 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Our Australian commercial insurance operations, predominantly branded CGU Insurance, reported gross written premium growth of 5% in a market characterised by falling rates. PORTFOLIO MIX |
|
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE |
|
Gross written premium Net earned premium Combined ratio Insurance margin |
|
| DRIVING SAFETY AT DIESEL ENGINE FACTORY |
|
|
Working with our customers to reduce risk is core business for IAG. Stuart Davis, General Manager of R Moore and Sons, a diesel engine factory and CGU workers’ compensation customer in Western Australia really appreciates this. “Our workshop is a safer place since CGU helped us work out an action plan to reduce hazards for our staff. “The CGU team looked at our safety management systems, interviewed our staff and toured our office, factory and storage areas. They worked out that most of our workplace injuries resulted from the way employees were handling materials which caused sprains and strains, and showed us more than 40 specific improvements we could make to minimise the hazards. “The results have been remarkable. Our staff benefit from working in a safer environment, and we’ve significantly reduced our costs – injury claims are down by more than 80%. We have a growing confidence in dealing with health and safety issues. Staff have become involved and developed a positive attitude to our health and safety strategy, and our standards have been raised.” The reason IAG does this is simple: reducing risks means customers can avoid unnecessary hardships, and they can benefit from lower premiums too. |
|
|
||
 |
In this section:
Year in review
Our customers' perspective
Our community
Looking forward
YEAR IN REVIEW
Our Australian commercial insurance operations achieved a solid performance during the year, growing gross written premium by 5%, and posting a combined ratio of 95.3% and an insurance margin of 17.2%.
Growth in business volume contributed to our result, with the number of policies in force increasing by 7%. In addition, our retention and renewal rates were strong due to the relationships we have built with our intermediaries.
To position our business for long term growth, we developed four strategic platforms during the year:
These strategic platforms guided our business direction and the development of our initiatives. This focus also deepened our understanding of customers and the broader community, and better equipped us to design and deliver more robust products and services.
OUR CUSTOMERS’ PERSPECTIVE
CGU’s strategy to foster deeper relationships with customers and stakeholders saw the introduction of a number of initiatives.
Our customers told us they wanted our technology to work better for them. In response, we’ve significantly enhanced our online capabilities.
We extended our web-based CGU Connect product to include commercial pack and landlords insurance, and launched an online claims tracking system for personal insurance claims to help insurance brokers manage their customers’ policies. We also placed our renewal documents online for checking by customers, which led to a halving in turnaround time and cutting paper use by 10 million A4 sheets a year.
Similarly, we developed a web-based reporting system to help employers proactively manage injury claims and identify how they can improve safety.
We boosted our health and safety product suite, developing the CD ROM tool, Risk Radar, to help small businesses manage and improve their environmental and OH&S performance. Risk Radar picked up the United Nation’s Australian ‘Triple Bottom Line’ Award 2005.
CGU also launched its market-leading online learning management solution for small to medium businesses, making employee safety training significantly more accessible and affordable.
We also introduced a best practice case management programme for our workers’ compensation teams in South Australia and Victoria, bringing together associated disciplines and strategies to help injured people return to work and preventing further injuries.
Our brokers asked us to share our knowledge about specialist insurance products like workers’ compensation and professional risks. In response, we held education sessions for more than 1,000 employees of brokers and authorised representatives. This educational support has been a key factor in prompting brokers to rate CGU’s Professional Risks team as Australia’s number one for small to medium-sized businesses for the sixth time in the Deloitte/JP Morgan General Insurance survey.
We trained a further 4,400 employers and their representatives about their obligations in managing claims of injured employees, getting injured people back to work and preventing workplace injuries.
From a product perspective, we worked closely with regulators, governments and the building industry to extend our home warranty insurance presence beyond NSW and Victoria, to also be available in South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.
Drawing on the existing expertise in our business, we launched a dedicated commercial motor fleet unit so CGU can provide broader products and services to both small and large motor fleet clients. As part of this, we established a new accident management model giving customers a single point of contact to ensure minimal off road time.
OUR PEOPLE
Commercial insurance involves many stakeholders and complexities associated with law, regulation and technical factors. As such, a high calibre workforce is essential. We established professional benchmarks during the year to ensure we have a workplace that attracts the best people and supports our people to be their best, particularly in relationship management and technical ability.
We launched an Australian industry first – the CGU Commercial Insurance Academy – providing our people with high quality education delivered by experts. We also supported the Business Insurance Accredited Learning Programme, a competency-based programme. These initiatives are industry-approved and the qualifications are recognised externally.
Our people achieved outstanding results in the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance Academic Awards. We will continue supporting the development of our people.
OUR COMMUNITY
We have a proud tradition of standing alongside local communities in times of need. Our response to the Eyre Peninsula fires in January 2005, where lives were tragically lost, was prompt and aimed to provide immediate crisis support within
24-hours of the fires, helping with accommodation and advance payments.
We also joined agribusiness partners, Elders and Landmark, to work with local businesses and farmers to plan for the community’s longer term recovery.
We used our vast risk management knowledge to raise awareness about community risks and to help make the lives of our customers safer, particularly those with limited resources like farmers and small business owners.
Working in partnership with the NSW Police and Crimestoppers, we launched a campaign to prevent rural crime and encourage people who have been victims of crime to report it.
Through the media, we educated small businesses about the importance of physical and cash security and highlighted peak periods for crimes against businesses. Using our claims data, we developed a Top Six Farm Risks campaign to help people on farms prevent injury, and we worked to raise awareness about where and when people are most likely to be injured in the workplace.
Our dialogue with the broader community is now more meaningful and is geared towards keeping insurance affordable, particularly as society and its expectations change. In anticipation of the community benefits we believe will result from tort law reforms, we cut our public liability rates by more than 10% in all States and Territories.
LOOKING FORWARD
We will continue to strengthen our business for sustainable growth.
We are developing centres of excellence around our product groups, distribution networks and customer segments. This means we can improve our risk selection and pursue targeted opportunities and provide the best insurance solutions and service to our customers.
Our strategies are resonating well with our people and our customers and provide an excellent base for future growth and profitability.
)
