Mike's Minute: We must question insurance companies

The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Is the insurance market the last to get a good going over from the regulatory authorities?

Having become a country that loves a good market study, we've had petrol, banks, supermarkets – so surely insurance, and while you are at it, Air New Zealand, would be a good next stopping point.

Australia isn't overly happy with the way their insurance industry works either, and the regulator last week hinted inspections of some sort were coming.

Like banking, a lot of the insurance game there is run by the same people as it is here. And like the banks, they have the same line up of excuses as to why they are so profitable.

IAG, for example, made a profit in the last year of about $1 billion, and they did it off the back of rising premiums. It was an 8% rise in profit and the dividend was 27 cents.

Premiums are up because of climate change. Payouts, risk, and reinsurance are the usual excuses.

Don't get me wrong, we need profitable and stable companies, but in this cost of living crisis, councils and insurance companies seem to be the last ones standing when it comes to passing costs on at rates a mile higher than inflation.

IAG say we are starting to see inflation easing. Excuse me? It's eased. It's in the band. Central banks all over the world have or are about to cut rates based on the fact inflation is under control.

And not only have premiums gone up, they’ve flagged they will be up another 9 percent next year.

Reinsurance is part of their excuse. Here's a fun fact one of the biggest reinsurers in the world is Swiss Re. Guess how much their profit is up? 17%. To what, I hear you ask, a bit under $4 billion.

So where is the line?

A strong and profitable company versus taking the mick and simply passing on costs because they can and seeing massive profits with big dividends while still milking the old idea that everything is bad, storms rage, and payouts drain resources.

Now if that isn't a market study waiting to happen, I don’t know what is.

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