders and small firms, business overhead and income protection combinations can help maintain operations while recovery is underway. A structured review aligns policy ownership, tax treatment, and claim intent with your business model.
Key person cover in practice
A key person policy is owned by the business and pays the business, not the family. If the person the revenue actually depends on dies or is unable to work, the money lands in the company account, where it can hold the team together, fund a replacement, cover the gap while clients are reassured, or satisfy a lender that the loan is still good.
Who needs to look at this
Any New Zealand business where losing one person would materially change revenue, borrowing capacity or ownership should look at business protection. That includes owner-operators trading through a company, partnerships and shareholder-run firms with an agreement in place, and any business whose bank facilities rest on a personal guarantee. Firms with several interchangeable staff and no owner debt usually need much less.
How buy-sell funding works
A buy-sell agreement written into your shareholders agreement sets out who buys a departing owner’s stake and on what terms; insurance provides the cash that makes those terms possible. Each owner is insured for the value of their share, and on a triggering event the proceeds fund the buyout from the owner or their estate. Without funding, the agreement is a promise nobody can pay for.
What the cost depends on
Business cover is underwritten on the same factors as personal cover, so age, health, smoking status, occupation and the sum insured all move the number, and the ownership structure you choose can matter as much as the amount. QuoteHub does not publish prices for cover, because a figure that has not been through underwriting is not a price. An adviser can price your structure with the insurers on our panel.
The honest limits
Business protection does not rescue a business that is already failing, and it is not a substitute for a plan. Cover has to be owned by the right entity, sized against real numbers, and matched to agreements a lawyer has drafted, or a claim can pay the wrong party or land in the wrong hands. Work through the structure with your accountant and lawyer alongside your adviser.
QuoteHub compared with the alternatives
The premium an insurer charges is the same whether you buy direct, through a broker, through a comparison site, or through QuoteHub, because adviser commission is built into the insurer’s standard price rather than added to it. What changes is how much of the market you see, whether anyone writes down why one policy was recommended over another, and who lodges the claim when it matters. QuoteHub compares 8 New Zealand insurers named in full on our disclosure page, gives you a written recommendation, and stays with you at claim time. Going direct gives you one insurer and its own claims team. A broker usually does what we do, though panel sizes differ, so ask for the list. A comparison website is usually a quote list rather than advice, and some are owned by an insurer or by a business that resells enquiries.
Frequently asked questions
What is key person insurance?
It's cover for someone whose absence would seriously hurt the business. If that person can't work, the policy pays the business a lump sum to cover lost revenue, hiring costs, or debt obligations while you recover.
What's a buy-sell agreement and why do I need one?
A buy-sell agreement sets out what happens to a partner's or shareholder's interest if they die, become disabled, or leave the business. Insurance funds the buyout so the remaining owners can keep going without selling the business.
I'm a sole trader. Does this apply to me?
Absolutely. If you're the business and you can't work, the business stops. Income protection and business overheads cover can keep things running while you recover: rent, staff, subscriptions, loan repayments.
Can I claim business insurance premiums as a tax deduction?
In many cases, yes. Business-related insurance premiums may be tax-deductible. An adviser can help structure your cover in the most tax-efficient way possible, but always check with your accountant.
What if my business is too small for this?
There's no such thing. If the business depends on you, it needs protection. The smaller the business, the more vulnerable it is to losing a key person. Even sole traders should have a plan.
Related guides
- Income protection insurance NZ
- Life insurance in New Zealand
- About QuoteHub advisers
- Key person cover explained
- Shareholder protection for business partners
- Who needs professional indemnity cover
- How we compare insurers, and our sources
- How we are paid
- What you get from the review
The insurers behind business cover in New Zealand
Financial strength is the one comparable, published fact about an insurer: an independent agency's view of its ability to pay claims. Every grade below is the insurer's own published disclosure for the named New Zealand licensed entity, linked and dated. A rating belongs to that entity, not to a brand or a product name.
| Insurer | Licensed entity | Financial strength | Rating as at | How you can buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIA New Zealand | AIA New Zealand Limited | AA (Fitch, source, retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | Date not published | Adviser or direct |
| Asteron Life | Asteron Life Limited | A+ (Fitch, source, retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | Date not published | Through an adviser |
| Chubb Life NZ | Chubb Life Insurance New Zealand Limited | A (Excellent) (A.M. Best, source, retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | Date not published | Adviser or direct |
| Fidelity Life | Fidelity Life Assurance Company Limited | A- (A.M. Best, source, retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | Date not published | Through an adviser |
| Momentum Life | Momentum Life Limited (FSP472286) | B (Fair) (A.M. Best, source, retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | 11 Feb 2026 | Adviser or direct |
| Partners Life | Partners Life Limited | A (Excellent) (A.M. Best, source, retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | 5 Feb 2026 | Through an adviser |
Ratings are not a recommendation, and they say nothing about what a policy covers or what it costs. They were read from each insurer's own disclosure on 14 Aug 2026 and can change. Every licensed New Zealand life and health insurer, with its rating · How we compare
What the life cover behind business protection includes, insurer by insurer
Key-person, shareholder and business-debt cover is written on the same personal life contracts as any other life policy, so the features that decide a business claim are the ones below.
| Feature | What it decides | AIA New Zealand AIA Living Life Cover | Chubb Life Assurance Extra Life Cover | Fidelity Life Life cover | Partners Life Life Cover | Asteron Life Life Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry age | The ages at which the insurer will accept a new application. | Not published | Not published | 16 to 75, with no expiry age while premiums are paid [1] | Not stated; cover can be taken from $1,000 of sum insured upwards [2] | Not published |
| Maximum sum insured | The largest amount of cover the published documents commit to. | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Terminal illness advance | Pays the cover early once life expectancy falls below a stated period. | Up to 100% of the Life Cover Benefit where the life assured is expected to live no more than 12 months [3] | Early payment of the Life Cover sum insured on a terminal illness likely to cause death within 12 months [4] | The full amount insured, on a prognosis of less than 12 months [1] | 100% of the sum insured on a prognosis of 12 months [2] | The Life Cover payment, on a prognosis of less than 12 months [5] |
| Advance on a specified terminal condition | A part payment on a named diagnosis, before the 12-month test is met. | Specified Terminal Conditions Benefit: the lower of 30% of the Life Cover Benefit or $250,000 [3] | Not published | 30% of the amount insured, up to $250,000, in some cases [1] | Terminal Illness Advance Benefit: 30% of the sum insured to a maximum of $600,000, on listed conditions or a 24-month prognosis [2] | The lesser of $250,000 or 30% of the sum insured, on listed conditions or a life expectancy of 24 months or less [5] |
| Bereavement or funeral advance | Money released on notification of death, before probate. | Bereavement Support Benefit: $15,000 where the life assured is the sole policy owner, $25,000 where there is a surviving policy owner [3] | Early payment of up to $25,000 towards funeral expenses [4] | An early payment of up to $25,000 towards funeral costs [1] | The lesser of $25,000 or the sum insured, immediately on notification of death [2] | A funeral advancement of $15,000 or $25,000 from the Life Cover [5] |
| Financial and legal advice benefit | Reimburses professional advice on what to do with the payment. | Up to $2,500 including GST towards financial planning or legal advice, from a provider the insurer accepts [3] | Reimburses up to $2,500 of the cost of receiving professional advice [4] | Not published | Up to $3,000, in addition to the sum insured [2] | Up to $2,500 for financial planning and legal advice, plus up to $2,500 of grief counselling [5] |
| Repatriation | Brings the person home if they die overseas. | Reimburses the policy owner for the cost of returning the life assured [3] | Reimburses costs up to $20,000 to return the remains to New Zealand [4] | Not published | Up to 25% of the sum insured to a maximum of $20,000, in addition to the sum insured [2] | Reimburses up to $15,000 or $25,000 of the direct costs [5] |
| Special-events increase, no underwriting | Raises the cover after a mortgage, a baby or a pay rise without new medical evidence. | The lower of 50% of the original Life Cover Benefit or $250,000 per event; not available to a life assured over 55, and the request must be made within 12 months of the event [3] | Up to $250,000 on a qualifying life event, without further assessment of health [4] | Increases available any time before age 55 without medical evidence; amount not stated [1] | The lesser of $300,000 per increase, the actual mortgage increase, or five times the annual salary or net business profit increase [2] | Available on a special event without medical underwriting; amount not stated [5] |
| Increases with no event required | A guaranteed way to top up cover without waiting for a life event. | Optional Life Future Insurability Benefit: total increases limited to the lower of twice the original Life Cover Benefit or $1,000,000, offered before each third anniversary [3] | Not published | The amount insured can be set to increase each year against inflation [1] | Future Insurability Option: up to 10% of the original sum insured each policy anniversary, for up to 10 years [2] | An inflation adjustment is offered each year at the consumer price index, with no further underwriting [5] |
| Premium suspension | Puts the policy on hold through redundancy, parental leave or study. | Cover can be suspended for up to 12 months with no premium payable, and reinstated at the end without further medical evidence [3] | Not published | Payment breaks and temporary suspension in certain circumstances, including redundancy, going overseas and study [1] | Not published | Not published |
| Waiver of premium | Keeps the cover in force while you are too unwell to earn. | Not published | Premium Cover is a separate cover in the Assurance Extra suite, and is mandatory alongside Income Cover [6] | Not published | Not published | 'We pay your premiums' benefit, where illness or injury stops you working more than 10 hours a week in your usual job [5] |
| Children's cover attached to the policy | What the policy does for a dependent child, at no extra application. | Parents Grieving Benefit: $2,000 where the child is under 10, $15,000 from age 10, and it does not reduce the sum assured [3] | Not published on the Life Cover page; a complimentary children's benefit of up to $50,000 sits under Trauma Cover [7] | Children aged 3 months to 20 years are covered under Trauma cover for $50,000 or 20% of the cover amount, whichever is lower [8] | Dependent Child Funeral Support Benefit: $2,000 before age 10, $15,000 from 10 to 21, in addition to the sum insured [2] | Free Kids Cover of $50,000 of trauma cover for each child or grandchild, which can be increased to $200,000 [5] |
- [1] Fidelity Life, Life cover, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [2] Partners Life, Life Cover overview, Partners Life Journey Plan, PLJP_OVERVIEW_LIFE COVER_V03_1025, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [3] AIA New Zealand, AIA Living Life Personal Cover Policy Wording, 10 October 2023 (1101 AL-LIFE version 5), read 8 Sep 2026.
- [4] Chubb Life New Zealand, Assurance Extra, Life Cover and Life Income Cover, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [5] Asteron Life, Life Cover brochure, RP321 (09/24), read 8 Sep 2026.
- [6] Chubb Life New Zealand, Assurance Extra Income Cover brochure, cig0007 v5, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [7] Chubb Life New Zealand, Assurance Extra Trauma Cover brochure, cig0019 v6, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [8] Fidelity Life, Trauma cover, read 8 Sep 2026.
How we compared
We compared 5 insurers. Every value in the table above was transcribed from one of these documents on the date shown beside it: AIA New Zealand's AIA Living Life Cover document, Chubb Life's Assurance Extra Life Cover document, Fidelity Life's Life cover document, Partners Life's Life Cover document, Asteron Life's Life Cover document. Nothing was taken from an adviser summary, a comparison site or a previous version of this page.
Rows were chosen for the features that decide what a claim pays and that an insurer publishes: entry ages, benefit limits, definitions, waiting and stand-down periods, and the rights you keep after a claim. A cell reads "Not published" where we could not find the fact stated in the documents listed under the table on the date they were read. It is a statement about those documents, not a claim that the insurer has no such benefit.
Price is not compared here, and not because it does not matter. Premiums depend on your age, your health, your occupation and the underwriting decision, so a published figure would be someone else's price rather than yours. Everything on this page is true before anyone is underwritten. How QuoteHub compares insurers.
Group health cover for your team
Group health insurance is not a discount on a personal plan; it is a different underwriting deal. Above a certain scheme size insurers stop asking about medical history, which is the whole point for a team where someone already has a condition that a personal policy would exclude.
How small a team can have a scheme
Southern Cross states that a workplace health insurance scheme is available to organisations with at least five full-time employees who join it. [1]
The pre-existing conditions rule
This is the reason group cover exists. nib covers all pre-existing conditions immediately, including cancer, hip, back, knee and heart conditions, for groups of 15 policies or more. [2]
Group life and trauma alongside it
nib writes group life cover at two or three times an employee's annual salary up to a specified limit, which adjusts automatically as salaries change. [2]
What a specialist group insurer looks like
UniMed states that it specialises in group schemes and works with more than 500 New Zealand employers, across infrastructure, dairy, construction, education, the civil service and ports. [3]
The full group range
Fidelity Life publishes group life, group income protection, group life and total and permanent disability, and group trauma as separate covers, so a scheme need not be all-or-nothing. [4]
Who pays, and who owns the cover
An employer can subsidise a base plan while employees add family members and extra modules themselves, UniMed describes exactly that structure, which keeps the employer cost fixed while the cover stays useful. [3]
- [1] Southern Cross Health Society, Health insurance for businesses, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [2] nib New Zealand, Health and Life Insurance for your business, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [3] UniMed, Business, group health schemes, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [4] Fidelity Life, Group insurance for employees, read 8 Sep 2026.
Exclusions and things to note
The parts of a business protection contract that decide a declined claim are rarely in the brochure headline. Each of the following is quoted from the policy document or product page linked beside it, and each one is a real limit on a real policy sold in New Zealand today. Your own schedule may carry personal exclusions on top of these.
- A special-events increase must be requested within 12 months of the event, and only one increase can be made in any 12-month period. [1]
- Any loading, exclusion or special term applied to the original cover is applied to a special-events increase as well, so an increase does not reset your underwriting. [1]
- A life assured over the age of 55 is not eligible for special-events increases. [1]
- While cover is suspended no premium is payable and no claim is payable for anything that happens during the suspension. [1]
- The dependent child funeral benefit excludes pre-existing conditions. [2]
- Special conditions, exclusions and premium loadings may be applied to your policy at underwriting, and they are personal to you rather than to the product. [2]
- Converting part of the cover to a level-premium funeral benefit is available only after 10 years of cover and from age 65. [3]
- A product brochure is a summary. Where it differs from the policy document, the policy document prevails, so the schedule you are issued is the contract, not the marketing. [3]
- [1] AIA New Zealand, AIA Living Life Personal Cover Policy Wording, 10 October 2023 (1101 AL-LIFE version 5), read 8 Sep 2026.
- [2] Partners Life, Life Cover overview, Partners Life Journey Plan, PLJP_OVERVIEW_LIFE COVER_V03_1025, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [3] Asteron Life, Life Cover brochure, RP321 (09/24), read 8 Sep 2026.
News that affects this cover
- The State Pays Three Times More Toward A Funeral If The Death Was An Accident, ACC, 9 September 2026. Which funeral grant a family can get is decided by how the person died, not by what the family needs.
- Four Of The Five Insurers You Can Buy From Directly Now Sell The Same Thing, And Call It The Same Name, Insurers, 9 September 2026. If you are buying cover directly rather than through an adviser, you are increasingly choosing between five versions of one product shape rather than assembling cover from parts.
- Australia bans genetic test results in life underwriting next month. New Zealand does not., Regulation, 8 September 2026. If you are considering a predictive genetic test in New Zealand, the result can be asked for and used by a life or health insurer assessing a future application.
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Explore related pages: Life Insurance, Income Protection, Health Insurance, Trauma Insurance, Guides.