US flood program fails to hold back the tide
23 June 2008
This week’s revelation that fewer than one in five Americans have flood insurance is a devastating indictment of the National Flood Insurance Program...
Analysis
Competition is keeping rate rises tentative
16 June 2008
Any brokers listening to the public pronouncements from the big insurers could be forgiven for thinking the market is in for a sharp correction over the June renewals season...
Australia steps into line with Financial Claims Scheme
10 June 2008
We’ve been slow out of the blocks, but the introduction of a Financial Claims Scheme announced last week finally brings Australia into line with international standards…
Wilkins faces short honeymoon at IAG
02 June 2008
As the dust settles at IAG, newly installed CEO Mike Wilkins’ in-tray is overflowing...
Insurers fail the home warranty test
26 May 2008
The days may be numbered for privatised home warranty insurance, derided as “junk insurance” by builders and consumers...
Buying back the farm: distribution in the 21st century
19 May 2008
Underwriters and intermediaries have been jostling for distribution dominance since the industry grew out of short pants after the removal of the tariff system in the early 1980s...
To insure or not to insure in developing countries
12 May 2008
The devastating cyclone and subsequent tidal wave in Burma just over a week ago may have killed 100,000 people and destroyed property and infrastructure, but the cost to insurers…
Authorised reps staking their claim
05 May 2008
Are authorised representatives brokers - and if not, what are they?
DOFIs law: Treasury needs to plug the emerging loopholes
28 April 2008
Almost exactly 12 months after the Federal Government announced that it would introduce legislation to regulate the activities of direct offshore foreign insurers...
Weighing a big opportunity against big possibilities
21 April 2008
Today is deadline day for QBE’s $7.4 billion second offer which values IAG at $4.02 per share...
All aboard the unstoppable DOFI Express
14 April 2008
The much-anticipated release of the exemptions to the direct offshore foreign insurers regime means the endgame could finally be in sight for brokers and insurers...
Amazing Hank hangs on, but the glory days are gone
07 April 2008
At an age where most people of his age are thinking about moving to a nursing home, former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg is embroiled in a $US20 billion ($22 billion) fraud case…
US subprime crisis impacts on insurance
31 March 2008
In August last year Henry Keeling, the COO of giant Bermuda-based insurer XL Capital, said he expected the industry’s exposure to the US subprime mess to be “manageable”...
Banging heads against a taxation brick wall
17 March 2008
Despite the insurance industry’s best endeavours, there are few signs the NSW and Victorian governments are prepared to give up their addiction to insurance taxes without a long, bruising struggle...
Insurers buying brokers: could it happen here?
10 March 2008
In the wild colonial days of the South British Insurance Company and its ilk, it was all so simple...
Dog days for insurers as investors turn tail
03 March 2008
It seems insurers can't take a trick right now…
Who will accept the poisoned climate chalice?
25 February 2008
Climate change is a clear and present danger in the rapidly expanding towns and suburbs of north-east NSW and south-east Queensland...
International pressure drives NZ reforms
18 February 2008
As Australia looks for ways to loosen up its notoriously stringent financial services regulations and cut compliance complication and costs, New Zealand is putting in place…
PI countdown for planners
11 February 2008
Chris Pearce may no longer be responsible for the insurance industry, but the former Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer would be interested in the dramas taking place…
MMC gets another CEO as pressure mounts
04 February 2008
Brian Duperrault has emerged from the latest bout of musical chairs at Marsh & McLennan in the hot seat of the beleaguered broking and risk management group...