Latest Australia Headlines
All the headlines from our Australia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Insurers Stepping Toward Greater Green Investment Footprint
Jun 18 2015 // This is the second of a two-part column on green bonds.The first installment focused on bond sales. Australian carrier QBE Insurance Group Ltd. has invested $190 million Australian Dollars ($148.42 million) in four green...
Berkshire Hathaway to Buy Stake in IAG to Boost Australia Insurance Sales
Jun 16 2015 // Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will pay A$500 million ($388 million) for a stake in Insurance Australia Group Ltd. as part of a plan to expand in the region. The agreement will give Berkshire 20 percent of...
Australia’s April-May Storm Loss Claims Reach US$1.208 Billion
Jun 3 2015 // The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) announced that insurance losses from claims following from storms in April and May at A$1.551 billion [US$1.208 billion], as a series of severe storms hit eastern Australia. The ICA...
‘All at Sea:’ Australia’s Search for MH370 Wreckage Under Scrutiny
May 28 2015 // Nearly a year after embarking on a multi-million dollar quest to solve one of aviation’s greatest unsolved mysteries, authorities and search teams are being criticized over their approach to finding Flight MH370 in...
El Niño Strengthens as Pacific Temperatures Show Same Trend as ’97-’98
May 26 2015 // The El Niño taking hold across the Pacific strengthened, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, citing indexes of sea-surfaces temperatures that showed the same trend for the first time since the event in...
Airlines Banning Bulk Shipments of Lithium Rechargeable Batteries
May 19 2015 // Replacing smartphone batteries just got harder. Fearing cargo fires like one that caused a United Parcel Service Inc. freighter to crash into the desert near Dubai in 2010, at least 18 airlines have banned freight...
El Nino Emerges; Asia-Pacific Region Faces Months of Disruptive Weather
May 13 2015 // In 2009, the El Nino brought the worst drought in four decades to India. It razed wheat fields in Australia and damaged crops across Asia. Food prices surged. A closely watched forecast by Japan on Tuesday confirmed its...
A.M. Best: Australia’s Nat Cat Losses Will Challenge Underwriting Profits
May 12 2015 // A string of recent major natural catastrophe events in Australia is expected to materially affect non-life insurers’ upcoming earnings for the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2015, according to an A.M....
Australian Storms Trigger ICA’s 5th Catastrophe Declaration for 2015
May 5 2015 // Thousands of claims, lodged from SE Queensland and Northern NSW storms, have now been declared catastrophes – the 5th such declaration this year – by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA). Most of the insured damage...
Aspen Re Appoints Parker and Wedlock Within Asia Pacific Region
May 1 2015 // Aspen Re, the reinsurance segment of Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited, announces the appointments of Andrew Parker as head of its Australian branch in Sydney and senior underwriter and Paul Wedlock as senior underwriter...
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Expands Into Australia; Colahan Leads Region
Apr 27 2015 // Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI) announced it has received its insurance license to provide all lines of general business in Australia, established operations in Sydney, and named Chris Colahan as...
UPDATE: Claims, Loss Estimates from Australia Storm Climb
Apr 23 2015 // Australia’s Insurance companies are sending assessors into storm-ravaged regions of New South Wales to accelerate the claims process. Insurance Council of Australia CEO Rob Whelan said assessors were visiting...
ACE Appoints O’Halloran as Environmental Risk Underwriter, U.K. & Ireland
Apr 15 2015 // ACE Group today announced the appointment of Glenn O’Halloran as environmental risk underwriter as it continues to invest in building its environmental liability insurance capabilities in the U.K. and...
El Nino May Develop by June; Australia Issues Alert on Tropical Pacific Ocean
Apr 14 2015 // An El Nino may develop by June, according to Australia’s state forecaster, which upgraded its outlook for the weather-altering pattern to Alert. Ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean continue to be...
Chances of El Nino More Likely After Tropical Cyclones: Australia Meteorologists
Mar 17 2015 // The chances of an El Nino weather pattern developing this year are increasing as tropical cyclones may lead to further warming of the Pacific Ocean, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said. Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam...
Rescue Teams Battle to Reach Outer Vanuatu Islands Devastated by Cyclone
Mar 17 2015 // Residents of the main town in the southern Vanuatu island of Tanna appear to have come through the worst of the cyclone that tore through the South Pacific nation with widespread devastation but not the heavy death toll...
Vanuatu Government Declares State of Emergency After ‘Monster’ Cyclone
Mar 16 2015 // Vanuatu’s government declared a nationwide state of emergency after Cyclone Pam tore through the South Pacific archipelago, leaving at least eight people dead and severing communications with more remote...
ACE Makes New Appointments for Its Casualty Business in Asia Pacific
Mar 13 2015 // ACE Group has appointed Shaun Oliver to the role of head of casualty (energy and construction), Asia Pacific. The creation of this new role reflects the rapid growth and ongoing demand within this portfolio of business,...
U.S. Dominates Climate Change Litigation
Mar 12 2015 // It’s almost counterintuitive if you think about it. There is far more litigation related to climate change in the U.S. compared with Europe, which is usually considered more progressive on the issue. For an example...
Forecasters Warn of New Australia Cyclone Formation; Marcia Claims
Mar 9 2015 // A low pressure system off northeastern Australia holds up to a 50 percent chance of intensifying to cyclone strength over the next two days and slamming into a region devastated two weeks ago by Cyclone Marcia, according...
