Twenty general insurers have disappeared from the local insurance scene from yesterday following APRA’s unveiling of its new list of authorised insurers. 

Some have voluntarily handed back their licences and ceased trading as an insurer on Friday. One of these was Australian Family Assurance, which will continue in the market as an underwriting agent. Like the other companies which have voluntarily ceased trading, AFA will also continue to administer its run-off business.

Other insurers which have had their authorisations revoked have already moved out or been merged – like Key Insurance, which sold out to Australian Unity in December – or St Paul, which quit the local market earlier this year. Some, like AMP General, have been de-authorised because they are no longer carrying on business.

APRA says five insurers have been “restrained” from writing new business or renewing existing business, although it has not specifically identified them.

One insurer – understood to be Rural & General Insurance – has appealed against APRA’s decision to not re-authorise it. An APRA spokeswoman declined to discuss the matter, citing the appeal before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. APRA documentation shows that R&G will work under the terms of the old Insurance Act in the meantime, and will remain on the list of “authorised” businesses.

In March R&G was prevented by ASIC from raising $5 million through an offer information statement which offered shares to its insurance clients at 50 cents a share. ASIC concluded that the OIS omitted important information and contained “potentially misleading or deceptive information”.

The insurers “only authorised to conduct run-off business” which stopped trading this year are: ADFA Insurance; AMP General; American International Assurance; Australian Family Assurance; Boral Insurance; Dentists Sickness and Accident Insurance; HSB Engineering Insurance; Lionheart Insurance; PMI Indemnity and Zurich Insurance.

The decision by some organisations to retire affiliated companies that are no longer used caused some confusion in the general media yesterday. Zurich Financial Services said the “Zurich Insurance Company” referred to in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday was an entity once used by the Zurich-based reinsurance operation.

Those insurers which had their licences revoked last week – most of which involved corporates moving to absorb the capital impact on subsidiary companies – are GE Capital Insurance (Australia); Mercantile Mutual Insurance (Workers’ Compensation); NTI Limited; RACI P/L; Transport Industries Insurance; and Western QBE Insurance Limited.