In the latest article in the General Insurance Practice Committee (GIPC)’s GI Reserving Working Group series, we explore ways that actuaries can drive improvement. We summarise recent work across five, mostly large insurers, where teams have updated or overhauled legacy spreadsheet processes to tackle various challenges, such as the complexities of a changing portfolio, tight […]

March 2006 was a month of big releases. David Attenborough’s nature documentary Planet Earth premiered on the BBC. Jack Dorsey sent out the first ever tweet on Twitter. English-language Wikipedia published its one millionth article. And, perhaps most importantly to me at the time, Ice Age: The Meltdown came out in cinemas. And while it […]

Australian actuaries have been relatively advanced in our general insurance reserving approaches for decades – a fact highlighted by the stark contrast between methodologies and international approaches. A recent article on general insurance (GI) reserving authored by Andrew Manton-Hall of the General Insurance Practice Committee (GIPC)’s Reserving Working Group, was an excellent summary of a […]

The General Insurance Practice Committee’s (GIPC) GI Reserving Working Group is undertaking an examination current reserving practices to identify opportunities for further improvement, and summarising our findings to date across a series of articles.

What if your home could prevent insurance claims before they happen? As smart home technology becomes increasingly accessible, traditional home insurance models are changing–and actuaries can be at the forefront of this revolution. In our new series, AI Case Studies, we share hypothetical examples to illustrate how AI may transform insurance processes in real-world […]

Look back at pivotal legal reforms and court decisions in 2024 which have impacted the insurance landscape in Australia. Yet another year has passed and once again it’s time to reflect on the key legal, regulatory and judicial happenings which have impacted the insurance industry. This article provides a recap of some of the key […]

The recent wildfires in California have left a trail of destruction with over 15,000 structures destroyed, multiple deaths and displacing over 100,000 people[1]. Estimated economic losses are in the range of USD $130 billion to USD $150 billion[2]. Industry analysts estimate insured losses to vary between USD $20 billion to USD $45 billion, making this […]

A key focus area for the Actuaries Institute’s General Insurance Practice Committee in 2024-2025 is to gain deeper insights into the claims liability reserving practices used by actuaries across Australia’s general insurance industry. To support this objective, the General Insurance Practice Committee (GIPC)’s GI Reserving Working Group conducted a short survey in June 2024 to: […]

With the conclusion of the first year of reporting on an AASB 17 basis, the focus for insurers has shifted from implementation to refinement and optimisation. The significant volume of information provided by public disclosures of audited financial statements allows for useful comparison and benchmarking, and an ASTIN Sub-Committee of the International Actuarial Association has […]

If someone were to summarise what has been happening in the General Insurance industry this year, they might liken it to George Lucas’ attitude on the Star Wars prequel films. When asked about George Lucas’ directing style, many of the actors on the films would say the same thing. “He was great to work with,” […]

Seven teams of university students across Asia Pacific presented a new insurance product for a disadvantaged community for the 2024 Actuaries Institute Innovation Challenge. Hosted for the first time in 2022, this year’s Innovation Challenge was sponsored by Milliman and organised by the Young Actuaries Advisory Board (YAAB). People, families and businesses in vulnerable communities […]

In an era where data-driven insights are revolutionising the insurance industry, actuaries are tasked with not only navigating the intricacies of pricing models but also upholding the highest standards of professionalism. At the 2024 All Actuaries Summit, the Working Group for Professional Support in Pricing presented a Paper and set of principles that sparked a […]

With the first series of annual statements published under the new IFRS 17 standard, is the new standard achieving the desired transparency and comparability, or is variability undermining these objectives? The new IFRS 17 standard for accounting insurance contracts became mandatory for IFRS accounts starting January 1, 2023. This year insurance companies have presented their […]

“Our skillset straddles business and data analytics, which is very valuable in today’s data-rich world.”Simone has 14 years’ experience in the insurance industry, focusing on various aspects of actuarial work, including extreme event modelling, insurance pricing, claims reserving, reinsurance, and financial modelling. She is currently Chief Actuary at Picnic Labs, a start-up seeking to […]

Across three Summit sessions reflecting on the purpose of insurance, actuaries and sector leaders explored why insurance is so much more than just “cover”, traversing its role in society, its human and economic value, and the imperative to make it work better for all.Life and income insurance–the protection in danger of […]

Have you ever wondered how iconic Victorian assets like Flinders Street Station, Fed Square and the State Library of Victoria are insured? I sure hadn’t. It turns out the Victorian State Government set up a captive insurance pool to provide insurance coverage to its vast array of assets and risks. The entity is named the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority, or simply VMIA.

We live in a world that is increasingly interconnected by global flows of goods, services, capital, people and data, which are, in turn, dependent on political forces within the geographic space. The recent geopolitical context has been heightened with shocks from events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing conflicts, in addition to continued technological […]

Amidst ongoing climate volatility, Australian businesses can’t catch a break. With escalating insured losses across Australia, particularly in the last half-decade (which included the 2018-2019 bushfires, the floods of 2020-2022, and hail and drought during 2023), many businesses struggle to obtain adequate insurance coverage and sufficient protection against natural catastrophes. Parametric insurance has been established […]

Join us as we examine pivotal 2023 reforms and court decisions that shaped the insurance industry’s legal landscape in Australia. From key legal, regulatory and judicial impacts, here’s some key reforms and rulings that affected the insurance world in 2023. March 2023 On 17 March 2023, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia […]

The cost of reinsurance can be a significant part of an insurer’s expenses, particularly in the prevailing hard, rocky seas of the reinsurance market[1]. With recent reinsurance policy renewals, based on our observations, some insurers have income on reinsurance purchase and this was particularly common in insurance markets prone to natural catastrophe events. To make […]