• New report highlights high-performing Australian insurance intermediaries achieve greater efficiency and profitability through strategic investments in people, processes, and technology.

• As the market softens, report advises intermediaries to focus on productivity through strategic deployment of staff, process efficiency, offshoring, cybersecurity, and AI.

• Despite some challenges in technology implementation, successful navigation and effective use of technology will position intermediaries for sustained growth and profitability.

• IAG launched ‘Cylo backed by CGU,’ a cyber MGA for small Australian businesses with revenues up to AU$10m.

• MGA launched in partnership with loss adjuster Crawford & Company and cyber risk assessment provider UpGuard.

• Cybercrime costs Australian economy about AU$42bn annually, with 43% of attacks targeting small businesses.

• Only 20% of Australian SMEs have stand-alone cyber insurance.

• Income Insurance is considering partnerships or selling a stake to expand in Asia Pacific, with interest from industry peers, sources told Bloomberg.

• The company, established in 1970, serves 1.7 million customers in Singapore across various lines of business and was designated a ‘Domestically Systemically Important Insurer’ by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2023.

• HGGC will sell the London-headquartered speciality brokerage group to Warburg Pincus and Temasek, pending regulatory approval.

• Acquisition reportedly values SRG at over £1bn (US$1.27bn), including debt, with the move set to support international expansion, including in Asia.

• SRG employs over 600 people and places premiums exceeding £1bn.

ICA launches new counter fraud function aiming to tackle undetected fraud which is estimated to cost the insurance industry around AU$400m a year.

• Insurance Claims from early June Baiu front and typhoon Mawar total ¥43.17bn (US$276.29m), with fire insurance claims being the largest at ¥25.48bn (US$163.07m).

• Claims from July heavy rainstorms totalled ¥52.26bn (US$334.46m), with fire insurance claims at ¥39.44bn (US$252.42m).