Age discrimination is an emerging insurance issue
25 June 2012
Age discrimination in insurance policies is emerging as the next major government policy issue for the industry…
Analysis
NSW fire services levy: it’s time
18 June 2012
A few years ago the idea of either the Victorian or NSW governments dropping the levies they imposed on insurers to fund their fire services was a very long-odds bet…
Reinsurers taking a tougher line on risk
12 June 2012
There is plenty of reinsurance capacity in the market, but insurers expect – and are getting – tougher scrutiny this year from reinsurers under pressure from low investment returns and high catastrophe…
Bureaucracy, not benefits, are the curse of WorkCover
04 June 2012
NSW WorkCover, its insurer agents, lawyers, doctors and injured workers all want the state’s workers’ compensation scheme to be more effective, but they are divided on how to achieve this…
Europe moves the focus on insurers’ assets
28 May 2012
Insurers have always been conservative investors, putting the bulk of their assets in government bonds and fixed interest accounts…
Victoria’s fire levy phase-out debacle has tempers rising
21 May 2012
The end of a fire services levy imposed on insurance policies in Victoria was supposed to be a good thing…
Governments still treat insurance as a cash cow
14 May 2012
Governments have become increasingly hooked on tax revenue from gambling, but they don’t do too badly out of insurance, either…
Lessons for brokers from $2.7 million payout
07 May 2012
The award last week of more than $2.7 million in damages against a Brisbane brokerage has again highlighted the need for brokers to take extreme care when assessing and reporting risk factors…
National occupational health and safety plan is a shambles
30 April 2012
The vision of consistent occupational health and safety laws across the nation is in doubt, with WA and Victoria resisting the push to adopt harmonised laws…
Bridgecorp D&O decision: Three challenges under way
23 April 2012
The fallout from the collapse of New Zealand finance company Bridgecorp continues, with legal cases under way on both sides of the Tasman to challenge the NZ High Court decision…
Battered but unbowed – reinsurance capacity remains
16 April 2012
Reinsurers took several large hits from the Asia-Pacific region last year, but have come back for more, with the April 1 treaty renewals proving there is still capacity to support the region…
Will Frank’s Formula survive?
02 April 2012
In the early 1970s, a pair of American economists devised what would later be dubbed the Midas Formula – a method of accurately pricing stock options that had eluded economists for decades…
Stamp duty on insurance: An issue that won’t go away
26 March 2012
The House of Representatives committee investigating strata insurance in Far North Queensland has called for the Queensland Government to freeze stamp duty on strata premiums north of the Tropic of Capricorn…
Steadfast’s plan to unlock value through a public float
19 March 2012
Steadfast Chairman Robert Kelly isn’t known for holding back on the colourful language when he has something he really wants to say…
Code of practice: Different year, same issues
12 March 2012
When comparing the data from the latest Financial Ombudsman Service General Insurance Code of Practice Overview with that of the previous year, a pattern emerges of systemic failings…
Love to hate ’em
05 March 2012
The complexity of the insurer/consumer relationship can be summarised thus: insurers are trusted and loathed in equal measure while customers are satisfied with their insurer yet itching to switch…
Flood cover: Insurers are still waiting
27 February 2012
Insurers have started to act on flood cover – but will the Federal Government step up to the mark and do its share of the heavy lifting required to prevent a repeat of last year’s disasters…
Can the insurers’ code changes keep the critics at bay?
20 February 2012
In amending the General Insurance Code of Practice and expediting its next independent review, the Insurance Council of Australia is hoping to appease Canberra politicians hell-bent…
Backlash building on compulsory flood cover
13 February 2012
First the deluge, now the storm…
Strata insurance is doing the industry no favours
06 February 2012
Strata insurance could become the Achilles heel of the insurance industry…