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New Zealand life insurer wins highest accolade for technology innovation

Auckland, 16 September 2008 - New Zealand life insurance provider, Pinnacle Life, has won the top technology innovation award for the United States insurance industry, the 2008 INNovator of the Year. Pinnacle Life was awarded the prize in recognition of www.pinnaclelife.co.nz, a world-first e-commerce website which pioneered electronic underwriting, offering consumers immediate online life insurance cover. The INNovators awards are organised by the Chicago-based Insurance Networking News (INN), the leading technology publication for the global insurance industry.

Pinnacle Life was the only non-US company to make the top twenty list of finalists, which included giants such as AIG, Allianz Life, AON, and Warren Buffet's company GEICO. Judges recognised Pinnacle Life as the only finalist whose innovation directly benefited the customer, rather than merely delivering cost savings to the insurance provider.

Pinnacle Life launched www.pinnaclelife.co.nz in May 2007, making it the first life insurance provider anywhere in the world to deliver immediate, fully underwritten online cover to consumers. The company set out to target an emerging life insurance market amongst internet-savvy consumers and has enjoyed significant growth since www.pinnaclelife.co.nz came online. Pinnacle Life this week raised its policy limit to $1 million.

About www.pinnaclelife.co.nz The entire process from application to policy approval is fully electronic with consumers receiving their policies online, instantly. Visitors to the simple e-fulfillment site are greeted by a crisp, intuitive interface, which leads them through a series of typical insurance questions regarding age, health and occupation. The process takes less than ten minutes, by the end of which full and immediate cover up to $1,000,000 is granted without the need for a medical examination, unless certain specific conditions are highlighted. After processing the transaction online, the site generates an automatic email with the attached policy document. More information at https://www.pinnaclelife.co.nz, with 'The Life Insurance Blog' available at: http://blog.pinnaclelife.co.nz.

About the INNovators Awards

The INNovator Awards are organised by the Insurance Networking News, the number one technology publication for the insurance industry worldwide. The awards are a formal recognition designed to advance the spread of business technology acumen in the insurance industry. Winners are determined by a panel of expert judges representing several insurance technology stakeholders. Winners are deemed to have led or contributed to a business application, innovation or project anywhere in the insurance industry supply chain that uses technology to meet business requirements. The Chicago based, Insurance Networking News was established in 1997, and has a global readership of 58,000. For more information visit www.insurancenetworking.com