Latest Australia Headlines
All the headlines from our Australia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Australia Weather Bureau Forecasts Reduced Risk from La Nina
Feb 16 2011 // The La Nina weather pattern, which recently brought record floods and cyclones to Australia, is weakening, but there is a small risk that it could reform within the southern autumn season, Australia’s weather bureau...
Arch Capital Posts $227.7 Q4 Net Income; $816.7 Million Full Year
Feb 15 2011 // Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group reported net income available to common shareholders for the 2010 fourth quarter of $227.7 million, or $4.54 per share, compared to $284.7 million, or $4.75 per share, for the 2009 fourth...
Swiss Re Urges Australia to Use Cat Bonds as Disaster Risk Rises
Feb 10 2011 // Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re said Australia’s natural disaster risk was increasing and urged its governments to cover the rising damages bill using insurance instruments like catastrophe bonds as opposed to...
Wild Weather Could Push Miners to Heed Insurers’ Warnings; Reassess Risks
Feb 8 2011 // A surge in weather-related disasters in Australia could push global mining firms to overhaul supply contracts and rethink how bad weather will affect their operations and customers worldwide. Climate scientists say a...
Wildfires Destroy Homes in Western Australia
Feb 7 2011 // Wildfires tore through the suburbs of an Australian city on Sunday, destroying a number of homes, news reports and authorities said. There were no reports of injuries. Two fires fanned by hot summer winds were burning in...
Breckenridge Acquires Interest in Reinsurance Broker REcentis
Feb 4 2011 // Breckenridge IS Inc. has acquired a majority interest in REcentis Intermediaries LLC, a specialty reinsurance broker with offices in Westlake Village, Calif. and Sydney, Australia. REcentis has expertise in energy,...
BofA Sells Balboa Insurance Portfolio to Australia’s QBE
Feb 4 2011 // Bank of America agreed to offload its Balboa insurance portfolio to Australia’s QBE Insurance for more than $700 million, the latest in a string of asset sales by the U.S. lender as it recovers from the global credit...
AIR Estimates Yasi Insured Losses between $356 Million and $1.5 Billion
Feb 4 2011 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide has issued early estimates indicating that insured losses to properties and business income from the Category 5 (Australia Bureau of Meteorology intensity scale) cyclone Yasi that...
Aon Benfield Monthly Cat Report Highlights Australian Floods, Brazil Landslides
Feb 4 2011 // Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon Corp., has released the latest edition of its Monthly Cat Recap report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide during...
Australian Natural Disasters Spark Renewed Call Action on Climate Change
Feb 4 2011 // An architect of Australia’s stalled climate change policy has linked the nation’s recent natural disasters with global warming and called for a new political push to cut carbon emissions. Ross Garnaut,...
No Comment from QBE on Report of Talks to Buy Balboa from BofA
Feb 3 2011 // QBE Insurance, Australia’s biggest insurance group, is in talks to buy U.S. insurer Balboa from Bank of America , a media report said on Thursday, sparking talk that QBE would have to sell new shares to help fund the...
La Nina Helps Fuel Monster Australian Cyclone Yasi
Feb 2 2011 // Record ocean temperatures and an intense La Nina weather pattern have helped spawn one of the most powerful cyclones in Australia but whether there’s a direct climate change link is less clear. Cyclone Yasi, a...
Queensland Hit by TC Anthony, Perth by TC Bianca – RMS Report
Feb 1 2011 // Tropical Cyclone Anthony made landfall over the coast of the Australian State of Queensland on Sunday, close to the town of Bowen, and approximately 275 miles (440 kms) southeast of Cairns. An analysis of the storm from...
Chubb Reports Q4, 2010 Results; Expects Australia Flood Losses
Jan 28 2011 // The Chubb Corp. reported that net income in the fourth quarter of 2010 was $620 million, compared to $695 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2010, net income was $2.2 billion, the same as in...
Insurance Council of Australia Takes New Initiatives in Wake of Floods
Jan 28 2011 // The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has reacted quickly to the disastrous flooding in the State of Queensland earlier this month with two new initiatives aimed at “developing a more effective and sustainable...
Australia Imposes New Tax to Fund Flood Recovery
Jan 27 2011 // Australia’s minority Labor government imposed a reconstruction tax and cut environmental spending on Thursday to help fund the recovery from this month’s devastating floods, and immediately ran into opposition...
Australian Flood Crisis Could Continue for 10 More Days
Jan 24 2011 // A vast lake created by floodwaters will spread across southeastern Australia and threaten rural towns in its path for up to 10 more days, an official said Saturday as the nation’s flood crisis continued to create...
Rising Rivers Swamp Another Australian Town
Jan 21 2011 // A surging river Thursday flooded and isolated the latest community hit in Australia’s deadly flood disaster, straining a levee serving as the main protection between the muddy waters and residents’ homes. The...
Barclays Warns Reinsurers at Risk from $6 Billion Australia Flood Insured Losses
Jan 19 2011 // Insured losses from the recent flooding in Australia could top $6 billion, and earnings estimates for Bermudan reinsurers are at risk as a result, Barclays Capital said Tuesday. Barclays analyst Jay Gelb cited early...
Australia Floods Could be Costliest Natural Disaster Ever
Jan 18 2011 // Floods that ravaged Australia’s northeast and swamped a major city could be the country’s most expensive natural disaster ever, the government said Monday. Flooding inundated new areas in the south Monday,...
