Insurance Australia Group Limited

Well, AIG's battle to acquire WA's RAC, that's a lot of acronyms, has moved on again, Wendy.

IAG has now lodged an application with the ACCC asking them to take another look at the deal from the perspective of the public benefit it would bring.

So it's arguing those factors tip the balance in its favour despite the competition concerns that have been raised.

So it's offered up some new commitments as well to support that.

So if the deal goes through, IAG will sell NRMA Insurance home and motor portfolio renewal rights in WA and It will invest $20 million in resilience initiatives and it will make RAC products available in northern areas like Karratha, Port Hedland and Broome, where it can be tough to get affordable cover.

So it's also made product pricing and competitiveness commitments.

and reiterates the benefits for RAC underwriting from being part of a national company that doesn't have so much risk concentrated in the one area.

The insurance sector, which has no trouble pushing up premiums every year, reported thin taxable income on solid revenue.

Insurance Australia Group paid no tax on $17.8 billion in earnings, Prudential paid no tax, nor did Hanover or RACV, however, QBE, auto and general insurance and RACQ tipped into the ATO's coffers.

Come on Rupert, where's the tabloid hype? Surely the Aussie battlers reading US citizen Rupert Murdoch's rags will be chomping at the bit to see who they are paying more tax then.

But not a whisper from the Murdoch media empire, the tax transparency report just blows away in the winds generated at News 24 and the corporate headquarters at Holt Street in Sydney's Surrey Hills.

So we'll wait and see tomorrow morning how they perform.

We've also got the likes of Fortescue, Santos and Karoon Energy out with some quarterlies tomorrow and a bunch of annual general meetings from the likes of IAG, Brambles, BHP and the ASX.

Absolutely.

So another busy day on the company earnings front ahead.

The ASX holds their AGM, BAPCOR, BHP.

Brambles, Cleanaway, Helios, IAG, Magellan.

It looks like Magellan's put a slight downgrade through as well, but I've only seen the headlines on that one.

There's nothing on the economic docket to get you across today, nothing from central banks either.

Yeah, certainly one we're going to be keeping an eye on.

One of the most important ANA discussions in the past couple of days is IAG's proposed acquisition of the Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia, or RAC Insurance.

So after the country's competition regulator, ACCC, stopped the deal from proceeding, citing concern that the deal would substantially lessen the competition in the motorhome and contents insurance markets in Western Australia.

IAG made a public benefits application, which is the next step that companies can do after their proposed deal is declined to show the A3C that the benefits to the public of the acquisition could outweigh the detriments.

So IAG don't just stop there.

Earlier this month, IAG and RAC brought the case to the Australian Competition Tribunal, arguing that the ACCC applied the wrong legal test and reached an incorrect conclusion on the deal's impact on competition.

So therefore, they insisted the deal to proceed.

The tribunal a few days later said that they would only review the appeal after the ACCC determined the outcome of the public benefits application, which I mentioned above.

And the reactions from that conversation alone are quite interesting.

What my experience has been has been that the companies that I've worked for, the large insurance companies I've worked for, I've worked for the largest insurance company in Australia, Insurance Australia Group, and a number of their leading brands.

I've worked for RACV, which was a mutual organization, and now working for Acmea.

We are actually in the business of paying claims, as I said a little bit earlier.

What would be one of the best pieces of advice you've been given over the years, Glenn, in your career development, I suppose? Is there any gems there?

Yeah, a couple.

I think I remember a senior executive when I was at IAG, Insurance Australia Group, around a fireside chat at a leadership offsite once, you know, those types of opportunities you get to sort of step away and reflect.

Sort of made this comment that still resonates with me today, which is, as a leader, you're never not leading.