Key agencies and their system roles
The Treasury (Government department)
- System leadership and oversight
- Providing policy advice
- Performance monitoring of EQC
December 2020 Treasury briefing to incoming Minister (PDF, 869 KB)
The Earthquake Commission (EQC) (crown entity)
The functions of EQC are:
- to administer the insurance against natural disaster damage provided under the EQC Act,
- to collect premiums payable for the insurance provided under the EQC Act,
- to administer the Natural Disaster Fund and, so far as is reasonably practicable, protect its value, including by the investment of money held in the Fund,
- to obtain reinsurance in respect of the insurance EQC provides,
- to facilitate research and education about matters relevant to natural disaster damage, methods of reducing or preventing natural disaster damage, and the insurance provided by EQC,
- such other functions as may be conferred on it by:
- the EQC Act or any other Act; or
- the Minister, in accordance with section 112 of the Crown Entities Act 2004.
Collaboration and information-sharing between system agencies
- Ministers, on advice of Treasury, send an annual Letter of Expectation (LoE) to EQC. It is expected that the LoE will be taken into account when the Board undertakes strategic planning and sets measures for performance reporting.
- Board appointments: The Treasury advises on Board appointments and reappointments, to ensure the Board has the relevant combination of skills/experience and leadership to effectively govern EQC.
- Ministerial Directions: The responsible Minister from time to time, on advice of Treasury and/or EQC, can direct EQC regarding existing functions or taking on new functions.
Read an EQC-authored briefing on all Ministerial directions made since 1994. - In 2018, the Treasury received additional funding to focus on 6 enhanced monitoring priority areas that relate to organisational strategy, in particular on helping resolve ongoing claims from Canterbury events.
- The Treasury and the EQC regularly work together on the gamut of shared organisational monitoring, performance and policy issues and routinely consult each other in the development of advice for the responsible Minister.
Regulated parties and main stakeholders
Regulated parties
- EQC
- Homeowners
- Private insurance businesses
Main stakeholders
- Homeowners
- Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service (GCCRS/Canterbury Earthquake Insurance Tribunal/courts
- Insurers (reinsurers), the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ)
- Science and research organisations including GNS Science, and other Crown Research Institutes and universities.
- Local government has a strong interest in EQC's contribution to resilience and recovery.
Processes for engagement with regulated parties and stakeholders
- EQC. The Treasury regularly engage with the EQC as set out above.
- Homeowners:
- The interests of homeowners with unresolved EQC claims following the Canterbury earthquakes are represented by the EQC's Claimant Reference Group (subsequently replaced by the National Reference Group) and the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service Homeowner Advisory Group.
- EQC have a function to facilitate research and education about matters relevant to natural disaster damage. For example, the EQC promote information on their website aimed at teaching homeowners what they can do to their properties to minimise the risk of damage.
- Communities. Along with representing the interests of homeowners, the National Reference Group comprises representatives from a range of customer groups, iwi and ethnic communities and emergency management. It will provide EQC with valuable perspectives and expertise across a range of sectors, and also be an important link with any event-specific community groups established after a major event.
- Private Insurance businesses. The Treasury and the EQC, both together and separately, meet with insurers on an ad-hoc basis to discuss the interaction between the EQC scheme and private insurance market. Insurers are also represented by ICNZ.
EQC also has strong governance, engagement and assurance arrangements in place to support the Natural Disaster Response Model (NDRM), which commenced on 30 June 2021. Under the NDRM, New Zealanders will have a single point of contact to support their insurance recovery if their home or land is damaged in a natural disaster. The partnership model has a singular focus on improved customer outcomes and sees insurers managing claims for EQC's natural disaster insurance cover on behalf of EQC.