Insurance News magazine June/July 2026
‘Room to grow in a mature market’
Zurich’s local head sees opportunity in Australia as risk protection demand rises
By Wendy Pugh
Zurich’s investments in new initiatives and partnerships are all part of its ambition to build scale in a local market where risk protection requirements are rising, Australia and New Zealand head of general insurance Alex Morgan says.
Mr Morgan has held roles with Zurich in London, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney over nearly 14 years, and says Australia is not the low-growth market that might be expected given its maturity.
Factors supporting protection demand include a rising population, urban concentration patterns, natural catastrophe exposures and active litigation trends, while it features high insurance penetration levels.
“The sector growth levels are greater than what you would sometimes see in a mature market,” Mr Morgan tells Insurance News.
“The participants in the market here are extremely sophisticated – the brokers, the insurers and the buyers, and it’s an environment with plenty of risk.”
Zurich has about 2000 people working across its life and general insurance operations in Australia and New Zealand.
The general insurance business is weighted to the broker-intermediated commercial space, with a focus on SME and middle market clients.
“Although we do absolutely participate in large corporate accounts, particularly in the motor, property and energy space, the make-up of our book broadly reflects the make-up of the Australian business landscape,” Mr Morgan says.
The company is building its SME business strength, continuing to invest in technology and integration with the broker market, and looking to grow across its broader “product and proposition”.
In addition to core motor, property and casualty classes, the insurer is adding capabilities in areas such as financial lines, accident and health, marine and workers’ compensation.
Recent initiatives include last month’s launch of AR Advance, a national underwriting and service team dedicated to the expanding authorised representative sector.
ARs, which tend to have a mix of SME and middle market customers, are often hyperlocal, smaller businesses with strong relationships in the communities where they operate. The new service provides rapid turnaround times and practical support.
“They want an insurer that is responsive, an insurer they are able to access when they have questions, queries or want to negotiate, and they want to be able to deal with decision-makers,” Mr Morgan says.
AR growth in the Australian insurance market reflects regulatory arrangements that support a model incentivising entrepreneurial businesspeople, he says.
“Once you’ve got an environment that allows individuals to retain the benefits of their own hard work and success, that entrepreneurial mindset drives outcomes.”
Investing in propositions such as AR Advance reflects an emphasis on customer service improvement and supports a broader focus on innovating and scaling, Mr Morgan says.
Zurich has participated in the Australian market since the 1920s, while globally it is one of the world’s most experienced underwriters, beginning in 1872 as a marine reinsurer.
The property and casualty division reported a business operating profit of $US5.1 billion last year, with gross written premium reaching $US50.4 billion, and Zurich is driving a specialty operations step-change with the acquisition of London-listed Beazley.
The Swiss group’s £8.1 billion offer has gained Beazley shareholder approval and final clearances are expected to allow deal completion in the second half of the year.
“It’s a really exciting development. When the group talks about our strategy for commercial insurance, specialty is one of the key pillars, and that’s what Beazley is all about,” Mr Morgan says.
“Once the acquisition is complete, we will work through what the Beazley capabilities present to us in terms of opportunities here in Australia.”
Beazley is known for cyber, professional indemnity, marine, accident and life, political risks and contingency, and property. It has a limited presence in Australia, while participating in the market through its Lloyd’s syndicate.
At the other end of the corporate transactions spectrum, two years ago Zurich invested $US60 million in California-based cyber insurtech Cowbell, which uses artificial intelligence to identify and monitor risks.
The partners focused initially on North America and the UK, but are now looking further afield.
A product introduced to Australia this year is designed for SMEs with annual turnover up to $100 million, and Mr Morgan says broader Asia-Pacific opportunities may follow.
The target market reflects demand from businesses that – without the resourcing levels of large organisations – particularly value threat insights and assistance preventing and responding to breaches.
“Increasingly, we find customers want to partner with an insurer that can help inform them about risk. They want to transfer the risk if an adverse event does come to pass, but they want support in recovering as well,” Mr Morgan says.
“That advice and support is critical and that’s what the partnership with Cowbell brings to Australia.”
Advice and insights are also central in a broader context to Zurich Resilience Solutions (ZRS), which provides consultancy services assessing and managing traditional and evolving risks. The Australian business has teamed with research group Mandala on reports examining climate-related threats affecting the energy, education and tourism sectors.
“These reports are a shopfront to the power that our ZRS services, advisers and consultants are able to bring to clients, and we continue to build on that risk advisory capability,” Mr Morgan says.
Zurich has pursued a range of partnership opportunities across diverse business areas, including in conjunction with underwriting agencies and other corporates.
The company is the preferred insurance provider in Australia for Tesla vehicles, having held that role in Switzerland since 2016.
Mr Morgan says the arrangement provides Tesla with a digital offering that removes potential friction from insurance purchasing, while building Zurich’s understanding and data set around the different risks electric vehicles present.
The Middle East conflict and concerns about petrol and diesel supplies and rising prices have spurred interest in EVs in Australia. Uptake here has lagged some international markets, but Mr Morgan says current interest is part of a building momentum.
“We’ve certainly seen press about electric vehicle sales increasing and inventories being run down by all the EV manufacturers, but that’s a spike that sits within a trend,” he says.
Zurich has this year also joined forces with underwriting agency Honey Insurance on a pet cover product under the Virgin Money brand, as demographic drivers and increasing veterinary costs support opportunities.
Mr Morgan took up leadership of the Australian and New Zealand general insurance business in 2023, after serving as Asia-Pacific chief risk officer.
He has also headed Zurich’s general insurance retail underwriting team in Australia and New Zealand, after returning to Sydney in 2020.
The past few years have brought a shift from a hard market to softening in the commercial premium cycle, while macroeconomic headwinds include repercussions from the Middle East conflict and the spectre of inflation.
Mr Morgan says large corporate liability and financial lines are still seeing weakness, while there is “a little bit more rationality” in motor and some mid-market accounts, but Zurich has seen cycles come and go over its long history and is well placed to grow and be profitable throughout.
“As much as there are some challenges in the operating environment, we feel we are well prepared to face into those, and our view is that an underwriting shop that understands risk and is able to price it well is able to trade through any external cycle.”
