War in the strata sphere
29 June 2015
As Australia’s strata housing market gears up for huge growth in the next two decades, a price war has broken out among insurers fighting for a piece of the action, with strata cover premiums falling 20-30%…
Analysis
IAG and Buffett: ‘The first step in the dance’
22 June 2015
Warren Buffett’s first big investment in an Australian company – IAG – has both the insurance industry and the equity market agog: just what is the old campaigner up to?…
An outsource of concern
15 June 2015
The industry is on notice to improve its oversight of delegated authorities, after a stinging critique by the UK regulator…
Stamp duty: old arguments, new hope
09 June 2015
“There is a compelling case for abolishing stamp duty on insurance"…
Caught in a terrorism turf war
01 June 2015
The West must face up to an increased terrorism threat as rival organisations Islamic State and Al-Qaeda compete for domination of the global jihadist movement, a new report warns…
More threats on the radar
25 May 2015
From drones in the sky to ageing infrastructure on the ground, the world is full of risks, and the insurance industry has an opportunity to cover them all, according to Swiss Re…
An exercise in pragmatism, not politics
18 May 2015
Northern Australia is a vast area that conservative politicians have long seen as a potential El Dorado for the nation. What the Liberal Party calls the “last frontier” for development is already home to massive resources projects that lead the world in supplying iron ore and liquefied natural gas…
Disaster mitigation: a challenge to insurers
11 May 2015
The Productivity Commission sees a major role for the insurance industry in making the country better prepared for natural disasters – and not just by paying claims…
Brokers caught napping in the classroom
04 May 2015
It is rare for a conference speech to be discussed long after it was delivered, let alone set in motion the impetus for radical change…
A rallying cry for brokers
27 April 2015
Suncorp Commercial Insurance CEO Anthony Day has challenged brokers to “go on the attack” in the face of technological change and greater competition…
Professional education is the key to brokers’ future
20 April 2015
Broker education and the best way to deliver it is a much-debated issue that isn’t going to go away. If it’s not addressed and some serious blockages cleared, brokers will be the losers…
All quiet on the northern front… for now
13 April 2015
It’s hard to imagine less fanfare for a government initiative…
Cyber: too hot to handle?
30 March 2015
As the cyber threat continues to grow, so does the suggestion the private insurance market may not be able to cope with it…
Disaster mitigation: the world’s best-laid plan
23 March 2015
After 30 hours of negotiation in Sendai, Japan, representatives from 187 United Nations member states – including Australia – put their names to a 15-year framework to tackle global disaster risk…
Brokers must click with the digital generation
16 March 2015
“Do-it-yourself” owners of small businesses increasingly investigate their own insurance needs, leaving brokers potentially vulnerable, according to this year’s Vero SME Insurance Index…
The fine line between help and advice
09 March 2015
The Insurance Council of Australia’s annual Regulatory Update seminar is unmissable for anyone wanting a pointer to the industry’s emerging issues, and this year’s event suggests insurers face pressure to give consumers more personalised advice and take greater responsibility for who buys their products…
‘Same old same old’ on north Queensland. Or is it?
02 March 2015
The yawning gulf between the industry and Federal Government over the north Queensland insurance affordability issue was the elephant in the room at the Insurance Council of Australia’s annual Regulatory Update conference in Sydney on Friday…
Insurance CEOs have much to prove
23 February 2015
The CEOs of the world’s biggest companies are facing challenging times amid a volatile and often unpredictable global economy – and the rapidly transforming insurance marketplace is throwing up more than its fair share of challenges to insurance and reinsurance leaders…
Seeking clarity on a murky issue
16 February 2015
Nearly 50 brokers and lawyers attended a seminar in Brisbane on unauthorised foreign insurers last week. There’s a huge amount of interest in UFIs among brokers, and the Brisbane seminar revealed an amount of nervousness about whether the Federal Government’s initiative will address the north Queensland insurance affordability problem…
Big beasts emerge as the reinsurance landscape firms
09 February 2015
A reshaped reinsurance market is no longer the subject of speculation – it has arrived, and it is not going anywhere else soon…