An organisation established for the group buying of insurance for Catholic Church entities say it is working closely with brokers.

Catholic Risk and Insurance Services was formed by the church to address difficulty obtaining cover after Catholic Church Insurance entered run-off in 2023.

It aims to “reaggregate the church’s insurance needs” by bringing together dioceses, Catholic schools, religious orders and other Catholic entities to drive savings.  

CRIS says it leverages “the scale of the church to secure better pricing and terms of cover for its members”.

And CEO Cameron Fraser says his team works closely with brokers to ensure policies are cost-effective and comprehensive.  

“By pooling our resources, we can achieve outcomes that would be impossible for individual dioceses or agencies to achieve on their own.

“This expert support helps dioceses and agencies navigate an increasingly complex insurance landscape, especially after CCI’s exit. We bring the broker to the entity and the entity chooses the insurer they go with, backed by the support of CRIS and the diversity of assets across the church; with that scale to market they are seen as lower risk for insurers.”

Insurance is the second-largest expense after payroll for most dioceses, and CRIS says it is exploring a mutual fund self-insuring model. It plans to seek a licence to provide broking services in-house.

“One of the key goals is to build a mutual structure where the church can self-insure to an acceptable level of risk and then go to the wholesale market to insure above that acceptable level,” Mr Fraser said. “This will allow us to negotiate even better terms and pricing, while also providing more control over our risk management strategies.”

CRIS models premiums and claims history to see if an organisation will be ahead by self-insuring to a certain level.

The dioceses of Sandhurst, Ballarat and Sale benefited from CRIS’ tender process for the 2024 renewal year, resulting in premium savings, reduced deductibles and improved policy terms.

Catholic Education Western Australia has joined the process, and the dioceses of Perth, Bunbury, Geraldton and Broome are also participants.