Maurice Blackburn is considering a class action against QBE over the plunge in the insurer’s share price in December after it revealed it would report an annual loss of about $US250 million ($270 million).

Class Actions Principal Jacob Varghese says the law firm is investigating whether QBE breached continuous disclosure obligations by not informing the market of the losses sooner.

“We have been approached by shareholders concerned that QBE was less than frank and timely in informing the market of the troubles in its North American business, which were at the heart of last year’s surprise loss,” he said.

But QBE Group CEO John Neal says he is confident the company acted correctly.

“We are very rigorous in terms of recognising our continuous disclosure obligations and I’m 100% confident we’ve met those in every respect, especially through the December timeframe,” he said after Wednesday’s AGM in Sydney.

QBE posted earnings of $US761 million ($823 million) in 2012, while last year’s first-half result of $US477 million ($516 million) was down 37% on the year-earlier period.

The stock dropped by more than 20% on December 9 when the expected full-year loss was announced, and tumbled by 30% over two days.

Mr Varghese says if QBE did breach its obligations, investors who bought shares at “an inflated price” before the loss announcement would be entitled to compensation.

Maurice Blackburn has called on shareholders to register their interest in the class action by May 31.

“We won’t be giving a running commentary, but the response has been solid,” spokesman Cameron Scott told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

A decision on further steps will likely follow in June or July.

“Together with International Litigation Funding Partners, we are offering QBE shareholders the opportunity to register their claims and receive the support of litigation funding,” Mr Varghese said.

“If there is enough shareholder interest, it is very likely QBE will face a class action.”