Zurich and Blue Zebra Insurance have decided to end their underwriting agency agreement, effective March 16.
The two companies partnered in February 2018 to offer a digitally enabled, end-to-end personal lines insurance platform via brokers in the Australian market.
“A key priority for us is business growth in our chosen market segments, and with Blue Zebra now looking to expand its offering into a wider range of products, we each needed to reassess the agreement,” said Tim Plant, CEO general insurance of Zurich Australia and New Zealand. “This also comes at a time when Blue Zebra’s performance is not aligned with Zurich’s expectations, and after careful consideration we both agreed it was best to end the agreement.”
Plant said Zurich “will continue to manage our obligations with customers who purchased insurance products using the Blue Zebra platform.” The company will support all existing Blue Zebra policies incepted prior to March 16 and is working with Blue Zebra to assist clients who were impacted by the recent catastrophic bushfires.
Zurich said it will also continue to work with Blue Zebra as it transitions to a new underwriting arrangement with another insurer.
“The team at Blue Zebra would like to thank Zurich for its support in the start-up phase of our business,” said Colin Fagen, managing director of Blue Zebra Insurance. “It’s unfortunate that we could not continue the relationship as our portfolio matures and grows, however, we’re proud of what we have achieved to date and are excited about the next stage of our business as we continue to deliver technology-enabled insurance options to the broker market for personal lines and other products.”
