2500 claims lodged after Victoria storms
31 January 2022
About 2500 claims have been lodged following thunderstorms and heavy rain across parts of Victoria at the end of last week...
Local
Pandemic prompts shift in insurers' investment appetite
31 January 2022
Insurers have been adjusting their investment portfolios in response to the pandemic’s economic impact in a bid to improve returns, according to a study by consultancy bfinance...
Former Suncorp insurance chief joins AFCA board
31 January 2022
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has appointed former Suncorp Insurance CEO Gary Dransfield to its board...
Leading strata insurance providers keep top rankings
31 January 2022
Steadfast-owned CHU, Strata Community Insurance and IAG’s Strata Unit Underwriters have again come out best in an annual ranking of strata offerings in the residential and commercial product categories...
NZ to monitor ocean floor for North Island risk
31 January 2022
New Zealand researchers will deploy ocean floor seismometers off the coast near Wellington to gain a better understanding of the lower North Island’s earthquake and tsunami risks...
EQC strategy chief named as CEO
31 January 2022
New Zealand’s Earthquake Commission Chief Strategy Officer Tina Mitchell has started in her new position as CEO, taking over from Sid Miller, who announced his resignation last August...
A Note From The Publisher
13 December 2021
Dear readers...
La Nina strength may not indicate its effect: BOM
13 December 2021
Weather models generally indicate the La Nina event currently underway will be short-lived and of weak to moderate strength, though the Bureau of Meteorology says the “strength of an event doesn't necessarily equal the strength of its effect”...
Perils estimates southern Australia storm losses at $1 billion
13 December 2021
Severe storms that swept across southern Australia at the end of October have caused estimated losses totalling $1.028 billion, catastrophe data company Perils says in a preliminary figure...
In Insurance News magazine this month
13 December 2021
Sorry if the cover picture for the December edition of Insurance News magazine seems a bit confronting, but it helps to illustrate the vast gulf between the Australian Government’s emissions promises and the insurance industry’s growing dislike of fossil fuels...
Housing tenure key driver for underinsurance
13 December 2021
Suburbs with a high proportion of rental properties are likely to have a greater degree of underinsurance regardless of whether the area is wealthy or poor, research has shown...
July 'weather bomb' costs NZ insurers $133 million so far
13 December 2021
The Insurance Council of New Zealand says the July “weather bomb” storm event has so far cost the industry about $NZ140.5 million in payouts from 5534 claims...
EQC research may shake up construction, forestry industries
13 December 2021
Timber wall seismic testing undertaken by the University of Canterbury could have far-reaching implications for New Zealand’s construction and forestry industries, as well as the nation’s quest to become a carbon-neutral economy, the Earthquake Commission says...
Reinsurance pool draft bill leaves 'critical gaps'
06 December 2021
The Northern Australia Insurance Lobby says holiday rental developments and other properties in Australia’s north may be left uncovered by the cyclone reinsurance pool, based on draft legislation released last week...
Mutual fund 'only suitable solution' for amusement operators
06 December 2021
The Australian Amusement, Leisure and Recreation Association’s plan for a discretionary mutual fund offers the “only suitable” answer to the industry’s pressing insurance challenges around affordability and availability, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has concluded...
Cyber goes from 'hard to sell' to 'hard to buy'
06 December 2021
Cyber has changed from a product that was once hard to sell to one that’s hard to buy, amid an increase in claims and with coverage and capacity more difficult to find, Emergence Insurance says...
Macquarie surveys brokers, underwriters, insurtechs
06 December 2021
Macquarie Group is undertaking a business sentiment “check in” survey to gauge how insurance brokers, underwriting agencies and insurtechs feel about the future...
Modern homes not resilient to cyclone hazards: ICA
06 December 2021
Modern houses are not resilient to the damaging impacts of tropical cyclones despite conforming to current safety aspects of the National Construction Code and the issue is likely to worsen with climate change, the Insurance Council of Australia has warned in a research report...
Brokers urged to take self-reporting of code breaches seriously
06 December 2021
The Insurance Brokers Code Compliance Committee has pressed the importance of self-reported breaches, as they may highlight lapses in a subscriber’s compliance monitoring process...
Insurers agree to stop chasing tenants for accidental damage
06 December 2021
The Insurance Council of Australia says many of its members will change their recovery practices after consumer advocates aired concerns that tenants are being pursued to pay for accidental or unintentional damage caused...