Latest Australia Headlines
All the headlines from our Australia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Zurich’s Acquisition of ANZ Life Unit Designed to Boost Dividends
Dec 12 2017 // Zurich Insurance Group AG’s decision to acquire the life-insurance businesses of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. should help Switzerland’s biggest insurer fulfill its ambition to increase its...
Zurich Insurance to Acquire ANZ’s Life Businesses in Australia for US$2.14B
Dec 11 2017 // Zurich Insurance Group announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of ANZ’s life insurance businesses, OnePath Life, in Australia, for A$2.85 billion (US$2.14 billion). Both parties expect...
Australia’s IAG Forms Capital-Releasing Deals with Munich Re, Swiss Re, Hannover Re
Dec 8 2017 // Insurance Australia Group Ltd. said on Friday it will share 12.5 percent of its premiums and costs with Munich Re, Swiss Re and Hannover Re, in a series of deals that will release capital for Australia’s biggest...
Allied World Appoints MacLeod as Australia Country Manager
Dec 6 2017 // Allied World Assurance Co. Holdings announced that Iain MacLeod has been appointed senior vice president, Country Manager, Australia. He will report to Michael Garrison, president, Asia Pacific. “Australia is a key...
BHSI Introduces Contractors Plant & Equipment Cover in Australia
Nov 22 2017 // Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Co. (BHSI) announced it has introduced a new Contractors Plant & Equipment (CP&E) policy for customers in Australia. “With this new policy, contractors can easily and...
Malaysia, Australia Investigate Massive Commercial, Governmental Data Breaches
Nov 2 2017 // Malaysia is investigating the theft of mobile-phone records for 46.2 million customers, while an online security lapse in Australia exposed personal details of almost 50,000 employees. The Malaysian government is working...
RMS Opens Office in Sydney to Support Client Growth in Australia, New Zealand
Oct 25 2017 // RMS, the Newark, Calif.-based global risk modeling and analytics firm, has opened a new office in Sydney, Australia, as part of its drive to support clients’ expansion in the Australian and New Zealand markets. The...
Rio Tinto Plans to Use Driverless Trains to Ship Iron Ore in Australia
Oct 3 2017 // Rio Tinto is set to use driverless iron ore trains in Western Australia in 2018, the world No. 2 miner of the steelmaking commodity said on Monday after completing its first long-haul journey with a completely autonomous...
Uber Drivers Will Need Licenses, Insurance in Australia’s Queensland
Oct 2 2017 // Ride-booking operators and drivers, such as those from Uber Technologies Inc., will need licenses to offer their services in the Australian state of Queensland under new regulations announced Sunday in Brisbane. The...
PERILS Raises Insured Loss Estimate for Cyclone Debbie to A$1.7B (US$1.34B)
Sep 28 2017 // The property insurance market’s loss for tropical cyclone Debbie has risen to A$1.7 billion (US$1.34 billion), according to PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization that provides industry-wide catastrophe...
Chubb’s Launches Business Pack Insurance for Australian SMEs
Sep 25 2017 // Chubb has launched a package insurance solution called Chubb Business Pack Insurance for small and medium enterprises in Australia. This solution aims to provide broad coverage for property and liability exposures to help...
AIA Buys Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Life Insurance Business for A$3.8B
Sep 21 2017 // AIA Group Ltd. agreed to buy Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s life insurance business for A$3.8 billion (more than $3 billion), in its most ambitious foray beyond the Hong Kong-based company’s core markets in...
AIA and Zurich Make Separate Bids for Australian Insurance Businesses: Reuters
Sep 15 2017 // Hong Kong-based insurance giant AIA Group Ltd. has shown interest in buying Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s insurance business, which is likely to be valued at about $4 billion, people with knowledge of the matter...
QBE Group CEO Neal to Exit; Regan to Succeed Him in January
Sep 13 2017 // QBE Insurance Group today announced that John Neal, Group chief executive officer, will be stepping down after five years in the role. The board of directors has appointed Patrick Regan, chief executive officer Australian...
Australia’s CBA Threatened with Large Class Action over Money Laundering Charges
Aug 23 2017 // A law firm threatened on Wednesday to file a class action suit against Commonwealth Bank of Australia for allegedly failing to disclose that it was facing money-laundering charges, in the latest headache for...
QBE H1 Profits Rise 73% on Australia/N. Zealand Rate Hikes, N. America Growth
Aug 21 2017 // QBE reported a healthy profit hike during first half of 2017, despite heightened claims activity in its Emerging Markets’ division, which reported a combined ratio of 110.8 percent. This poor performance has led to...
Australia’s New South Wales to Inspect High-Rise Cladding over Fire Safety
Jul 31 2017 // Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) government will inspect more than 1,000 residential and commercial towers that may have potentially unsafe cladding and introduce new fire safety reforms to avoid a deadly inferno...
Australia Class Action Filed Against Toyota, Honda & Mazda over Faulty Air Bags
Jul 27 2017 // A Sydney lawyer announced on Tuesday a class action lawsuit against Toyota, Honda and Mazda seeking refunds for cars fitted with faulty air bags from Takata that have been linked to 18 deaths around the world. Lawyer...
Australia Watchdog Examines if Recalled Air Bags Were Replaced by Faulty Devices
Jul 25 2017 // Australia’s consumer watchdog said on Monday it was urgently seeking information from the government regulator and car manufacturers after a magazine reported that recalled Takata air bags were being replaced by...
AIR Worldwide Launches Severe Thunderstorm Model for Australia
Jul 24 2017 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide announced it has released a severe thunderstorm model for Australia, which captures all three sub-perils – hail, tornado and straight-line wind – to help companies assess...
