You may recall that our 2019 Ratings unexcitedly had no changes from our 2018 Ratings. Well things have changed this year!

Again, we’ve seen a healthy number of policy updates in 2019 with 55% of residential policies and 63% of commercial policies receiving an update. Many of these updates contained minimal material change however and were mostly compliance focussed such as adding AFCA contact details.

There were however some policy changes which had a fundamental shift in the quality of the product which resulted in a change in Rating.

Notably, we also saw two products leave the residential market and another two leave the commercial market.

Methodology

Our rating methodology has remained the same since inception and considered the following:

1. Is the policy an Insured Events policy or a Broadform Accidental Loss/Damage policy?

2. Who is the insurer?

3. Is the product freely available to purchase?

4. How comprehensive is the wording?

Full detail of our methodology can be found here.

What Ratings Changed?

Four residential Ratings changes occurred this year which stemmed from changes in underwriting structure. Both Brooklyn Underwriting and Axis Underwriting moved from offshore Lloyd’s syndicates to onshore Australian insurers which upgraded their Rating from Silver to Gold.

Expert Strata Insurance and Longitude Insurance had their Ratings downgraded from Gold to Silver due to a change from a single underwriter to multiple underwriters.

In the commercial Ratings, Brooklyn Underwriting were upgraded while Expert Strata Insurance and Longitude Insurance were downgraded for similar reasons.

Sound Foundations

Stata insurance is all about the transfer of risk and as complexity is added to the underwriting structure such as will offshore syndicates or multiple incumbents, the transfer of this risk becomes less certain.

The above reason is why the market leaders in the space have strong and secure underwriters. In addition to this strong base, they build comprehensive products that suit the customer and distribute these fairly.

So, there you have it – the StrataRatings awards for 2020!

Come and check out which Rating your policy achieved here.