Nick Hawkins

Nick Hawkins became CEO of Insurance Australia Group (IAG) in November 2021, having served as CFO since 2017. IAG is Australia and New Zealand's largest general insurer, providing home, motor, commercial, and specialty insurance under brands including NRMA Insurance, CGU, WFI, and NZI. The company insures approximately one in three homes in Australia and has dominant market positions in most personal and commercial lines. Hawkins faces the defining challenge for Australian general insurance: climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of natural catastrophes — bushfires, floods, cyclones, and hailstorms — that drive claims costs. IAG has responded with a combination of significant premium increases (hardening the pricing cycle), improved catastrophe modeling, enhanced reinsurance protection, and selective risk appetite adjustments in the most exposed regions. These pricing actions have materially improved IAG's underlying insurance margins. Hawkins' execution on pricing adequacy, claims cost management, catastrophe reinsurance program design, and technology investment to improve customer experience and operational efficiency are the primary drivers of IAG's stock price. The structural tailwind of a hardening premium cycle and IAG's market leadership position provide a favorable backdrop, while the increasing unpredictability of climate-related catastrophe losses remains the primary risk factor.