IAG’s Nick Hawkins joins ICA as new President

The Board of the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has appointed IAG Managing Director and CEO Nick Hawkins to the position of President.

QBE Australia Pacific CEO Sue Houghton will complete her term as President at the end of the year and remain on the Board, with Hawkins to commence as President on 1 January 2022.

Incoming ICA President Nick Hawkins said: “Insurers have a unique role to play in this country to help reduce the risks many communities and businesses face from extreme weather and natural disasters, and this will be a key focus of the ICA Board as we head into 2022. Sue has done an outstanding job as President and we’re grateful for her leadership.

“I look forward to stepping into this important role in the new year.”

A look at Hawkins background 

Nick Hawkins became IAG’s Managing Director and CEO in November 2020. He previously held the role of Deputy CEO, accountable for the management and performance of IAG’s day-to-day operations.

Nick previously spent 12 years as IAG’s Chief Financial Officer, responsible for the financial affairs of the company. Prior to this Nick was the Chief Executive Officer of IAG New Zealand and held a number of roles within finance and asset management since joining the Group in 2001.

Before joining IAG, Nick was a partner with KPMG. He is a Fellow of Chartered Accounts of Australia & New Zealand and a graduate of the Harvard Advanced Management Program.

About the Insurance Council of Australia

The Insurance Council of Australia is the representative body for the general insurance industry of Australia.

Its members represent approximately 95% of total premium income written by private sector general insurers, spanning both insurers and reinsurers. Its members provide insurance products ranging from those usually purchased by individuals, such as:

• home and contents insurance
• travel insurance
• motor vehicle insurance

To those purchased by small businesses and larger organisations, such as: product and public liability insurance

• professional indemnity insurance,
• commercial property, and
• directors and officers insurance.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority statistics from March 2021 show that the general insurance industry generates gross written premium of $53.9 billion per year and has total assets of $144.2 billion.

The industry employs approximately 60,000 people and on average pays out $166.2 million in claims each working day ($41.5 billion per year). Over the 12 months to the end of March 2021 the industry’s net profit after tax (NPAT) was $1.1 billion - a 28.3% decrease from the prior year’s NPAT of $1.5 billion.