Latest Australia Headlines
All the headlines from our Australia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
70% Chance of El Nino Extreme Weather Event in 2014: Australian Meteorologists
Apr 8 2014 // The chance of an El Nino weather event developing in 2014 now exceeds 70 percent, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said on Tuesday, raising the prospect of damaging floods and droughts across the globe. Global cocoa...
Arthur J. Gallagher to Buy Australian Wesfarmers’ Insurance Brokerage
Apr 6 2014 // Perth, Australia-based conglomerate Wesfarmers has agreed to sell the insurance brokerage and premium funding operations of its Insurance division to subsidiaries of U.S.-based broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. for...
How Robots, Drones Are Transforming Mining and Mine Safety
Apr 4 2014 // Mines without miners? Not quite. Still, a technology boom in robots, drones, driverless trucks and pilotless trains is beginning to reshape one of the world’s most labor-intensive industries, portending automation of...
Malaysia Jet Search Shifts, as New Lead Shows It Flew Shorter Distance
Mar 28 2014 // The three-week hunt for Malaysian Air Flight 370 focused on a new area in the Indian Ocean today after radar data indicated the plane probably flew a shorter distance than earlier estimated. The new lead was based on...
Global Insurance Organization’s G-20 Delegates Stress Social, Economic Role
Mar 21 2014 // In a series of meetings this week with the Australian G-20 Presidency, the Global Federation of Insurance Associations (GFIA) has called on the G-20 to “ensure that all international regulatory reform initiatives...
Analysis of Possible Plane Debris Slowed by Vast Size of Satellite Data
Mar 21 2014 // Delays in identifying satellite images that may show debris of a missing Malaysian plane in the southern Indian Ocean were due to the vast amounts of data that needed to be analyzed, Australian authorities and the U.S....
Norwegian Ship Reaches Location of Possible Malaysian Plane Debris
Mar 20 2014 // Norwegian car carrier Hoegh St. Petersburg has reached the area in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia where two floating objects, suspected to be debris from the missing Malaysian jetliner, were spotted, the...
El Nino Could Strike as Early as Summer Says U.S. Forecaster CPC
Mar 7 2014 // The much-feared El Nino phenomenon, the warming of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific which can trigger drought in Southeast Asia and Australia and floods in South America, could strike the Northern Hemisphere as...
MacDonald to Head Miller’s New Combined P&C Team
Feb 27 2014 // UK specialist insurance and reinsurance broker Miller Insurance Services LLP announced that it is combining its property and casualty specialists into one business area headed by Ken MacDonald. Miller said the new...
QBE Jumps on Premiums, North American Unit Outlook: Sydney Mover
Feb 25 2014 // QBE Insurance Group Ltd., Australia’s second-largest insurer by market value, climbed to its highest level in more than two months on plans to increase premium rates and bring its North American unit back to profit...
Ratings Roundup: AIG Asia-Pacific, Fuji Fire/AIU
Feb 21 2014 // A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of Singapore-based AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd. (AIG APAC) and its fully-owned...
El Nino Threatens to Return; May Hit Global Food Production
Feb 21 2014 // The El Nino weather pattern, which can trigger drought in some parts of the world while causing flooding in others, is increasingly likely to return this year, hitting production of key foods such as rice, wheat and...
Global 2013 Cat Losses at $40 Billion Were ‘Below Average’ – Guy Carpenter
Feb 13 2014 // Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, the leading global risk and reinsurance specialist and member of Marsh & McLennan Companies, 2013 Catastrophe Review concludes that “natural catastrophes and man-made disasters...
Australia Sees Increased Risks from El Nino Weather Pattern
Feb 11 2014 // Australian climate models indicate an increased chance of an El Nino weather pattern emerging later this year, the country’s weather bureau said on Tuesday, raising the risk of drought and floods in some parts of the...
Snowy, Cold January Was Deadly and Costly: Aon
Feb 6 2014 // The various winter storms that brought snow and bitter cold to the United States in January took more than 50 lives and are expected to result in direct economic losses of about $3.5 billion and insured losses of more than...
Ironshore’s Australian Sub to Buy Specialist Insurer Assetinsure
Feb 4 2014 // Bermuda-based Ironshore Inc. announced that its Australian subsidiary has entered into an agreement to purchase all of the shares of Assetinsure Holdings Pty Ltd, the parent company of Assetinsure Pty Ltd (collectively...
El Nino May Return as Pacific Ocean Shows Signs of Warming
Jan 30 2014 // An El Nino weather pattern, which can parch Australia and parts of Asia while bringing rains to South America, may occur in the coming months as the Pacific Ocean warms, according to Australia’s Bureau of...
IAG Updates FY14 Guidance: GWP Down, Margins Up
Jan 23 2014 // Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) announced an update to its guidance for the financial year ending 30 June 2014 (FY14) following a review of expected performance in the first half of the year. IAG said it “has...
Magnitude 6.2 Quake Strikes New Zealand’s North Island: AIR Analysis
Jan 21 2014 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, reported: “At 9:52 p.m. Eastern Time, on January 19 (3:52 p.m., local time, January 20), a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck New Zealand’s North Island. The epicenter was...
Cooper Gay Australia Creates Wholesale Division; Hyde Named Production Head
Jan 16 2014 // Cooper Gay (Australia) Pte Ltd, a reinsurance intermediary, has launched a new wholesale division for the Australian insurance market. The new wholesale unit of Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford Group (CGSC), the independent...
