Australia’s QBE Insurance Group said on Thursday its 2011 net profit would fall by as much as 50 percent after record catastrophe claims and it would cut its final dividend, sending its shares down as much as a quarter to …
Shares in QBE Insurance Group, Australia’s top insurer, were placed in a trading halt on Thursday ahead of the release of its preliminary 2011 results and amid concerns about an investigation into over-charging involving QBE’s U.S. unit. QBE shares came …
A tropical cyclone bearing down on Western Australia forced the closure of some of the world’s largest iron ore ports and several offshore oil fields on Wednesday, the first major series of shutdowns in what is forecast to be a …
Bermuda-based AXIS Capital Holdings Limited announced that it has appointed David Smith as CEO and Country Manager of Australian Operations. He is based in Sydney and reports to Mark Gregory, CEO International Division, AXIS Insurance, who welcomed Smith to AXIS, …
Australia’s Suncorp Group Limited’s preliminary estimates of the financial impacts of the recent Melbourne hailstorm and Christchurch earthquake are between A$200 and A$250 million [US$204.9 to US$256.1 million]. Suncorp added that its “reinsurance arrangements provide protection should the cost of …
The Insurance Australia Group has advised that its Australia Direct and CGU businesses have, “received approximately 20,000 claims following the hailstorms and related severe weather which occurred in Victoria around Christmas Day. The majority of claims relate to vehicle damage …
Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has examined the past year’s natural catastrophes, which it describes as “an unusually eventful year for the (re)insurance sector.” In addition to the ongoing financial crisis, which has produced recessions, or near recessions, in developed countries, …
A series of violent storms struck Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne on Christmas Day, causing wide spread damage to buildings and infrastructure. Insurer QBE said the country’s insurers have already received more than 15,000 claims as a result of the …
Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) announced it had entered into an agreement to purchase the AMI insurance business for NZ$380 million (approximately A$288 million [US$287.96 million), enhancing its position as New Zealand’s leading general insurer. IAG’s bulletin noted that the …
This coverage isn’t the U.S. health care law. When President Barack Obama visits Australia’s Northern Territory today, he will be presented with insurance coverage against attack — crocodile attack. The territory’s chief minister, Paul Henderson, said he will give Obama …
