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Strata insurer CHU has won the Underwriting Agency of the Year award in the Australian Insurance Industry Awards for the second year in a row.
“We were delighted to win the award last year and, inspired by this, we pushed even harder this year to be the very best that we could be. It obviously paid off,” said CHU CEO Bobby Lehane. “CHU is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and I can’t think of a better anniversary present than this award.”
Lehane said a lot has happened within CHU since the strata insurer bagged the award last year.
“CHU has progressed its strategy, consolidated its market position and future-proofed it in a time of increasing disruption,” Lehane said. “2017 proved to be a groundbreaking year for CHU, with new products, services, businesses, and technology delivered to the market.
Lehane also noted changes within the industry during that time.
“The digitalisation of strata insurance has begun. However, strata insurance is lagging other general insurance lines in that regard. That will absolutely change,” he said. “The demand for tailored, more flexible insurance policies is growing and the need to simplify the core strata-insurance product is vital. The shift to brokers providing strata insurance will continue to accelerate. With the increasing complexity of schemes, strata insurance is – and will continue to be – an ideal avenue for brokers to help their clients. Smaller self-managed schemes will increasingly purchase their insurance online and, again, CHU is well placed to meet this digital demand.”
Lehane said CHU is geared up for “enormous” changes in the market in the coming three to five years.
“Strata insurance was once seen as a small niche in the Australian insurance industry. Not anymore. It’s an area of insurance that is rapidly entering the mainstream of the industry,” Lehane said.
