ASB funeral insurance and life-policy benefits

Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Updated 2026-10-20 · Reviewed quarterly, when the underlying data is restated.

Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.

ASB does not list a standalone funeral insurance policy on its insurance page. ASB says its "life, health and disability insurance is underwritten and administered by AIA New Zealand Limited" (ASB and AIA). The page gives no funeral or bereavement amount. If you hold ASB life cover, any early funeral payment is in your own policy wording. This is as at 20 October 2026.

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Funeral cover: Only accidental death is covered for the first 2 years. Total premiums can add up to more than the cover, and it may not meet the whole cost of a funeral.

Life cover: Conditions you already have aren't covered for the first 2 years (premiums refunded instead). Suicide isn't covered for the first 2 years, and a few conditions can be excluded permanently.

Insurer: Momentum Life Limited. Financial strength rating B (Fair) from AM Best, affirmed 11 February 2026; B ratings sit in AM Best's 'vulnerable' range. The rating scale is available for inspection at every Momentum Life office in New Zealand. What this means

Already have cover? Keep it. New cover won't pay for a condition you already have in its first 2 years.

Opens Momentum Life's online application; its guidance only covers eligibility. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner. Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy. General information, not advice.

A search for "ASB funeral insurance" often comes from one of two situations. Someone has ASB life cover and wonders whether it pays towards a funeral. Or someone wants a small amount of cover just for a funeral and starts with their bank. The first is a question about a clause in a policy you already hold. The second is a question about how to fund a cost that averages $11,700 to $14,300 on FDANZ's figures. This page deals with both, and it is deliberately about the choice rather than the brand, since the brand details are short: ASB is the seller, AIA is the insurer.

What ASB says

ASB's page says AIA has been ASB's partner "since 2018", and that ASB Insurance Managers can be reached on 0800 200 252 for questions or appointments. It gives no separate claims number and no list of benefits. We did not find a funeral insurance policy on the page. Nothing there tells us the size of any bereavement or funeral payment on ASB-sold cover, so we will not quote one.

AIA's own current life cover has an early payment that is a useful pattern: the Bereavement Support Benefit in AIA Living's Life policy wording (effective 10 October 2023) is an advance on the death benefit, with caps of $15,000 or $25,000 depending on who owns the policy (AIA: Living Life personal cover policy wording). We do not know that your ASB policy uses that wording, and those caps are AIA's, not a published ASB amount. Our AIA funeral cover page works through the clause with an example.

AIA's rating, as AIA prints it, is Fitch AA (Very Strong), retrieved 17 October 2026 with no date shown on the page. It is the insurer's opinion-based grade, not a recommendation, and the scale is different from A.M. Best's.

Weighing the ways to fund a funeral

FDANZ's 2026 report puts a funeral with 50 guests at $11,700 for a cremation and $14,300 for a burial, on average (FDANZ, 2026 New Zealand Funeral Industry Trends Report). Use that as a scale, not a quote. Here is how the routes differ.

Route	How it works	Main trade-off
Early payment inside life cover	Part of the death benefit is released early	Only if you already hold the cover, and it comes out of the total
Standalone funeral policy	A fixed benefit for premiums, often with no health questions	An early-death window, and premiums can add up to more than the benefit
Savings	You put money aside yourself	Needs time, and it can be spent on something else
Prepaid funeral plan	You pay a provider ahead	Money may be hard to withdraw (Consumer NZ says a trust may not release it unless you are in significant hardship), and it can affect the funeral grant
Work and Income Funeral Grant	A government payment of up to $2,697.43	It is means-tested, and it can be affected by prepaid funeral cover

The grant figure and the point about prepaid cover are from Work and Income (Work and Income: Funeral Grant). It also has asset tests, and income tests in some cases such as a partner or child who died. Our pages on funeral insurance versus saving and funeral insurance versus the grant go through each.

A way to test a standalone policy

If you are weighing a standalone policy against saving, compare totals. These numbers are invented round figures to show the method, not a price for any insurer. Suppose a policy for a $10,000 benefit had an annual premium of $500. If you paid it for 25 years, you would have paid $12,500, which is more than the benefit. If you died at year 10, you would have paid $5,000. Saving the same amount in a bank account gives you the money whenever you need it, but only the amount saved so far. The difference is that during the early-death window the policy pays only for an accident, and any other cause of death in that window pays no benefit. For Momentum Life the window is 24 months; other insurers set their own. Our funeral insurance cost guide explains why premiums are published only as ranges.

Checks if you hold ASB life cover

Read the wording for a funeral or bereavement clause. Look for the amount, the trigger and whether it reduces the total.
Confirm who owns the policy. Owner structure can decide the cap, as in AIA's wording.
Confirm the policy is in force. Lapsed cover pays nothing.
Do not replace cover on the strength of a funeral benefit. The FMA says to keep the old policy until a new one is in force, and watch for new waiting periods and exclusions (FMA: Insurance).
Ask ASB or a licensed adviser if the wording is unclear. The 0800 number above is on ASB's page.

For other bank-sold cover, see our pages on ANZ and BNZ.

Where Momentum Life's funeral insurance fits

For comparison with the routes above, Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance (Momentum Life Limited, FSP472286) is a standalone policy with a fixed benefit you choose, from $3,000 to $30,000. It accepts New Zealanders aged 40 to 75 and asks no health questions. Its early-death window is 24 months: in that time it pays only for accidental death within 90 days of the accident (three times the benefit), and a death from any other cause pays nothing while all premiums for that person are refunded. After 24 months any cause is paid. Premiums stay level until the 89th birthday and can change for everyone on the plan with 30 days' notice. There is no terminal illness benefit. In line with the arithmetic above, total premiums can exceed the benefit, and the benefit may not cover a whole funeral. New applicants over 75 are not accepted.

Momentum's A.M. Best rating is B (Fair), in what its own table calls the "Vulnerable" range; see its financial strength page. The Momentum Life Funeral Cover page has the terms, and the funeral insurance hub lists the others.

Where to get advice

The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application, one option among many, and they have no link to ASB or AIA. A licensed adviser can read an ASB schedule with you and compare it with standalone cover on your details. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy a Momentum policy; see how we are paid. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). See also our comparison of funeral insurers.