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Nib pauses travel sales in Australia, New Zealand

Nib Holdings will temporarily stop selling travel insurance to Australian and New Zealand residents from Tuesday, with current underwriting arrangements coming to an end.

The sales suspension applies across all its brands as well as products distributed through its white label partners.

The move will not impact current travellers and all policies purchased before October 5. Employees within Nib Travel will not be affected either.

MD Mark Fitzgibbon says Nib Travel has been pursuing new underwriting arrangements across its domestic and international markets to ensure its products are cost effective and support future growth ambitions.

In its 2021 annual report released today, the business says it is in the process of securing new underwriting arrangements with a range of outcomes possible.

“Refreshing underwriting agreements on a regular basis helps ensure we deliver optimal and sustainable outcomes both commercially and for our customers,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.

“The ending of current arrangements is obviously disruptive but we’ll emerge in better shape as travel and market conditions recover.

“We plan to resume selling travel insurance to Australian and New Zealand residents as soon as possible to support our customers.”

He says COVID-19 and prolonged border closures continue to have an impact on all elements of the travel industry.

The business confirmed international sales presently make up more than 75% of total Nib Travel insurance sales and will not be affected by the move to pause selling to Australian and New Zealand residents.

It says there will not be a material financial impact on the Nib Group.

Australia’s tough COVID border curbs have severely affected Nib Travel, which made a loss for the second straight year.

The travel arm reported an underlying operating loss of $13.6 million in the last financial year and $19.7 million in the preceding period.