The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has announced that representatives from its organisation will be meeting with global insurance leaders in London and Munich this week to discuss how the insurance market in Australia is impacted by extreme climate issues.
The delegates from ICA will be ICA president Nick Hawkins, ICA board members Sue Houghton and Steve Johnston, and ICA CEO Andrew Hall. They will be meeting with CEOs and executives from various organisations within the global insurance sector.
Among the attendees will also be Stephen Jones, the assistant treasurer and minister for financial services. His attendance will mark the first time a minister will join Australia’s insurers and engage with participants in the global insurance sector.
“This issue affects all Australians and requires a shared solution with industry, government and customers all playing their part, and we warmly welcome the assistant treasurer’s very strong desire to help find those solutions,” said Hall.
Organisations who will be a part of the discussion are global insurance marketplace Lloyd’s, insurance and reinsurance brokers Marsh McLennan, Guy Carpenter and Aon, reinsurers Munich Re and Swiss Re, UN Principles for Responsible Investment, insurance and reinsurance hub the London Market Group, UK Government agency Flood Re, and the Association of British Insurers.
The dialogue will aim to ensure collaboration between the Australian government and local insurers with global reinsurers, brokers, insurers, and industry bodies, in order to improve on the current understanding of the issues that have caused an insurance protection gap.
“The needs of insurance customers are at the heart of this exercise because in Australia and around the world insurance is under pressure, impacting customers from small and medium-sized businesses to homeowners in areas at high risk of extreme weather, to professions who require insurance to operate,” explained Hall.
The protection gap is defined as the difference between the level of insurance required to recover from an event and the amount of insurance that was bought. This is seen to be growing because of issues such as extreme weather events, inflation, growing reinsurance costs, and scarcer capital.
“Australia’s exposure to frequent and significant extreme weather events makes the issue even more acute here,” said Hall.
“This week’s visit represents the next step in the collaboration between insurers and the Federal Government to try and improve outcomes for insurance customers in Australia,” he added.
