The battle for market share in general insurance is continuing, with the industry’s two giants – long-time leader NRMA and brash new challenger Suncorp Metway (plus AMP General/GIO) circling a minnow – RACQ.

Not that much of a minnow, however. RACQ owns 50% of the operation with AMP/GIO, and wrote gross premiums of $153 million last year. The sale of AMP’s general insurance assets to the Queensland allfinanz group has put it back in the market, with the choice of keeping its “old” business links or switching to an expansive NRMA.

If Suncorp Metway could hold on to RACQ, it would have a stranglehold on the state’s CTP market (about 70%) and about 30% of the home insurance market.

RACQ calls the shots on this one, sort of. Alan Fels at the ACCC also gets a say, and he might not like the monopolistic tendencies of a merged Suncorp/RACQ insurance operation.