Hutchinson appointment breaks new ground
12 April 2010
Few would suggest insurers are piercing the patriarchal heart of corporate Australia, but the times are nevertheless changing…
Analysis
Storms dampen insurer profits
29 March 2010
What a difference a month can make. As IAG, QBE and Suncorp lined up to deliver a succession of healthy results at the end of February, the storm clouds were already gathering…
Call to arms on Insurance Contracts Act
22 March 2010
As the old saying goes, it never rains but it pours. For those with a stake in changes to the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 it’s really bucketing down…
Brumby’s claims don’t wash
15 March 2010
Insurers, never the most popular companies, are used to being natural catastrophe whipping boys…
Simplicity the key to life insurance growth
08 March 2010
Make it relevant. That’s the message to life insurers in the wake of the Investment and Financial Services Association inaugural Life Insurance Conference held in Sydney last week…
Change in the weather for IAG
01 March 2010
Beatle George Harrison wrote a song called Here Comes the Sun in which he talked about smiles returning to faces…
Dismantling broker rules doesn’t diminish Spitzer legacy
22 February 2010
And so the shackles have been cast away…
Where to for builders’ warranty insurance?
15 February 2010
If the withdrawal of Lumley Insurance and CGU rattled the market for privatised builders’ warranty insurance, then the departure of Vero threatens to shake it to its foundations…
Getting a nation’s cover right
08 February 2010
Regardless of how it can be achieved, an adequate level of home and contents risk cover at affordable prices is a must-have for Australians…
The regulation bogeyman cometh
01 February 2010
International regulation is back centre stage…
Strong Australian market breeds hot competition
14 December 2009
While the rest of the world concerns itself with new regulatory challenges, in Australia the buzzword is competition…
Downturn spurs surge in management liability claims
07 December 2009
Management liability lines are feeling the strain after the global downturn precipitated a surge in new claims…
System shift will test mettle at Suncorp
30 November 2009
Apart from anything else, Suncorp CEO Patrick Snowball’s market announcement last week should see the retreat of some tanks from his lawn regarding the speculated sale of the…
QBE can afford to sit back and wait
23 November 2009
It’s remarkable how far and how fast a market rumour can travel…
IAG back in the good books
16 November 2009
IAG is heading in the right direction after rebuilding from a horror 2007/08 financial year…
The hardening insurance market: an urban myth
09 November 2009
Actions speak louder than words. That’s the implicit message to those insurers who continue to talk up rates in the insurance market…
Snowball’s commitment to banking may be hard to avoid
02 November 2009
It was with a distinctive mix of military and suburban references that new Suncorp CEO Patrick Snowball last week declared the group’s commitment to its banking operations…
ACC competition plan spawns NZ political storm
26 October 2009
The New Zealand Government is moving quickly to open up its monopoly personal injury insurer, the Accident Compensation Corporation, to competition…
The story behind APRA’s judicial belting
19 October 2009
Contrary to popular legend, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority wasn’t found to have been a party to the collapse of HIH in March 2001…
Clarity the key to regulatory compliance
12 October 2009
A constant stream of “soft” regulation is preventing insurers from maximising their compliance investment, according to a study by the University of Technology Sydney…