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ANZIIF and CII still talking after failed merger

The proposed merger between the Australia and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) and Britain’s Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) might officially be off the agenda, deferred, but the two sides are still talking.

Next month ANZIIF CEO Joan Fitzpatrick will meet with the CII’s new president Barry Smith and immediate past president Trevor Matthew in the UK.

An ANZIIF spokesman described it as a “just a regular meeting”. She says representatives from the two institutes also met in Australia earlier this year.

The CII called off the merger last December, initially blaming “financial discrepancies” in ANZIIF’s accounts. It alleged the institute was staring down the barrel of a second straight annual loss.

They later adopted a more conciliatory tone, blaming the global financial crisis, and ANZIIF later reported a 2008 operating surplus of $251,000.