Speaker: Andrew Robb, Business Risk Adviser
What is your name and role at MAS?
Andrew Robb: Hello, my name is Andrew Robb and I'm very proud to be an MAS Business Risk Adviser.
How long have you been at MAS?
Andrew Robb: Well, I started at MAS in 2007 in our Johnsonville, Wellington office. I was first employed as a Senior Lending Adviser. That role I had for 2 years. I then moved in to be a General Adviser and that General Adviser was pretty much a jack of all trades. So that was doing home, contents, car, KiwiSaver, retirement saving schemes, as well as the business risk that I do now and also life and disability, income protection insurance.
What roles have you had prior to working at MAS?
Andrew Robb: Insurance and finance has always been in my blood. My mum actually worked for an insurance company and I studied finance at university. I actually first started off working for the P.S.I.S which is now called the CoOperative Bank. I was there for 19 years and started off as a Teller and all the way through to a Regional Manager in Wellington. Then I jumped through to MAS after that, I actually took a 1 year break from MAS and became a Bank Manager for Kiwibank in 3 branches, but you couldn't take me out of MAS. So I'm very, very happy to be part of the MAS whānau once again.
What does the Business Risk team do?
Andrew Robb: The business risk team is really important and pivotal part of what MAS do. But we're here to protect our Members' assets, their businesses. And just to make sure we're pretty much the bank, when the bank's not there, when disaster strikes. We have lots and lots of conversations face-to-face, over Teams, on the calls. You know, we know that our Members are really, really busy people and insurance is just not something that's top of mind all the time. We know we're here to take out the complications and the issues and the pain of that and just make it really plain sailing. We just make sure that the solutions that our Members have in place are actually fit for purpose. We just discover if there's any shortfalls that they possibly would have and make recommendations along the way.
What do you do in your role?
Andrew Robb: Every day is a new day in our role. We have no idea what our Members are going to contact us for, what issues they may have, what perils may have happened. I was in MAS when Kaikoura earthquakes happened and cyclones in Edgecumbe, so we're certainly well versed in what happens. Obviously, we have set day-to-day things that we do. We review people's renewals when they come up, with policies are due to be repaid. We reach out to our Members and just make sure that they know what covers they have in place, what covers they don't have in place and are the levels of cover sufficient for them. Really, we, we're educators, we will visit Members at their home, at their place of work, in our offices. Most of all we are here to care. We really, really want to make sure that our Members succeed with their business and their business dreams, that they're fully protected. And when the worst happens, we're there to help.
Why is Business Insurance important?
Andrew Robb: We know that a lot of our Members insure their cars, they will insure their house, they will insure their contents. Because hey, if the worst happened in that situation and your house burned down to the ground, our Members are very conscious that if that happens, insurance is required and needed for them to obviously rebuild their house and move on with their life. That's exactly the same with business risk insurance. It is so important. A lot of you work in private practice so that you have staff, you may own buildings, equipment, et cetera. So if the worst happens, what are you going to do? So it's super important to make sure that you continue on and your staff continue on receiving incomes, you can fully replace your building if you owned it and get back on your feet as soon as you can.
What hobbies and interest do you have outside of MAS?
Andrew Robb: Look my hobbies outside of work really revolve around socialising and I love being in the garden, certainly love traveling overseas now that I have the opportunity to do it. Be with my family and be with my friends and actually be the best version of the person I possibly can be.
