A super market opportunity emerging
20 July 2009
Insurance products have been available in supermarkets overseas for more than 10 years with great success, but the direct distribution model has yet to appear on the Australian market…
Analysis
Funding at a premium
13 July 2009
Few in the insurance industry would have felt the effects of the global downturn quite as acutely as premium funders…
September 1 must mark change of season at Suncorp
06 July 2009
Patrick Snowball’s start date as Suncorp CEO is eight weeks away, on September 1...
IAG’s ‘happy middle ground’ on flood
29 June 2009
News that NRMA Insurance is supplying flood insurance to its NSW, ACT and Tasmanian customers is likely to shake things up in the industry as the controversial topic of flood cover is raised once again...
Warning signs for home and contents cover
22 June 2009
With Australian insurers constantly pointing to the cost of insurance taxes as a major disincentive to home and contents cover, the recent experience of UK insurers provides an interesting perspective...
Need for profitability will harden rates
15 June 2009
Talk of a hardening of rates across all classes of the insurance market has been out there for quite some time – at least six months...
What’s The Buzz? Yet another niche cheapie
09 June 2009
Suncorp believes Bingle customers will eventually switch to AAMI once they start a family or buy a more expensive car...
Flood cover debate shows no sign of receding
01 June 2009
As wide tracts of northern NSW and south-east Queensland lie underwater, residents must wait to learn if their insurer is prepared to pick up the tab – was it storm or was it flood...
OHS laws are important, but safe workplaces less risky
25 May 2009
Keeping people safe in workplaces should be a hot topic for debate...
State governments continue to gouge insurance-buyers
18 May 2009
Victorian and NSW policyholders have been belted with yet another rise in the fire services levy, pushing up the cost of their premiums and further increasing the risk of underinsurance...
Transpacific sinks, and it’s no great loss
11 May 2009
A turbulent period in the life of Australia’s insurance industry was remembered last month with the appointment of a provisional liquidator to Transpacific Insurance Corporation...
Marine insurers feel the pinch as global trade slumps
04 May 2009
A 45% slump in global shipping trade in the final quarter of last year had a resounding effect on all major shipping ports...
Good reputation is a key to corporate health
27 April 2009
Damage to brand and image is the number one risk to business, according to Aon’s 2008/09 Australasian Risk Management Benchmarking Survey...
Insurance faces a big fat problem
20 April 2009
New risks are always emerging, with some having the potential to significantly change the way insurance is written...
Environmental laws impact on insurance premiums
06 April 2009
Most would agree the Federal Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme is a positive step towards mitigating the effects of climate change...
Market forces will decide prices
30 March 2009
Premium rises in the general insurance market are patchy...
Insurers must spread their risks to survive
23 March 2009
Last week Richard Ward was on his first visit to the region as CEO of Lloyd’s...
Avoiding regulatory overkill
16 March 2009
Regulation of financial services tends to swing like a pendulum. Effective new regulation happens in the bottom one-third of the pendulum’s swing...
Insurance business models called into question
09 March 2009
AIG Chairman and CEO Edward Liddy provided an interesting insight as the company gratefully caught hold of another US Government lifeline last week...
AIG braces for the storm – with local implications
02 March 2009
US insurance giant AIG is about to post its fifth straight quarterly deficit – and the largest quarterly loss in US corporate history...