IAG held its investor day last week. CEO Nick Hawkins says the company is focused on its strategy which includes adding 1 million direct customers. He said that the insurer had added 207,000 net customers and had rolled out the NRMA brand in Western Australia and South Australia and that the company enjoys very strong retention rates. However the road to one million more customers would be slower than expected while the company prioritises margins.
IAG is aiming for a $250m insurance profit in FY24 and says it is on track.
“Our Australian businesses are expected to deliver improved second half results reflecting strong top-line growth, increased earned premiums, and improving claims trends,” he said.
Julie Batch, Group Executive, Direct Insurance Australia presented next. The simplified brands are NRMA insurance which is the stronger insurance brand in Australia, RACV the second strongest with Rollin’ the number insurance brand with customer ratings of 4.7 and winner of the 2023 Car Insurer of the Year for Outstanding Value.
Batch said that claims cost inflation is stabilising in Motor. Claims volumes returned to pre COVID-19 levels in March 2022, inflation spiked in August-October 2022 in line with global trends.
Batch outlined IAG’s response which was:
- Use of digital and AI to improve efficiencies
- Increase repair capacity in the network
- Express repairs for cosmetic damage
- Long term contracts & fixed price model
- Pricing reflecting inflation
Thanks to using artificial intelligence for total losses Batch said that some claims are now settled in hours instead of days.
The aim is to grow across Australian and focus on retention and risk selection for profitable growth. Batch said that the NRMA HelpHub is increasing customer engagement and retention. On capturing the attention of the younger generation she said Rollin, the digital only business is growing sustainably and building unique capability that can be leveraged across the business.