Latest Australia Headlines
All the headlines from our Australia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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,...
Australia Begins Flood Cleanup; Insurer Compassion Urged
Jan 14 2011 // Australia’s third-largest city started cleaning up stinking mud and debris on Friday after some of the country’s worst floods on record, but in a sign of the task ahead, it could take six months to pump flood...
Australia Floods Inundate Brisbane; 16 Dead
Jan 12 2011 // Massive floods shut down the centre of Australia’s third-largest city, sent thousands fleeing from their homes and sparked panic buying of food on Wednesday as rescuers searched for 43 people missing in...
Australian Floods to Cost Insurers, Reinsurers $1 Billion
Jan 12 2011 // The devastating floods in Queensland state that forced evacuation in Brisbane, Australia’s third-largest city, are expected to be a near $1 billion event for insurers, though reinsurance is seen covering more than...
