Michael Stiassny, the chairman of Tower Insurance, says New Zealand’s banks are “missing in action” when it comes to taking steps to mitigate climate risks in their financial frameworks. Stiassny said the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) had called on insurers “and more notably the banks” to take action in its recent Financial Stability Report which was published in April. Tower chief executive Blair Turnbull told interest.co.nz after the briefing that while insurers had to play a lead role, climate change was a “team sport”. Suncorp NZ reported its GWP was up by almost 20% to $1.4 billion while IAG NZ reported its GWP climbing 18.8% to over $2 billion. Despite being up against some hefty Australian-owned general insurance competition, Turnbull told interest.co.nz Tower believed it could be the “leading provider of insurance”.
