NZ CFS L5 General Insurance study plan

Map New Zealand's financial services regulatory architecture on one page: the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, the Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Act 2022 and fair conduct programmes, Financial Service Providers registration, and the FMA's supervisory role.

Explain each standard of the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services and match every standard to a concrete general insurance client scenario you write yourself.

Distinguish statutory duties from the Insurance Council of New Zealand Fair Insurance Code, and state what each obliges an insurer or intermediary to do at quote, renewal and claim stages.

Apply the Privacy Act 2020 information privacy principles and AML/CFT Act 2009 customer due diligence steps to a worked client onboarding and record-keeping scenario.

Interpret the statutes that most often decide a general insurance outcome: the Insurance Law Reform Acts 1977 and 1985, the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017, the Fair Trading Act, the Consumer Guarantees Act and the Human Rights Act.

Trace the dispute resolution ladder from internal insurer complaint to the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman or Financial Services Complaints Ltd, then to the courts, and state time limits and jurisdiction for each step.

Work through three ethical dilemmas in writing: commission and remuneration disclosure, replacement of existing cover, and advice to a vulnerable or non-English-speaking client.

Classify the main personal lines products (house, contents, motor, travel, boat) by sections, standard extensions and usual exclusions to start Domain 3.

Compare house, contents and motor policy wording on sum insured basis, indemnity versus replacement, specified versus unspecified items, excesses and gradual damage exclusions.

Explain the core commercial lines: material damage, business interruption using gross profit and indemnity period, public and products liability, motor fleet, and rural or farm cover.

Analyse how Natural Hazards Commission (formerly EQC) natural hazard cover interacts with private house and contents policies, including the cap, scope, excess and claim lodgement sequence.

Identify the ten exclusions that most often cause claim disputes and describe how an endorsement or extension modifies each one.

Run a full fact-find covering client objectives, financial situation, existing cover, dependants, risk tolerance and affordability, recording each answer in a structured template.

Calculate appropriate sums insured using rebuild and replacement cost estimates, and identify underinsurance, average clauses and co-insurance consequences.

Apply the complete advice process: agree scope, analyse needs, compare options, justify suitability, disclose remuneration and conflicts, keep records, schedule a review.

Explain and illustrate the principles of insurable interest, indemnity, utmost good faith, subrogation, contribution and proximate cause using New Zealand claim examples.

Compare at least three products against a single client's documented needs and write a recommendation that justifies inclusions, exclusions, excesses and premium, or justifies giving no advice.

Handle a replacement business scenario end to end: compare old and new cover, document disadvantages, disclose commission, and record the client's informed decision.

Explain underwriting workflow from proposal to acceptance, including hazard identification, rating factors, loadings, imposed exclusions, higher excesses and referral triggers.

Read a policy schedule alongside its wording and endorsements, and explain how each field, definition and condition affects cover at renewal.

Apply the client's pre-contract disclosure duty and the insurer's remedy for non-disclosure or misrepresentation, distinguishing innocent, negligent and fraudulent non-disclosure.

Break down a premium into its components and explain how claims experience, reinsurance costs, hazard, sum insured and excess drive pricing.

Walk a claim from notification to settlement: coverage determination, investigation, quantum assessment, betterment, depreciation, salvage and settlement options.

Describe the roles of loss adjusters, investigators and repairers, and identify fraud indicators and the subrogation recovery process.

Resolve two disputed claims by interpreting policy wording, identifying the governing condition, and writing the internal review outcome and ombudsman escalation route.

Describe insurer structures and operations: mutual, stock, captive and branch of an overseas insurer, plus the role of reinsurance and managing general agents in New Zealand.

Compare distribution channels, broker, agent, direct, bank or affinity, and aggregator, on duties owed, remuneration, product range and conflicts of interest.

Explain agency versus brokerage relationships, commission disclosure, and the intermediary's obligations when placing or renewing cover.

Sit two full-length timed mock exams across all seven domains under exam conditions and record every score by domain.

Analyse the error log, re-drill the three weakest domains using fresh questions, and correct each misconception in writing.

Recite the regulatory framework, the six Code standards, the advice process steps and the claim lifecycle from memory without notes.

Finalise a personal exam-day strategy covering question triage, timing per question and flagging for review.