Tuesday 5 March 2024

• EV adoption presents a host of new risks for motor insurers.

• Access to new data has the theoretical potential to greatly improve underwriting, but lack of historical loss data poses challenges.

• Automotive telematics market is growing and will create abundance of new customer touchpoints and improve claims management.

• But rapid adaption and greater technical expertise are required to meet growing demand.

• A move towards tailored EV insurance solutions may provide answers.

• Insurance Council of Australia reports AU$1.2bn (US$782bn) in losses from summer nat cats.

• Christmas and New Year Storms resulted in AU$968m in insured losses from nearly 90,000 claims.

• Cyclone Jasper has caused AU$278m in insured losses from about 10,000 claims.

• ICA finalising data on 14 Feb Valentine’s Day storms in Victoria, with release expected next week.

• NZ GI sector forecast to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% to NZD12.9bn (US$7.6bn) in 2028.
• Property and motor lines, wgucg naje up nearly 75% of total GWP, expected to drive growth.

• The sector saw a 10.1% growth in 2023, following a 10.9% increase in 2022, fueled by higher demand for natural catastrophic insurance and inflation-driven premium hikes.

• New Zealand's annual inflation rate was 4.7% in 2023, above the Reserve Bank's target range of 1% to 3%.

• Profitability may remain volatile due to high claims from natural cats and reinsurance rates.

• AM Best affirms Pacific International Insurance’s FSR at ‘B++’ (Good) and LTICR at ‘bbb’ (Good), with a stable outlook.

• Despite modest scale, Australian insurer recorded significant premium growth, with a large portion ceded to reinsurers.

• AM Best expects net underwriting growth to continue, driven by expansion into pet and travel insurance.

• Five-year average return-on-equity ratio of -0.2% but operating performance has improved, with positive earnings in FY 2022 and 2023.

• Further ERM strengthening is considered necessary as the company grows.

• The Insurance Authority (IA) announced it has taken disciplinary action against three former insurance agents.

• Two agents received a three-year ban for submitting false academic certificates.

• A third agent faced discipline for unauthorised client benefit transfers and impersonation in order to access client information.

Mehra's role will see him unify risk, health, wealth, and talent and oversee the integration of the Global Insurance Brokers into the business.

Champvillard joins from Marsh, where she was MD and Head of Operations for its Asia Wholesale Placement Hub.

Bob Battoo (pictured left) returns to Charles Taylor as MD, APAC – Aviation; Dennis San Jose (pictured right) joins as Resident Technical Manager – Aviation.