New player Youi Insurance to shake up NZ

New player Youi Insurance to shake up NZ

Major investment in New Zealand market, 280+ employees, tailored products, competitive prices and a compelling alternative available for Kiwis

31 July 2014

There’s a new player in the car, home and contents insurance market - Youi. It stands for You.Insured. With a licence granted by the Reserve Bank to operate in New Zealand, Youi is now ready to offer Kiwis a compelling alternative to find competitively priced insurance products supported by awesome customer service.

Danie Matthee, Chief Executive Officer, says Youi is setting out to be the Insurer of choice in New Zealand by offering a compelling alternative. “New Zealand represents a great opportunity for Youi – where we can combine our successful operating model and approach to serve Kiwis with better value insurance and a better experience.“

“We’re all about tailored products, priced very competitively and accurately, because we don’t make assumptions about what our clients need – we ask relevant questions to really understand our clients better so that we can offer a competitive price. We then support this with a great product and awesome service delivered by our amazing people.”

Youi’s transparent approach is something that they believe Kiwis will be drawn to. Anyone can openly share their experience on ‘The Youi Wall’ on youi.co.nz. This gives current and potential customers real-time insight into whether they are making the right decision about their insurance provider. “The Wall keeps us on our toes. It’s honest, transparent and upfront and is testament to how we do things differently.”

“New Zealanders have a high degree of insurance consumption because they are well informed; as such they appreciate the value and peace of mind that insurance can provide them. However, paying too much, one-size-fits-all pricing, poor service and fine print in policies, are frustrations,” says Matthee.

Youi set up offices in South Africa and then in New Zealand this time last year to service Australian customers in a ‘follow the sun’ operation, which gives them the ability to help customers on a near 24 hour basis. The Kiwi team comprises 280+ employees, rising to 420+ by April 2015, all of whom are eager and ready for Youi’s launch into the local market.

Customers come first in Matthee’s view, “We’ll be working hard to ensure that Kiwis get a great deal with us and we’re totally committed to the market, investing close to $60 million in capital. Having call centres in three countries has assisted us with strong growth in the Australian market due to extended operating hours and increased customer satisfaction. This has provided us with a lot of confidence that we can offer New Zealanders the same service offering.”

To find out how much you can save on your car and home insurance visit Youi.co.nz or call 0800 00 9684.

Background information:
• OUTsurance first launched in South Africa in 1998. Fast-forward 16 years and OUTsurance is now the largest direct insurer in South Africa, with a workforce of more than 2,600 people.
• Youi, a wholly owned subsidiary of OUTsurance Holdings, launched in Australia in 2008 with a handful of employees, and has since grown to over 1,300 employees - and still counting.
• Youi is the fastest growing car and home insurer in Australia and in a short period of time has become the fourth largest car insurer. Youi customers in Australia could fill Eden Park five times, with over 700,000 policies active with Youi.
• Youi’s New Zealand offices were originally opened to service the Australian business, with a longer term strategy to enter the New Zealand market.
• Youi New Zealand was granted an official license to operate in New Zealand for New Zealand customers on 28 July 2014.
• Youi’s team is very important to their success, so employing the right people is paramount for the business. Youi lives by the mantra to ‘hire character and train skills’. That means they’ve done away with the cookie cutter approach. They simply employ the right person for the job.
• Youi’s international expansion plans have been referred to as the ‘chasing the sun’ approach to staffing. Youi has call centres in New Zealand, South Africa and Australia so that when a client calls, Youi has a staff member to answer the call as part of their working day with no late night shifts impacting staff ensuring its clients always gets the best service available.

Youi in the community:
Youi @ Hand worked with the New Zealand Salvation Army Christmas Appeal in 2013. This initiative will be repeated at Christmas this year. Youi also hosts cooking days to prepare meals for the @Heart charity in New Zealand who supports families with children that suffer from congenital heart defects. As the involvement grows so too will the number and scope of the projects.

ENDS

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