Industry’s annual profit rises to $3.1 billion
21 November 2016
Australian insurers and reinsurers recorded a combined net profit of $3.1 billion for the year to September 30, up from $2.4 billion the previous year…
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Soft cycle tipped to persist
21 November 2016
General insurance will remain in a soft pricing cycle over the next couple of years, according to Taylor Fry director Kevin Gomes…
Mildura hail losses climb past $100 million
21 November 2016
About 19,200 claims totalling $108 million have been lodged with insurers since the severe hailstorm that struck northwest Victoria’s Mildura region more than a week ago…
Liability insurance sector evolving, actuaries told
21 November 2016
Liability insurers’ customer mix is changing, with the services sector dominating as manufacturing declines, Finity Consulting Actuarial Consultant Kim Nowaczyk says…
Canberra wins indigenous funeral cover appeal
21 November 2016
The Federal Government’s Department of Human Services has won a court appeal over the actions of a funeral insurer operating in indigenous communities…
S&P praises Australia’s ‘prudent, disciplined’ insurers
21 November 2016
Australian general insurers will achieve combined operating ratios of about 95% next year, even as premium growth remains flat, according to S&P Global Ratings…
Job losses loom in claims management
21 November 2016
Thousands of jobs will go in insurers’ small claims management departments as they switch to automated processes, according to Ernst & Young Director Advisory Steven Girvan…
SSP NZ switches host after outage
21 November 2016
Insurance technology company SSP New Zealand will move to a local data host to avoid a repeat of recent disruptions to its broker clients, caused by a power cut at its UK data centre…
Cost-benefit complexities ‘hamper mitigation decisions’
21 November 2016
Disaster mitigation investment decisions are complex due to difficulties evaluating the benefits, according to the Actuaries Institute’s Natural Disasters Working Group…
Supercomputer starts up to improve weather forecasts
21 November 2016
The Bureau of Meteorology has installed a new supercomputer to improve its weather forecasts…
New Zealand hit by 7.8-magnitude earthquake
14 November 2016
New Zealand was hit by a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake just after midnight local time this morning, causing the death of at least two people and damaging homes and roads…
Brokers vulnerable, Macquarie survey shows
14 November 2016
Brokers have a long way to go before they are considered leaders in innovation, according to Macquarie Business Banking’s latest Insurance Broking Benchmarking Survey…
(Re)insurers record combined $2.4 billion profit
14 November 2016
Insurers and reinsurers produced a combined net profit of $2.46 billion in their last financial years, according to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s latest statistics…
IAG links disasters to GDP
14 November 2016
IAG hopes its new report quantifying the threat natural disasters pose to Australian GDP will spur the Government and wider community into spending more on mitigation…
Public and private ‘must pull together’
14 November 2016
Businesses should reassess their relationships with government during these challenging times, Suncorp CFO Steve Johnston says…
Health and safety reforms raise NZ liability concerns
14 November 2016
Health and safety regulations tightened when new legislation took effect in April, aiming to reduce the nation’s workplace injury and death toll 25% by 2020.
Heat extremes ‘to become normal’
14 November 2016
Extreme heatwaves such as those of 2013, when temperatures approached 50 degrees in some parts of Australia, could represent “just another average summer” by 2035…
Industry weighs up global disaster management forum
14 November 2016
The Australian insurance industry is considering the extent of its involvement in the United Nations-backed Insurance Development Forum…
Kiwi insurers warned to innovate or fade away
14 November 2016
New Zealand insurers must adapt and innovate or become fringe players in the digital age, KPMG says in an industry review…
Driverless cars to have ‘complex’ premium impact
14 November 2016
The shift towards driverless cars will probably have a mixed impact on premiums, according to Munich Re Underwriting Manager Australasia Scott Reeves…