Income Insurance Australia News

Insurers push up premiums - Jan 05, 2009
THE nation's insurers are pushing through increases in car and home premiums as part of efforts to replenish capital reserves, after a series of big pay-outs over the past year linked to severe storms...

Paradise lost and found - Dec 18, 2008
Not all travel insurance is the same, so don't go on price alone.

Travel insurance is often a reluctant last-minute purchase or something thrown in as part of a package deal but events of the past few months show it has never been more important to make sure you have the right cover...

New risk premiums increase by 28 per cent - Dec 17, 2008
New annual premiums for lump-sum life insurance business (term life, total and permanent disability and trauma) increased by 28...

Manchester Unity to merge with HCF - Dec 16, 2008
Manchester Unity members voted on Monday to merge with Australia's third largest private health insurer, HCF...

Travel insurance disputes 'on the rise' - Dec 11, 2008
Travel insurance disputes are expected to skyrocket after the civil unrest in Thailand and Greece and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai that have hit holidaying Australians...

Time to remove hidden costs of insurance - Dec 08, 2008
Zurich Financial Services chief executive David Smith has called on the Government to slash the “punitive” taxes on insurance for small to medium enterprises (SMEs)...

Streaming income from death benefits - Dec 04, 2008
When a member dies, many superannuation funds may pay the death benefit as a lump sum. Once received in cash, the lump sum cannot be rolled over...

Industry must dispel insurance myths - Dec 03, 2008
The insurance industry needs to make a greater effort to overcome consumers’ feelings that the insurance industry are the ‘bad guys’ and do more to dispel myths surrounding the value of insurance, according to research on underinsurance released by ING...

BT overhauls insurance offering - Dec 03, 2008
BT Financial Group (BT) has made changes to existing insurance products in order to provide increased insurance coverage for clients and streamline their methods of applying for life insurance, as well to improve processes for advisers...

IAG exits Malaysian life insurance joint venture - Dec 02, 2008
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) is exiting the life insurance part of its Malaysian joint venture, AmAssurance, while increasing its interest in the general insurance business by 19 per cent...

QBE goes on $2 billion spending spree - Nov 27, 2008
QBE Insurance will raise up to $2 billion to fund an overseas buying spree, with the underwriting giant snapping up five mid-size insurance specialists, mostly aimed at widening its US presence...

IAG and SBI to launch insurance company - Nov 26, 2008
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) and the State Bank of India (SBI) have signed a joint venture to establish a general insurance company in India, which will commence trading in 2009...

Insurers likely to weather latest storms - Nov 25, 2008
THE cost of the crippling storms that have swept through Brisbane and south-east Queensland has risen to at least $220 million for the country's two largest insurers, with the final bill for the damage still mounting...

On a slow boat to India: IAG starts journey - Nov 25, 2008
FRESH from its ill-fated $2 billion expansion into Britain, Insurance Australia Group is making a more modest push into India where it is hoping a newly launched insurance joint venture will pay significantly extra dividends than its previous moves abroad...

Risk insurance looking good amid market carnage - Nov 24, 2008
Risk insurance is becoming more popular as financial planners look to ensure a steady stream of income to offset market volatility, according to Troy Edmondson, the senior partner at Business and Estate Planning Specialists...

Suncorp 'well capitalised despite storm' - Nov 19, 2008
Claims that Brisbane's worst storm in 25 years may threaten Suncorp Metway Ltd's ability to pay a dividend in 2009 are "premature," the bank and insurance company says...

IAG receives 1,300 claims from Qld storm - Nov 19, 2008
NRMA Insurance Queensland-based customers have lodged around 1,300 claims with the Insurance Australia Group unit following damage caused by Brisbane's worst storm in 25 years...

New South Wales broker banned - Nov 18, 2008
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has permanently banned a former OAMPS insurance broker from providing financial services...

APRA overhauls life insurance publications - Nov 14, 2008
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has proposed the launch of two new statistical publications on life insurance...

AIG Life creates new premium choice - Nov 13, 2008
AIG Life has created a new hybrid insurance premium option that sits in the previously uncharted space between stepped and level premiums...

Market ripe for consolidation, IAG says - Nov 12, 2008
Insurance Australia Group Ltd (IAG), which rejected a takeover proposal from rival QBE Insurance Group earlier this year, says the insurance market is poised for consolidation...

IAG sidesteps critics with chairman's early exit plan - Nov 12, 2008
THE last remaining boardroom link at Insurance Australia Group to the early days of its listing as a company distinct from the NRMA motoring organisation will be broken with the impending departure of its chairman of seven years, James Strong...

Clients lose in risk research ‘point scoring’ - Nov 11, 2008
Executives from two of the insurance industry’s leading companies have criticised the risk research process, admitting it is often more about ‘point scoring’ than actually increasing consumer benefits...

AIG may get more time to pay - Nov 11, 2008
AMERICAN International Group, the insurer bailed out by the US, may get an expanded government rescue package valued at more than $US150 billion ($A218...

CommInsure announces product enhancements - Nov 10, 2008
CommInsure has announced a series of product enhancements and premium reductions this month. The changes include a premium reduction of up to 10 per cent on its Life Care product on its lower sums insured, while the Essential Cover product will no longer feature smoker rates...

Skandia links with Tower on group life - Nov 06, 2008
Skandia is leveraging off Tower Australia’s technology to deliver what it claims is Australia’s first online underwriting system allowing advisers and their clients to access group insurance...

Zurich introduces second improvement package for insurance - Nov 06, 2008
Zurich Financial Services Australia has released a number of improvements to its life risk policies, taking into account a client’s previous 24-month income history when they make a claim for indemnity income benefits...

Insurers target growth markets - Nov 05, 2008
Both AXA and Asteron are targeting growth industries in their bid to increase market share and reduce the underinsurance gap...

Remember to lock and cover - Oct 30, 2008
Check your car-contents policy before you hit the road this holiday season.

The bad news came when we stepped off the Rottnest Island ferry and found our car window smashed, the glovebox jemmied open and personal items worth more than $3000 stolen...

NIB quiet on $620m offer - Oct 28, 2008
THE health insurer NIB will come under pressure from shareholders at its annual meeting today to reveal the mystery bidder behind a potential $620 million offer for the company after the two biggest private health funds, Medibank Private and BUPA-MBF, ruled themselves out as likely suitors...

Wealth management inflows down, insurance sales up for AXA - Oct 24, 2008
AXA Asia Pacific’s latest fund flow figures for the nine months to September 30 reflect what has become an industry theme this year, rapidly declining funds management flows and healthy insurance inflows...

Get insurance settings right - Oct 22, 2008
Advisers are not structuring business insurance properly, which is causing problems later on, warns Tower tax counsel David Glen...

NSW insurance broker sentenced for dishonest conduct - Oct 16, 2008
A New South Wales insurance broker has been convicted in relation to four charges of dishonest conduct following an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)...

MLC breaks new ground in insurance - Oct 16, 2008
In what is believed to be an industry first, MLC has made a guarantee to new and existing customers that its level premium rates for life and total and permanent disablement extension insurances will not increase during the next five years...

Asteron to be good sports as competitors circle AIG Life - Oct 13, 2008
Asteron has made a public display of support for its competitor,AIG Life, as other players make bids to advisers to transfer client policiesout of AIG Life on the back of the woes of the company’s US parent...

Medibank Private launches life insurance - Oct 09, 2008
Australia's largest private health insurer, Medibank Private, rolled out its life insurance product as part of the company's diversification strategy...

AIG unlikely to sell Australian businesses - Oct 08, 2008
Troubled US insurer AIG is unlikely to sell its Australian operations, according to an analyst report issued by ABN AMRO Equities this week...

Big banks to carve up Suncorp - Oct 07, 2008
SUNCORP-METWAY will push ahead with a formal sales process of its banking and wealth management arm following an approach for the businesses in recent days from three of the nation's biggest banks...

AIG sees big future in Australian business - Oct 06, 2008
EMBATTLED insurer American International Group has said it will refocus on its core property and casualty business, including continuing to increase its Australian operations...

Advice clients move to cover their assets - Oct 06, 2008
Advisers have seen a steep rise in insurance sales over the past year, as financial market woes spook clients into buying life risk protection and income protection...

Tower to buy out InsuranceLine - Oct 02, 2008
Tower Australia Group will acquire the 85 per cent of InsuranceLine Holdings that it does not already own for $136 million...

ASIC eases group insurance - Oct 02, 2008
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has made life easier with respect to providing group insurance, particularly within a superannuation fund environment...

Medibank says outlook is good - Oct 01, 2008
Australia's biggest health insurer, Medibank Private, says it has a positive outlook for 2009 despite challenges facing the economy and the health insurance sector...

Financial turmoil will push investment in risk and compliance - Sep 30, 2008
The collapse of Lehman Brothers and the rescue of AIG by the United States Government will have a long-term effect on insurer technology strategies in 2009, with far greater investment in risk management and compliance systems than previously planned, but could also lead to the end of the soft market, according to a DataMonitor report...

NIB forced to revise full year forecast - Sep 26, 2008
Health insurer NIB Holdings Ltd on Thursday updated its guidance for the 2009 financial year, following the Senate's rejection on Wednesday night of proposed alterations to the Medicare levy surcharge (MLS) threshold...

Super cover a hidden concern - Sep 25, 2008
IT WASN'T just the AIG policy holders that breathed a sigh of relief when the US Fed announced the bailout package for one of the largest insurers in the world last week...

Insurers a law unto themselves - Sep 23, 2008
INSURANCE companies providing home builders warranty insurance have been allowed to dodge consumer protection and financial disclosure for years because of Federal Government changes to legislation...

Adler wants HIH suit to 'go away' - Sep 22, 2008
Disgraced businessman Rodney Adler hopes a multi-million dollar legal action over the collapse of insurer HIH will be settled quickly, saying he wants the case "to go away"...

Holding buy/sell insurance in super - Sep 22, 2008
Not that long ago, superannuation was a minefield if you wanted to hold insurance policies within it to fund business succession...

Star rating of life insurance products released - Sep 12, 2008
A star rating report of life insurance products across the industry has been released by the financial research and ratings company CANNEX...

BOOKMARK THIS WEBSITE
To add Income Insurance Australia to your favourites, simply click here.

|  home  |  news  | links  |