Who underwrites funeral insurance in NZ?

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.

In New Zealand the underwriter, not the brand selling the policy, is the company that owes the benefit and pays a funeral insurance claim. Momentum Life Limited underwrites its own funeral cover. A.M. Best rates it B (Fair), which sits in the range Momentum's own table labels "Vulnerable". The underwriter's name and rating are in the policy wording and on the insurer's website, so check them.

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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.

An underwriter is the insurer that accepts the risk and pays valid claims from its own funds. A brand is the name on the advertising. A distributor sells or promotes the policy. A reinsurer is a company the insurer pays to share some of its risk, and it is not the company that owes you the benefit. Each can be a different business. Momentum's Funeral Insurance wording says "This insurance Policy is underwritten by Momentum Life Limited", and the same page describes Momentum Life as a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP472286) (Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance Policy Wording, 17 Aug 2023). Other funeral brands use a different underwriter. Total funeral premiums can end up larger than the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole funeral, whoever the underwriter is.

Who is the underwriter behind each funeral brand?

Names are from each insurer's own pages, read on 17 to 20 October 2026. Ratings are as each insurer or agency prints them.

Brand	Underwriter	Rating, agency and word
Momentum Life Funeral Insurance	Momentum Life Limited	B (Fair), A.M. Best
NZ Seniors and OneChoice	Pinnacle Life Limited	B+ (Good), A.M. Best
Unity	Pinnacle Life (issued by Unity Credit Union)	B+ (Good), A.M. Best, via Pinnacle
AA Life Funeral Cover	Asteron Life Limited	A+ (Strong), Fitch, as AA prints it
Chubb Life Funeral Cover	Chubb Life Insurance New Zealand Limited	A (Excellent), A.M. Best
Greenwich Life, The Funeral Plan	Autosure Insurance Limited	B++ (Good), A.M. Best

Pinnacle's rating was affirmed on 15 April 2026 and Autosure's on 10 September 2026. Autosure's funeral page does not print a rating itself; it is on Autosure's financial strength page. AA, Chubb and Asteron pages show no rating date (Pinnacle Life: Financial strength, Autosure: Financial strength, Chubb: Life financial strength, Asteron: Financial strength). Some brands advertise a global reinsurer's name beside the policy. That is reinsurance, and the reinsurer is not the insurer you claim from. For more on what each product offers, see our funeral insurance comparison.

How do I find the underwriter in a policy document?

Search the wording for "underwritten by" or "issued by". Momentum's Funeral Insurance wording prints it on its "About this policy" page, and its Quick Life wording says the policy is "provided and underwritten by Momentum Life Limited".
Read the legal name, not the logo. Names such as "Life", "Seniors" or "Plan" are brands. Look for "Limited" and an FSP number.
Check the distributor line. Some pages say a company "promotes" or "distributes" a policy and receives commission. That company is not the one that pays the claim. NZ Seniors and OneChoice are distributed by Greenstone Financial Services and issued by Pinnacle Life.
Find the rating, with its agency. The same letter means different things at different agencies, so write down the agency and its word.
Look at the date. A rating is an opinion at a point in time.

What does an underwriter actually do?

It accepts the risk, sets the premium, pays valid claims and answers complaints. In Momentum's case it also sets entry rules in its wording: ages 40 to 75, and "New Zealander" meaning living in New Zealand at application and an NZ or Australian citizen, a permanent resident visa holder, or in New Zealand continuously for at least 12 months on a valid temporary work visa. It also sets the rule that the benefit may be paid only to a natural person, and the 24-month window in which only accidental death pays. Premiums can be changed for everyone on the plan only for a change in tax or other law, or claims experience significantly different from expected, on 30 days' written notice. These are the "funeral cover requirements" that people search for, and they are set by the underwriter, not by QuoteHub or the website where you apply.

What is Momentum Life's A.M. Best rating?

A.M. Best's Financial Strength Rating is B (Fair). A.M. Best's scale runs from A++ and A+ ("Superior") through A and A- ("Excellent"), B++ and B+ ("Good"), then B and B- ("Fair"). It describes Fair as "a fair ability to meet their ongoing insurance obligations. Financial strength is vulnerable to adverse changes in underwriting and economic conditions." Momentum's own table puts A++ to B+ in one group and B, B- and below in a group it labels "Vulnerable", so B (Fair) is in the "Vulnerable" group on Momentum's table (A.M. Best: Guide to Best's Financial Strength Ratings, Momentum Life: Financial strength).

The history matters too. In April 2024 A.M. Best's rating for Momentum was B++ (Good). It later moved to B (Fair) and, on 11 February 2026, removed it from review and affirmed B (Fair) with a stable outlook, noting a capital injection. Its release cited pre-tax losses in fiscal 2023 to 2025, marginal operating performance and "a high level of execution risk" (A.M. Best release, 11 Feb 2026). Momentum's own solvency disclosure shows 107% at 30 June 2026, a margin of about $0.6 million, down from 117% a year earlier. No source says why it fell. Momentum has been owned by DCG Invest Limited since a purchase that A.M. Best says closed in July 2025.

A rating is an opinion on an insurer's ability to pay claims. A.M. Best says it "is not a recommendation to purchase, hold or terminate any insurance policy". It is not a statement that a particular claim will or will not be paid, and Momentum publishes no claims statistics. Funeral benefits are small, which limits the amount at stake, but a B (Fair) rating is a fact to weigh alongside price and terms. See Momentum Life's rating page and the insurer financial strength tables.

How do I check any insurer's financial strength?

Find the rating on the insurer's own financial strength page, with the agency's name. For A.M. Best-rated insurers, check A.M. Best's published scale.
Do not compare letters across agencies. B is "Fair" at A.M. Best but "Weak" at S&P and Fitch, and we found no source that converts one agency's grade to another's.
Check the solvency disclosure if the insurer publishes one. Sizes differ up to 100 times between NZ insurers, so a ratio alone does not rank them.
Make sure the rating is for the right company. Chubb Insurance New Zealand Limited is a general insurer with its own rating, and Chubb Life Insurance New Zealand Limited is the life insurer. Southern Cross Life's policies are underwritten by Chubb Life, so they carry Chubb Life's rating, not the health society's.

Can a policy be owned by someone other than the insured?

Under Momentum's wording, yes. The owner must be a natural person, and a "Relative" of the owner can be the life insured, which includes a parent, grandparent, sibling or child. An adult child can therefore own a policy on a parent aged 40 to 75. The underwriter pays the benefit to the owner, or to the nominated beneficiary if the owner has died. See funeral insurance for parents.

Do underwriters change?

They can, so check the current wording. Pinnacle Life withdrew its own-brand Funeral Insurance in May 2021, and existing policies carried on unchanged. Policies bought from Momentum before 14 March 2018 are insured by Fidelity Life, not Momentum (Momentum Life: FAQs). If you are unsure who is behind a policy, ask the insurer in writing. If a claim is declined, the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO) is the free external dispute scheme named in Momentum's wording, and its assessment is binding on Momentum. See also what happens if a funeral insurer fails and what funeral insurance is.

Where to get advice

The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application, one option among the underwriters above. 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 underwriters on your own details. 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.