Blue Zebra says QBE will underwrite its commercial and private motor products from July 1. 

The underwriting agency’s agreement with Youi will stop at the end of this month after the insurer undertook a strategic review of its products sold through intermediaries.

Youi started underwriting Blue Zebra’s commercial and personal lines products under a five-year agreement in March 2020.

Blue Zebra says it expects to soon announce new security arrangements for its home, landlord and SME products.

“For clarity, we will continue to distribute existing products under the current underwriting arrangements until [June 30],” the agency says in an update to brokers. “These policies will then move into run-off. There will be no change in the current claims approach for the run-off portfolio.”

Blue Zebra declined to comment on the duration of the QBE agreement.

Its note to brokers says "we expect to be operational" from Friday for new business and "expect to start releasing" for renewal and replacement policies that begin from July 1.

In an accompanying document, the agency says a small proportion of current policies will not be offered replacement covers upon expiry, for underwriting reasons particular to the individual risk.

Blue Zebra says it will continue to “refine our risk acceptance criteria and pricing methodology with the added benefit of QBE’s considerable experience and data.

“[We] have made several refinements to our pricing approach over time, and we plan to continue to adjust our approach to ensure we offer the most appropriate price for risks and to reflect the dynamic market rating environment.

“We have always worked closely with our capacity providers in managing our pricing strategy. This opportunity will be taken to refresh our offering and keep refining our pricing to achieve growth in our target market segments.”

The agency adds that “one important change” will be the “removal of the instalment premium payment option, with annual premium now the only payment option available. Existing instalment premium policies will be offered a replacement policy with the annual premium payment option as they expire.”