The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) is splitting its annual industry awards into Australian and New Zealand events.

The NZ awards will be in direct competition with the existing Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand (IBANZ) awards, which are now in their fourth year.

IBANZ CEO Gary Young, who was not aware of the ANZIIF move until contacted by insuranceNEWS.com.au, says it is “unfortunate”.

“It would be interesting to understand their reasoning, because they weren’t interested before IBANZ began their own awards,” he said.

The Australian awards will be presented in Sydney on August 11, and the New Zealand awards will be held in early 2012.

Applications for the Australian awards are now open and will close on May 5. Organisations, teams or individuals can submit an application on behalf of their company.

An ANZIIF spokesman says a date for NZ applications will be announced later in the year.

The awards honour the best insurers, brokers, underwriters and law and other firms in the local insurance industry.

Categories include best general insurance company, insurance leader, small broker, claims service provider, underwriting agency, innovation and the ANZIIF lifetime achievement award.