Latest Australia Headlines
All the headlines from our Australia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
The Hanover’s Chaucer Acquires SLE Holdings, Sydney-Based MGA
Jul 5 2017 // The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. announced that Chaucer, the company’s international specialty insurance group, has acquired SLE Holdings, a market-leading Lloyd’s managing general underwriting agency based in...
Australian Women File Class Action Suit Against J&J over Pelvic Mesh Implants
Jul 5 2017 // Australian women have brought a class-action case against Johnson & Johnson over complications arising from vaginal mesh implants – a lawsuit that follows many others in the United States, Canada and Europe. The...
Ironshore International Names Lewis to Lead Australia Unit
Jun 8 2017 // Ironshore International has appointed William Lewis as managing director of Ironshore Australia Pty Ltd. (IAPL) to be based in the Sydney office. Lewis, a private equity attorney, is a specialist in private equity...
QBE Taps Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Ford as Group CFO
May 26 2017 // QBE Insurance Group Ltd. has appointed Michael Ford as group chief financial officer. Ford is currently the deputy CFO for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). He joined the bank in 2005 and held a number of senior...
Petplan Australasia Announces Affiliation with MS Amlin
May 22 2017 // Petplan Australasia announced that MS Amlin Syndicate 2001 of Lloyd’s will become the new underwriter of its pet insurance plans in Australia – a move that is designed to enhance policyholder benefits with broader...
Sompo Develops Nat Cat Model for NW Australia Offshore Oil & Gas Installations
May 17 2017 // Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc. (SJNKI) and Sompo Canopius AG are launching a natural catastrophe risk model for north-west Australia offshore oil and gas installations. The model development was carried out by Sompo...
AXA Launches Unit Focusing on Innovation, New Business Models with Phillips as CEO
May 17 2017 // AXA has appointed Joyce Phillips as chief executive officer of a new business unit dedicated to customer innovation and new business models. Phillips becomes a member of the management committee of AXA Group and reports...
U.S. Weather Remains Biggest Driver of Global Insurance Losses in 2017: Aon
May 10 2017 // Severe weather in the U.S. remains the largest contributor to global insurance losses in 2017 after April continued the trend with multi-billion dollar losses for public and private insurers, according to Impact...
Australia’s Cyclone Debbie Estimated to Cost Insurers US$825.7M: PERILS
May 9 2017 // The initial estimate of insured property market losses for Cyclone Debbie is A$1.12 billion (US$825.7 million), according to PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization providing industry-wide catastrophe insurance...
QBE Australia & New Zealand Names Prudential Plc’s Baxter as CRO
May 2 2017 // QBE Australia and New Zealand announced that Mark Baxter has been appointed to the position of chief risk officer. Baxter has recently returned from the UK where he was Prudential’s chief risk officer for the UK and...
Zurich Buys Australia’s Largest Travel Insurer, Cover-More, for US$551M
Apr 13 2017 // Zurich Insurance Group has successfully acquired Cover-More Group Ltd., a leading travel insurance and assistance solutions provider based in Sydney with a strong market position in Australia, India and the U.S. This...
Insurers to Pay an Estimated $1.3B for Cyclone Debbie: Swiss Re
Apr 13 2017 // Cyclone Debbie cost Swiss Re an estimated $350 million and the insurance industry roughly $1.3 billion, the world’s second-biggest reinsurer said on Thursday, an unusually high loss that could see reinsurance prices...
U.S. Weather in March to Cost Insurers More than $2 Billion: Aon
Apr 7 2017 // Four severe weather outbreaks in the U.S. throughout March led to extensive damage in the central and eastern parts of the country, costing the insurance industry in excess of US$2.0 billion, according to a report...
Australia Floods in Wake of Cyclone Debbie Kill 4, Disrupt Mining
Apr 3 2017 // Damage to rail lines in cyclone-hit northeast Australia is set to disrupt exports of the steel-making material from the world’s largest coking coal region, underpinning prices and raising the prospect of major...
Cyclone Debbie Rips Across Australian State, Leaving ‘War Zone’; AIR Comments
Mar 29 2017 // A huge clean-up operation is under way in the Australian state of Queensland after a powerful cyclone swept through the region, tearing roofs off buildings, downing trees and forcing tourists to bunker down at luxury...
Cat 4 Cyclone Debbie Pounds Australia; Insurance Council Declares Catastrophe
Mar 28 2017 // A powerful cyclone tore into Australia’s northeastern coast on Tuesday, forcing thousands of people to flee, shuttering coal to gold mines and prompting insurers to declare a catastrophe. Cyclone Debbie made landfall...
Worst Cyclone in 6 Years Set to Pummel Coast of Queensland, Australia
Mar 27 2017 // The worst cyclone in six years is set to smash into the coast of Queensland on Tuesday morning, forcing thousands of Australians to evacuate or seek emergency shelter and prompting some of the world’s biggest miners...
Rising Sea Temperatures Could Kill 90% of Coral Reefs by 2050: Scientists
Mar 14 2017 // There were startling colors here just a year ago, a dazzling array of life beneath the waves. Now this Maldivian reef is dead, killed by the stress of rising ocean temperatures. What’s left is a haunting expanse of...
Weather Events in U.S., Australia Cost Insurers $1B+ in February: Aon
Mar 9 2017 // Insurers face claims of more than US$1.0 billion as a result of severe weather events in the U.S. and Australia during February, according to a report published by Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model...
Australia Consumer Watchdog Sues VW’s Audi Unit over Emissions Scandal
Mar 8 2017 // The Australian consumer watchdog said on Wednesday it was suing the local Audi unit of Volkswagen AG for intentionally selling more than 12,000 vehicles with software which lied about levels of toxic emissions. This...
