This Month
Is it time for standalone Suncorp to find its Warren Buffett?
The company promised us a leaner, meaner insurer. Investors are yet to see it. However, the next few weeks could be telling.
The bill for business that’s growing faster than electricity prices
NSW knows its emergency services levy is increasing the level of under-insurance. Businesses paying the clean-up bill from disasters say it’s time to fix it.
General insurers on notice over low-ball flood settlement offers
Consumer groups say their legal helplines are hearing appalling stories about vulnerable insurance customers forced to take lump sums to settle claims.
From mortgages to mining copper, here’s how big companies are using AI
Flood and cyclone victims are just some of the people the country’s biggest businesses are helping with the use of artificial intelligence.
Insurer keeps human touch to the fore as it streamlines claims
Suncorp is the winner of The Australian Financial Review AI Awards in the Ethics and responsibility category.
May
IAG gets regulator tick to buy automobile club insurer in Queensland
The ACCC said Suncorp, Allianz, QBE, Youi, Auto & General and Hollard would compete with IAG after it buys RACQ.
How $2.3b worth of deals could entrench another Australian duopoly
IAG’s alliances with the Royal Automobile Clubs of Queensland and Western Australia are clearly clever plays. But could they also attract the ACCC’s ire?
Insurance Australia Group goes west with $1.35b RAC buy
IAG will add The Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia to its brand portfolio after striking a similar deal in Queensland six months ago.
IAG wins auction for Royal Automobile Club WA with $1.35b bid
The deal, signed overnight and announced on the ASX on Thursday morning, comes after Street Talk revealed the sale process and the two bidders last year.
QBE chairman wants states to cut insurance taxes for premium relief
QBE provided an update on its exposure to global fires and floods ahead of its AGM on Friday, where its support for oil and gas projects came into focus.
The Pharmacy Guild’s insurance biz brings in UBS
ASX-listed insurance giant Suncorp and Employers Mutual Limited are known to be keeping a brief on the niche insurer.
April
Will insurance premiums ever get cheaper?
The country’s big insurers have found themselves in a political storm as the cost of policies balloons $30 billion over a decade. But are those hikes unfair?
Greensill Bank alleges IAG executives knew of billion-dollar policies
The claim, filed with the Federal Court, has been brought against the insurance giant by German investors owed money by Lex Greensill’s failed financial group.
March
IAG seeks to delay trial on $7b Greensill insurance claims
Greensill Capital’s biggest insurer is less than a year away from defending claims that were lobbed after Lex Greensill’s financing firm collapsed in 2021.
What to do when disaster strikes your holiday house
While loss or damage to a beloved family retreat may not be as wrenching as a hit on your main home, the process of getting it fixed has challenges that can be equally infuriating, baffling and stressful.
The $400,000 gap putting Alfred victims on notice
Widespread underpayments by insurance companies in the 2022 Victorian floods mean claimants should look carefully at what their insurer first offers.
The 210pc insurance tax you didn’t know you were paying
No other tax has such a large economic welfare loss. Despite the Henry Tax Review wanting them scrapped, taxes on insurance premiums continue to distort the market.
Alfred highlights need to fix insurance industry
Readers’ letters on the insurance industry after Cyclone Alfred, Peter Dutton’s nuclear power policy, attacks against Australian Muslims, Donald Trump’s policy and the share market slump.
Dutton rekindles threat to forcibly break-up insurers
The opposition leader has moved to clear up internal confusion, if not division.
Alfred’s a reminder that red tape is pushing up premiums
The problem is not only extreme weather. Australia’s fragmented insurance regulatory structure which requires separate licences for each to operate is also driving up costs.