Top-five Australian insurer QBE doesn’t use expensive outside advice when it’s considering new merger and acquisition opportunities. CEO Frank O’Halloran just feels too responsible for protecting QBE’s shareholders to leave such issues to outsiders.

Mr O’Halloran, who has been involved in about 80 acquisitions in his 28 years with the company, told the Australian Financial Review last week QBE conducts its own due diligence on acquisitions. “At the end of the day we have to put our hands on our hearts for shareholders and say ‘this is good for us’,” he said.

“The onus is on us to dot our i’s and cross our t’s and I just couldn’t delegate that to anyone.”

Mr O’Halloran says QBE will occasionally use an investment bank when “we believe we are out of our depth”. And from all the evidence, that’s not very often.