Funeral Insurance Companies in NZ: Who Offers Cover and Who Underwrites It

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.

Funeral insurance in New Zealand is sold by Momentum Life, NZ Seniors, OneChoice, AA Life, Chubb Life, Greenwich Life and Unity, among others. Several of these brands share an insurer: Pinnacle Life underwrites NZ Seniors, OneChoice and Unity. Entry ages run from 18 to 80 and benefits from $3,000 to $30,000, depending on the product. The early-death rules differ, and a 24-month window is not universal.

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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.

Seller, underwriter and issuer are different roles

A distributor is the company you deal with and whose brand you see. An underwriter is the licensed life insurer that carries the risk and pays the claim. An issuer is the company named on the policy. They can be one company, as with Momentum Life Limited, or three, as with Unity, where Unity Credit Union issues a policy underwritten by Pinnacle. A rating, if any, belongs to the underwriter, which is why this page lists it separately. A rating is an opinion of an insurer's ability to pay claims, not a recommendation: A.M. Best says its financial strength rating "is not a recommendation to purchase, hold or terminate any insurance policy" (A.M. Best: Guide to Best's Financial Strength Ratings).

Who offers funeral insurance, as at 20 October 2026

Details come from each provider's own pages and documents, retrieved 17 to 20 October 2026. Check current terms before applying.

Brand	Sold by	Underwriter or issuer	Entry age	Benefit	Underwriter's rating
Momentum Funeral Insurance	Momentum Life	Momentum Life Limited	40 to 75	$3,000 to $30,000	A.M. Best B (Fair)
NZ Seniors	Greenstone Financial Services NZ Limited	Pinnacle Life Limited	18 to 79	$3,000 to $30,000	A.M. Best B+ (Good)
OneChoice	Greenstone Financial Services NZ Limited	Pinnacle Life Limited	18 to 79	$3,000 to $30,000	A.M. Best B+ (Good)
AA Life Funeral Cover	AA	Asteron Life Limited	50 to 79	$5,000 to $30,000	Fitch A+ (Strong), as AA prints it
Chubb Life Funeral Cover	Chubb	Chubb Life Insurance New Zealand Limited	50 to 80	Up to $30,000	A.M. Best A (Excellent)
Greenwich Life, The Funeral Plan	Greenwich Life, a business brand of Autosure	Autosure Insurance Limited	30 to 70	$5,000 to $20,000 (web page)	A.M. Best B++ (Good), Autosure
Unity	Unity Credit Union	Underwritten by Pinnacle Life; issued by Unity Credit Union	18 to 75	$5,000, $7,500, $10,000 or $15,000 by cover type	A.M. Best B+ (Good), via Pinnacle; Unity's page prints none

The same letter means different things at different agencies. B is "Fair" at A.M. Best, and we found no source that converts one agency's grade into another's, so we do not compare across A.M. Best and Fitch. Momentum Life's own table groups B in a "Vulnerable" range (Momentum Life: Financial Strength). A.M. Best affirmed Momentum's B (Fair) on 11 February 2026, Pinnacle's B+ (Good) on 15 April 2026 and Autosure's B++ (Good) on 10 September 2026. Asteron and Chubb Life do not date their ratings on the pages we read.

What stands behind each name

Momentum Life Limited (FSP472286) is a licensed life insurer that underwrites its own products and is owned by DCG Invest Limited; A.M. Best says the acquisition closed in July 2025. Policies bought before 14 March 2018 are insured by Fidelity Life, not Momentum.
Pinnacle Life Limited issues NZ Seniors and OneChoice, and underwrites Unity. Pinnacle withdrew its own-brand Funeral Insurance in May 2021 and points buyers to OneChoice and NZ Seniors (Pinnacle Life: Funeral and mortgage insurance). Greenstone is paid commission: Pinnacle pays up to 62% of each premium on NZ Seniors and up to 76.63% on OneChoice, according to their disclosures (NZ Seniors: Disclosure; OneChoice: Disclosure). Pinnacle's ownership is not stated on the page we read.
Asteron Life Limited underwrites AA Life. Suncorp completed the sale of its New Zealand life business to Resolution Life Australasia on 3 February 2025, and Asteron's page says Asteron Life and Resolution Life New Zealand will become Acenda Life from 2027, subject to regulatory approval. It does not mention AA Life, so we say nothing about AA Life's future.
Chubb Life Insurance New Zealand Limited was formerly Cigna Life; Chubb completed its purchase of Cigna's New Zealand life business on 1 July 2022. It is not the general insurer Chubb Insurance New Zealand Limited, whose rating is a different company's.
Autosure Insurance Limited (formerly DPL Insurance Limited), part of Turners Automotive Group, trades life products as Greenwich Life.

The early-death rules differ

The headline benefit of a funeral policy hides its biggest difference. The early period restricts death from illness, not from accident, and its length is not the same everywhere.

Brand	Early restriction	Premiums on a non-accidental death in that window
Momentum	24 months, accidental death only (within 90 days of the accident)	All refunded
NZ Seniors and OneChoice	12 months, accident only	Not refunded: OneChoice says you cannot get a refund after the cooling-off period
AA Life	24 months before non-accidental death is covered	100% refunded
Chubb Life	24 months	100% refunded
Greenwich Life	First two years: full benefit for accident only	100% refunded
Unity	A waiting period applies; length not stated	Not stated

Names that look like funeral insurers but are not

Partners Life stopped selling Funeral Cover on 15 June 2020, citing "a very low level of demand" (Good Returns, 15 June 2020).
The banks: none of ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Kiwibank or Westpac sells a guaranteed-acceptance funeral product that we found. Their life cover is underwritten by others (ANZ partners with Chubb Life, ASB with AIA, BNZ with Partners Life, Kiwibank with nib, and Westpac life is underwritten by Fidelity Life). Kiwibank's includes a Funeral Expenses lump sum of $15,000 inside the life cover.
Fidelity Life and AIA list no standalone retail funeral product on the pages we read.
Golden Insurance is not guaranteed acceptance: it asks health and lifestyle questions, for residents aged 40 to 80, and is issued by Hallmark Life Insurance Company Limited.

How to compare funeral insurance companies yourself

Ask the same eight questions of each: who is the underwriter, what is its rating and which agency gave it, what is the entry age, how long and how strict is the early window, are premiums refunded if death is from illness in that window, when do premiums stop and can they change, what is the benefit and the accidental-death multiple, and what happens if the total premiums pass the benefit. Then get a quote from each for the same age and amount. QuoteHub does not publish an exact premium for any insurer, and only AA publishes a price, for one profile, which is why our cost guide and funeral insurance comparison use criteria rather than prices. Every funeral policy wording we read names the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO) for unresolved complaints. See also our page on who underwrites funeral insurance.

For every product here, premiums over a long life can add up to more than the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole funeral. As a yardstick, FDANZ's 2026 survey of funeral homes averaged $11,700 for a cremation funeral and $14,300 for a burial funeral with 50 guests (FDANZ, 2026 New Zealand Funeral Industry Trends Report).

Where to get advice

The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application, one option of the seven above. Momentum Life Limited is rated B (Fair) by A.M. Best; the rating is in the "Vulnerable" range of Momentum's own table. 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. A licensed adviser can compare these on your own details. General information, not advice. Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Back to the funeral insurance hub, or read the AA funeral insurance page and the Momentum Life Funeral Cover page.

Get a quote and apply online today

See your price in about a minute, then apply online with Momentum Life. Guaranteed acceptance, no health questions, no medical exams.

Funeral cover See your price Ages 40–75 · $3k–$30k Life cover See your price Ages 18–65 · $50k–$300k

Want more cover or have questions? Talk to an adviser

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.

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

Adviser's view

Several brands sell funeral insurance in New Zealand, but fewer insurers stand behind them: NZ Seniors, OneChoice and Unity all rest on Pinnacle Life. The brand on the advertisement is often not the company that pays the claim, so check the underwriter and its rating before you compare prices. The early-death rules also differ more than the headline benefit does.

Henry Smith, Financial Adviser (FSP1010699). General information, not personalised financial advice.

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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Funeral Insurance Companies NZ: Who Offers Cover. www.quotehub.co.nz/funeral-insurance/funeral-insurance-companies-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.

References

Explore related pages: Life Insurance, Income Protection, Health Insurance, Trauma Insurance, Free Will.