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AIA vs Chubb Life
AIA carries health cover alongside its risk range; Chubb Life is the underwriter behind more than one brand you may recognise. Both facts change how you should read your shortlist.
Last reviewed 4 September 2026 · Written and checked by the Best Life Insurance editorial team · How we get paid
In short
- Both operate across life, trauma, TPD and income protection; AIA also writes health insurance.
- Chubb Life underwrites Southern Cross Life & Living, so it may already sit on your shortlist under another brand.
- Bundling health with risk cover is convenient and can attract a discount, but the two are judged on different criteria.
- The age at which TPD converts to an ADL definition is one of the least discussed and most consequential differences between wordings.
- Income protection booster benefits, where they exist, change what an ACC-covered injury actually pays you.
- Neither insurer publishes its underwriting appetite, and both revise it as reinsurance treaties change.
What this is, plainly
AIA and Chubb Life both operate as licensed life insurers in New Zealand with the core risk range. AIA’s range extends to health insurance; Chubb Life is also the underwriter behind Southern Cross Life & Living Insurance, and is the insurer that now writes the former Cigna New Zealand life business.
Those two facts pull in different directions when you build a shortlist. With AIA the question is whether bundling health and risk cover with one company is genuinely better for you, or simply tidier. With Chubb Life the question is whether it is already on your list under a different brand, which would quietly remove an option you thought you had.
Beyond that, the comparison is the ordinary one and it is done on the wordings. Range breadth is a convenience feature. Definitions are the product.
The six things that actually differ
Six comparisons, asked of both insurers and written down rather than remembered.
| What differs | What to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Range breadth | Do I actually want health cover from the same insurer, and would I have chosen this health wording on its own merits? | A bundle discount on a policy you would not otherwise pick is a discount on the wrong thing. |
| Underwriter identity | Which licensed insurer underwrites each option, and does any underwriter appear twice on my shortlist? | It decides whose wording, whose appetite and whose complaints process apply to you. |
| Terminal illness | 12 months’ or 24 months’ certified life expectancy, and does the early payment reduce the death benefit? | The threshold decides whether the money arrives while it is still useful. |
| Trauma buy-back | Is a buy-back offered to reinstate life cover after an accelerated trauma claim, and is it automatic or optional? | Without one, claiming on trauma permanently reduces the amount your family receives on death. |
| TPD ADL conversion | At what age does the TPD definition convert to an activities-of-daily-living test, and what exactly does that test require? | An ADL test is a very high bar — someone unable to do any paid work may still pass it and fail the claim. |
| Income protection booster | Is a booster or top-up available to lift the combined benefit back toward the full amount when ACC is paying part of it? | It matters most where your likeliest claim is an ACC-covered injury, which is most manual occupations. |
Not sure what cover you actually need?
That is the question an adviser is there to answer. Tell us your situation and a licensed New Zealand adviser will compare the market and come back with a written recommendation — including where you can cut cover you do not need.
No cost to you and no obligation. General information only — not personalised financial advice.
What to watch for
These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.
- Whether a multi-policy discount is conditional on keeping both policies in force.
- Whether the same underwriter appears elsewhere on your shortlist under a different brand.
- Whether trauma cover is standalone or accelerated in each quote.
- Whether the ADL definition applies only after conversion, or to certain benefit types from the outset.
- Whether both quotes assume the same occupation class.
Where an adviser makes a difference
Every New Zealand insurer writes life and living cover to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.
- An adviser quotes both insurers on matched terms — same sum insured, same structure, same waiting and benefit periods — which is the only way the numbers mean anything.
- Where a health history is not straightforward, an adviser can pre-assess it anonymously with both insurers before any formal application exists, so an unfavourable answer never lands on your record.
- Policy fees and multi-benefit discounts mean the cheaper per-benefit rate is often not the cheaper household total. An adviser models the total.
- An adviser can price health cover and risk cover separately across the market so you can see what a bundle is really worth.
- Where an ADL conversion age is early, an adviser can find insurers whose wording converts later or not at all for your benefit type.
There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.
The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.
- An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
- An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
- An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
- An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.
What happens if you get in touch
We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.
- 1
You tell us what you are looking at
The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.
- 2
An adviser calls you
A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.
- 3
They compare the market
The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.
- 4
You decide, in your own time
There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.
Frequently asked questions
Should I hold health and life cover both with AIA rather than splitting with Chubb Life?
Only if you would have chosen both wordings on their own merits. A multi-policy discount is real money, but health and life cover are assessed on different criteria and there is no requirement to hold them together. Splitting lets you take the best health wording and the best risk wording rather than compromising on one for a discount on the other.
Does Chubb Life underwrite other brands I might be comparing?
Yes — Southern Cross Life & Living Insurance is underwritten by Chubb Life, and the former Cigna New Zealand life business is now written by it. If any of those appear on your shortlist alongside Chubb Life itself, you have fewer independent underwriters than the number of brands suggests.
What is an ADL definition and why does it matter for AIA or Chubb Life cover?
An activities-of-daily-living test requires you to be unable to perform two or more basic functions — typically dressing, bathing, feeding, toileting and mobility — without assistance. It is a much higher bar than own-occupation TPD. Because many wordings convert to it at a set age, ask both insurers what that age is and what the test requires.
Do both AIA and Chubb Life offer an income protection booster benefit?
Booster and top-up benefits are not offered by every New Zealand insurer, and where they exist the trigger, mechanics and caps differ. Ask each insurer directly and ask for a worked example of an ACC-covered injury alongside an illness ACC does not cover, so you can see what each policy actually pays in both cases.
Is it a problem that one insurer sells more products than the other?
Not in itself. Breadth is a convenience feature — it makes bundling and servicing simpler — but it does not make any individual wording better. Judge each benefit on its own definitions, and treat the ability to buy everything in one place as a tiebreaker rather than a reason.