Insurance industry honoured

The annual Australia and New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards held at the Sydney Convention Centre last night saw QBE Australia win General Insurance Company of the Year, and Bob Buckley take out the Insurance Leader of the Year category.

Hosted by the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) and founding partner Asia Insurance Review, a panel of 14 judges selected winners for 12 categories, which were then independently audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers to ensure proceedings were fairly handled.

The 12 categories and award winners were:

General Insurance Company of the Year — QBE;

Life Insurance Company of the Year — CommInsure ;

Insurance Leader of the Year — Bob Buckley;

Services to the Community Award — Ansvar Insurance;

Loss Adjuster of the Year — GAB Robins NZ;

Law Firm/Practitioner of the Year — Minter Ellison ;

Broker of the Year — AonAustralia ;

Reinsurance Company of the Year — Munich Re;

Premium Funder of the Year — Pacific Premium Funding;

Risk Practitioner/Team of the Year — Guild;

Service Provider to the Insurance Industry — Finity Consulting; and

Technological Innovation of the Year — Savant Virtual Insurer.

ANZIIF chief executive officer Joan Fitzpatrick congratulated the winners and said the good turnout highlighted the industry’s unquestionable dedication to best practice.

“The insurance industry provides a pivotal role in the wellbeing of our economy and society as a whole, and the awards provide deserved recognition of this,” she said.

Some of the judges for 2007 included ANZIIF chief executive officer Joan Fitzpatrick, National Brokers Association chief executive Noel Patterson, MetLife Insurance director Bob Glading, Australian Institute of Chartered Loss Adjusters president Stephen Thorpe and ANZIIF president Ian Brown.