Avoiding regulatory overkill
16 March 2009
Regulation of financial services tends to swing like a pendulum. Effective new regulation happens in the bottom one-third of the pendulum’s swing...
Analysis
Insurance business models called into question
09 March 2009
AIG Chairman and CEO Edward Liddy provided an interesting insight as the company gratefully caught hold of another US Government lifeline last week...
AIG braces for the storm – with local implications
02 March 2009
US insurance giant AIG is about to post its fifth straight quarterly deficit – and the largest quarterly loss in US corporate history...
Standing by the customer – but at what cost?
23 February 2009
Clearly, Australia’s general insurance industry is rising to the occasion in its support of clients affected by the Victorian bushfires, as well as the flooding in Queensland and New South Wales...
Bushfire underinsurance – a threat and maybe an opportunity
16 February 2009
Large insurance companies do the big things well. It’s usually the little things – the stray claim, the silly decision that seemed like the best idea at the time – that let them down...
Healthy underwriting keeps Australian insurers ticking over
09 February 2009
A cursory glance of the daily headlines would have you believe the local insurance industry is on the skids...
Competition still rules as the cycle turns up
02 February 2009
The confirmation from NIBA’s latest market conditions survey that the commercial market is turning up was hardly a surprise...
Financial pain could be insurers’ gain
15 December 2008
Swiss Re has forecast gloomy economic conditions will linger for another two years, but expects the ongoing financial crisis to provide a shot in the arm for premium rates...
Half of Australians think local insurers could fail in global crisis
08 December 2008
Trust in the insurance industry is at an abysmal level as the global financial crisis sets in, prompting concerns this will affect investment and boost underinsurance levels...
QBE on the march again
01 December 2008
With well over 100 acquisitions to its name over the past 25 years, the ever-acquisitive QBE doesn’t sit still for long...
Financial crisis increases demand for reinsurance
24 November 2008
The global financial crisis has helped spur demand for reinsurance as insurers face the twin fronts of increased severe weather activity and declining investment income...
The ugly offspring of the NSW mini-budget
17 November 2008
Mini-budgets are all too often conceived in haste with much fumbling in dark corners...
Now is not a good time to stop looking around
10 November 2008
APRA’s announcement late last week that it’s happy with the way Australia’s insurance industry has withstood the rigours of the global financial crisis is welcome news...
Contract certainty: one more move to avoid chaos
03 November 2008
Willis Chairman and CEO Joe Plumeri last week hailed moves by New York’s insurance regulators to force insurers to provide policyholders with contract certainty...
Tackling climate change
27 October 2008
The global credit crisis is dominating the industry’s attention at present, but lurking in the background is an issue that isn’t going to go away: climate change...
Global insurers weathering the financial turmoil
20 October 2008
With world financial markets apparently racing downhill at a record pace, the latest outlook for international insurers from Standard & Poor's provides a timely reality check…
Insurers among the winners in the Aussie’s slide
13 October 2008
It's not just the share market that is in freefall - currency traders are also shaking their heads at the sudden and extreme drop in the Australian dollar...
Credit Suisse: rising rates the key for insurers
06 October 2008
As Australian insurers, investors and policyholders grapple with what AIG’s near downfall means to them, the question of whether it could benefit the local market has now…
RBA: Aussie insurers in relatively rude health
29 September 2008
Bloodied but unbowed: that’s the short version of the Reserve Bank’s review of the local general insurance industry...
AIG: market working in a vacuum
22 September 2008
AIG’s Australian CEO Chris Townsend is manning the phones talking to key stakeholders about the company’s excellent liquidity locally...