Quotesonline.com.au Australian Insurance News

Suncorp Insurance Cost Rise

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:58:37 +0000

Suncorp Insurance has been hit with massive increases in costs in the current financial year, due to the continuous string of natural disasters in the country.

The Queensland based company ranked fifth in Australia’s banks, is currently already $250 million over its expected cost of $460 million for natural disasters and hazard costs. The end of April saw the balance sheet hit over $700 million with 2 months worth of claims remaining.

This financial year the company has had massive claim in the Queensland and New South Wales floods, storms and cyclones, with the most costly to date the Christmas Day hailstorm in Melbourne costing the insurer approximately $250 million in claims.

In a bank and general insurance update, the company announced although these costs are major setbacks, its core banking operations and performance figures have improved. Suncorp Bank CEO has commented in a statement “This trend is weighing on the overall banking system but Suncorp Bank continues to grow as consumers look for alternatives to the major banks”.

The company has seen a steady increase in premiums to help cover the costs of the natural disasters following warnings in early February from Suncorp Insurance Chief Patrick Snowball.

Suncorp has a highly regarded insurance portfolio including AAMI, GIO, Vero, Apia, and more, all who are specialists in their field. The insurance giant offer insurance products and services of all types including Life Insurance, Home and Contents, Car, Boat and Caravan, Travel, as well as offer a large range of superannuation, income protection and life insurance products.

By Krystal Ayoub

Suncorp Insurance Brands

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Senkevics and Humphreys join Insurance Council of Australia’s Board

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:49:37 +0000

Mark Senkevics

Adrian Humphreys

Following the Insurance Council of Australia‘s annual general meeting Mark Senkevics from Swiss Reinsurance Company and Adrian Humphreys from Lloyd’s Australia have become board members

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) is the representative body of the general insurance industry in Australia

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Changes at Calliden Insurance

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:03:35 +0000

Tony Thomas has joined Calliden as CFO following the departure of Adrian Diggelmann, and Calliden’s Chief Counsel Mikaela Reynoldson has also left the company

Calliden Insurance Group is a group offering general insurance products to individuals, as well as to small and medium sized businesses

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QBE announces structural changes

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:47:51 +0000

Insurance giant QBE insurance has announced changes in its executive structure which will be immediately put into effect.

The change in the structure of the company’s Group Executives has been sparked by retirement of CEO Frank O’Halloran effective mid August 2012.

The members of the Group Executive team are as follows:

• Steven Burns, Chief Executive Officer European Operations
• Neil Drabsch, Group Chief Financial Officer
• Colin Fagen, Chief Executive Officer Australian & New Zealand Operations
• John Rumpler, President and Chief Executive Officer North America Operations
• Jenni Smith, Group Executive Officer People and Communications
• Jose Sojo, Chief Executive Officer Latin America Operations
• George Thwaites, Group Chief Risk Officer

The transition of leadership will see all of the above executives except Mr O’Halloran report to the newly appointed CEO John Neal.

The realignment of the Group structure has forced other changes within some of the roles and responsibilities in other divisions and operations yet Frank O’Halloran is supportive saying “The changes are an important step in our leadership transition. They put in place the team that will work with John Neal to lead the business into the future. I look forward to continuing to mentor John and the team over the next three and a half months.”

QBE is Australia’s largest international insurance and reinsurance group as well as in the top 20 global insurers. QBE insurance Australia offer a range of personal (car insurance, boat insurance, home and contents insurance) and business (liability, accidental and health insurance) insurance as well as other financial protection services.

By Krystal Ayoub

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Changes at Zurich Australia

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:32:22 +0000

Shane Dole has announced his resignation from Zurich Australia, Shane has been the CEO since 2010, he will eave the company in September “to take up a new opportunity”.

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Asian Insurance Giant Up For Grabs

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:11:53 +0000

ING’s Asian life insurance arm is up for grabs in one of the fastest growing insurance markets in the world.

Some of the largest and most competitive Insurance companies are preparing for what is expected to be a highly sought after bidding war involving billions of dollars.

Dutch owned company ING Groep NV is the largest financial services company and it is rumoured to be seeking up to $7 billion for the sale. The extent of the price tag is said to be due to the solid foundation of the ING franchise, as well insurance companies desire to expand into a less competitive market.

The potential long term growth this deal has to offer as well as the rare event of a platform like this coming up for sale, has competition jumping at the offer. International renowned insurance companies including MetLife, Prudential Financial, Manulife Financial and Sun Life Financial are among those hiring advisers for assistance with the bidding.

The Asian insurance market is said to be critically important to the future of insurance companies who have not already penetrated the barely-touched market. ING currently have operations in countries such as China, Hong Kong India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and more.

Some of the interested bidders are not interested in ING’s entire platform and are hoping to purchase one of the joint ventures which are said to be availble to be sold separately.It has been reported that Australian insurance companies are also likely to express interest in these dealings.

The sale of the asset has said to have been stimulated by the agreement made between the European Commission and ING regarding state aid in the 2008 financial crisis.

ING insurance in Australia recently changed to Onepath a division of the ANZ Bank

By Krystal Ayoub

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Floods commission names and shames CGU

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 02:03:43 +0000

On the topic of performance of private insurers The Queensland Flood Commission has named CGU as an insurer who was less meticulous in its responses to the Commission’s Requirements

The Commisions report singled out CGU “The insurer (CGU) stated that all letters advising customers that their claims had been denied ‘detail[ed] the reasons for the decision’ and ‘referenced all material relied upon to come to the decision’. CGU conceded the statement was not correct. The concession was sensible: the insurer’s pro forma letters, which were provided to the Commission, did no such thing. CGU said, by way of explanation, that the shortcomings were inadvertent, the result of pressures of work.
The Commission accepts that CGU was put to considerable work in order to comply with the Commission’s Requirements (and it must be noted that its legal representatives also had to co-ordinate responses to Requirements
issued to NRMA Insurance, which is also part of the Insurance Australia Group). It considers, however, that in those instances, the insurer was neither careful nor diligent in its responses to Requirements”

CGU refused to comment to Quotesonline, CGU which is part of Insurance Australia Group have since offered automatic flood cover for their home insurance policies.

Insurers received an exceptionally high volume of claims as a result of the 2010/2011 floods. The Insurance Council of Australia has reported that, as at 24 November 2011, 463 residential and commercial claims were made as a result of the 2010/2011 floods.

ICA Chief Executive Rob Whelan said the industry supported many of the recommendations, and each insurer affected by the floods would now examine the report before deciding on their next steps.
“The Queensland floods of 2011 were devastating and almost unprecedented in scale,” Mr Whelan said.

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Australia has cheapest life insurance cover

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 06:02:37 +0000

A study of Life Insurance premiums in nine countries has revealed Australia has cheapest life insurance cover, and also adviser and direct life cover is the 2nd most competitive.

The research was conducted by RGA Reinsurance Company of Australia, it compares life insurance premiums in countries including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States

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General Insurer CGU to cut 600 Jobs

admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:26:00 +0000

Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has announced a revised operating model for its Australian General Insurer CGU, that will see 600 jobs cut over the next three years resulting in $65 million in savings.

IAG purchased CGU in 2003, CGU offer Car, House, Business and Public Liability Insurance

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New offering from AIA Australia and Australian Group Insurances for SMSF

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 01:54:27 +0000

Life insurance specialist, AIA Australia has partnered with Australian Group Insurances (AGI) to launch a new insurance solution specifically tailored to address the insurance gap in the Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) sector.
The SMSF sector is the largest and fastest growing superannuation sector in Australia.* This tailored solution has been developed to specifically meet the needs of this growing sector.

The plan also provides; immediate decisions – for cover up to $500,000 death and TPD; the ability to transfer existing cover; an online application that can be completed in under five minutes, and can also cater for SMSFs that utilise platforms as an administrative tool.
The new product marks AIA Australia’s first targeted offering to the SMSF sector which now represents one third of Australia’s $1.3 trillion superannuation pool.* Damien Mu, Chief Distribution and Marketing Officer at AIA Australia said the SMSF Master Insurance Plan was specifically designed to provide SMSF members access to comprehensive insurance at competitive rates