The ACAPMA Insurance arrangement is said to deliver competitively priced insurance and risk solutions that are specifically designed to meet the needs of a variety of fuel businesses in Australia.
ACAPMA (and its predecessor organisation, APADA) has a long history of working to deliver comprehensive and competitively priced insurance products for businesses operating in the Australian fuel industry. This history includes the development of an insurance business (under the OAMPS brand) more than three decades ago to accommodate the specific risk profile of fuel wholesale and fuel retail businesses in Australia. This business was subsequently bought out by Arthur J Gallagher.
In recent times, ACAPMA members have raised concerns about the ever-escalating nature of insurance premiums in the face of declining profitability and increased compliance costs. Arguably, one of the central causes of this situation, says ACAPMA, has been the apparent absence of competitively priced products that are specifically tailored to the needs of fuel businesses, leading to the market dominance of a single player.
Recently, ACAPMA completed a comprehensive review of its member insurance offerings. During this process, ACAPMA sought expressions of interest from three parties for the provision of a member insurance offering in the future.
Following a comprehensive review of these submissions at its meeting in Sydney on November 26, 2019, the ACAPMA Board unanimously approved a proposal that will see the introduction of a new insurance offering under the brand ACAPMA Insurance.
Expertise and market leverage
ACAPMA Insurance will be powered by the largest insurance broker and risk advisor in the world, Marsh Pty Ltd (Marsh), a business of Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), which operates in 130 countries around the globe. Marsh has over 2,100 staff in Australia operating from 33 offices that are strategically positioned around the country.
“The ACAPMA Insurance arrangement will combine the market leverage and risk expertise of Australia’s largest insurance broker – Marsh – with the detailed industry knowledge of ACAPMA, to deliver competitively priced insurance and risk solutions that are specifically designed to meet the needs of a variety of fuel businesses in Australia,” ACAPMA CEO Mark McKenzie said.
“With more than 130 years of collective experience, the ACAPMA Insurance team will provide access to leading-edge risk and insurance solutions for members and non-members alike.
“One of the most attractive aspects of Marsh’s proposal was their capacity as a business of MMC to deliver more than just insurance products, at a time when the nature of fuel transport and petrol convenience businesses is changing.”
Comprehensive offer
The arrangement will see Marsh and the broader MMC group work with ACAPMA to deliver a comprehensive range of bespoke insurance products and risk support services in areas such as:
- Strategic risk assessment
- Cyber risk profiling
- Fraud risk reviews and awareness training
- Workplace health and safety programmes, including Return to Work services and claims management support
- Development of Business Continuity Plans
- Asset valuations
“We won’t simply be saying to our members and the wider market that they should ‘trust us’ because we ‘know the industry’. Rather, we will be saying when your insurance renewals come due simply give ACAPMA Insurance a chance to beat the offering of your current insurer,” Mr McKenzie said.
The arrangement between ACAPMA and Marsh isn’t simply a ‘branding and sponsorship’ agreement.
The new arrangement – which will initially operate for a five-year period – positively incentivises both organisations to grow ACAPMA Insurance with the goal of utilising a portion of the funds collected being reinvested in the industry to enhance ACAPMA’s advocacy activity, industry training solution and industry compliance products.
Most importantly, the proactive elements of this arrangement will allow the joint identification of risk factors that may be driving up industry premiums over time – and the subsequent development and implementation of industry-based solutions that address these issues, with the ultimate aim of keeping insurance premiums manageable.
“We have successfully achieved this as an industry body once before,” Mr McKenzie said.
“But, with Marsh powering ACAPMA Insurance I am confident that it will be able to provide comprehensive and competitively priced market offerings that meet the risk needs of contemporary fuel transport, fuel wholesale, fuel retail, and petroleum services businesses.”
More information about the timing of the launch of ACAPMA Insurance will be provided early in the new year.
