Insurance News will launch a new website on October 31 to provide a complete news and information service for intermediaries and other professionals working in life insurance and health insurance.

The publication, Life+Health insuranceNEWS.com.au, will be free and will be published on Wednesday mornings.

Insurance News Publisher Terry McMullan says Life+Health insuranceNEWS.com.au will mirror insuranceNEWS.com.au, which has more than 20,000 subscribers and is the general insurance industry’s major news and information source in the region.

“When insuranceNEWS.com.au started in February 2008 we included financial services news as an integral part of the weekly bulletin,” Mr McMullan said. “Our intention was to keep the general insurance industry informed on developments in life insurance in particular, but we’ve found many professionals from across the financial services sector are also turning to us because much of what we report is unique.”

He says the increasing convergence of general, life and health insurance makes the establishment of a news and information service dedicated to life and health insurance professionals inevitable.

“The demand for material that keeps intermediaries and insurers up to speed on the issues and developments within the life and health insurance industries is growing all the time,” he said. “Industry leaders have been encouraging us to get involved more deeply in life and health reporting.”

Life+Health insuranceNEWS.com.au will be edited by John Wilkinson, one of Australia’s most experienced financial services journalists. He will lead a team of specialist writers to cover the corporate, regulatory, community and people issues impacting on the life and health insurance industries, as well as track relevant overseas developments.

The launch of Life+Health insuranceNEWS.com.au will make Insurance News the only publisher in the country involved in each of the major insurance industries.  

Mr McMullan says the new publication will follow the insuranceNEWS.com.au model by relying on advertising as its sole source of revenue.

“I’m very proud of the fact that the advertisers who came aboard when we launched insuranceNEWS.com.au in 2008 are still with us today,” he said.

“We invest in high-quality journalism that industry professionals quickly come to trust and value. Our ability to build the audience our advertisers want to reach is achieved solely by our concentration on insightful professional journalism. It’s really that simple.”

Life+Health insuranceNEWS.com.au will commence October 31 following the Association of Financial Advisers conference on the Gold Coast. The new publication is a media partner to the conference.