New Zealand considers safety-rating buildings
13 February 2012
New Zealand buildings could be subjected to a rating system that would provide a simple guide to building safety in an earthquake…
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Companies withdrawing credit terms, risk losing orders
13 February 2012
Businesses have tightened up on the credit terms they offer customers but risk losing them as a result, a survey by trade credit insurer Coface has found…
Property rates rising, with tougher restrictions: Marsh
06 February 2012
Property rates increased by 8-15% across all classes of risk last year, Marsh says in its 2012 Pacific Market Insurance Report…
Rates stable despite cost pressures: JP Morgan/Deloitte
06 February 2012
Large increases in commercial and domestic property premiums are the major features of an otherwise stable insurance market outlook, according to the latest premium data…
Too early to tell costs of latest Queensland floods
06 February 2012
Insurers have received the first few thousand claims from flooding in southwest Queensland, but an early estimate on costs to insurers won’t be available until next week…
Consumer backlash on compulsory flood cover
06 February 2012
A consumer backlash has started against insurers who have introduced compulsory flood cover…
Strata commissions under the spotlight
06 February 2012
A Queensland property-owner has questioned the number of people receiving commissions for arranging insurance on a property…
Call for government intervention on strata insurance
06 February 2012
A body representing strata owners has called for a state-owned insurer like the Territory Insurance Office to be set up in Queensland…
Competition keeps premium rates soft
06 February 2012
Australian insurers are flagging premium increases, but data from the Insurance Council of Australia shows they were struggling to ramp up prices in the September 2011 quarter…
Spike in vehicle thefts reverses
06 February 2012
The total number of motor vehicle thefts fell 6% to 13,629 across Australia in the September 2011 quarter…
Dam engineers defend role in Brisbane floods
06 February 2012
The engineers operating Brisbane’s Wivenhoe Dam have defended their actions during the devastating 2011 floods despite conflicting evidence in internal records…
General insurers in good shape despite disasters
30 January 2012
Most Australian general insurers are in good financial shape despite the massive claims stemming from the natural disasters in 2011…
Industry defends strata insurance pricing
30 January 2012
The House of Representative inquiry into residential strata insurance has received 388 submissions, with most coming from disgruntled property owners complaining about price increases…
Actuaries call for flood insurance pool
30 January 2012
A temporary pool of funds should be created to subsidise the rising costs of flood insurance to consumers, according to the actuaries’ lobby group…
Insurers gouging, says Bligh
30 January 2012
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has called on insurance companies to be fairer on pricing policies…
Queensland-NSW floods just seasonal weather
30 January 2012
Floods and heavy rain across Queensland and northern NSW last week will not earn the catastrophe status applied to last year’s floods…
Melbourne storms cost insurers $550 million
30 January 2012
Insurers have received claims worth more than $550 million following Melbourne’s Christmas Day hailstorms, according to the Insurance Council of Australia…
Latest NZ quake claims total over $NZ1.2 million
30 January 2012
New Zealand’s Earthquake Commission has received claims of more than $NZ1.25 million ($970,000) from the October 9 Christchurch aftershock and $NZ586,000 ($453,000)…
2011 catastrophe claims blow out to $4.9 billion
30 January 2012
Melbourne’s Christmas Day hailstorms have pushed the total estimated insurance cost of 2011’s natural catastrophes to $4.9 billion…
Reinsurers to cover 80% of NZ earthquake cost
30 January 2012
Global reinsurers will cover around 80% of the cost of New Zealand’s February 22 earthquake, according to research by Swiss Re…