Built in Brisbane, after the summers
Wattle exists because two catastrophe seasons in three years made the old approach untenable. Repricing hazard prices people out. Reducing it keeps them in.
Four things we decided at the start
Reduce the risk before repricing it
Repricing a hazard is easy and it makes properties uninsurable. Paying to reduce the hazard is harder and it keeps them in the market. We picked the second one and built a whole product around it.
Write it so it can be read once
Every excess, sub-limit and waiting period that applies to you sits on one page of your certificate in figures. Nothing important on a Wattle document is set smaller than the thing next to it.
Ring before the letter
When a renewal moves by more than ten per cent, a person rings and explains which of the four things moved. Finding out from an invoice is how people come to hate insurers.
Say no out loud
We do not cover drought. We do not write short-stay letting. We will tell you when the compulsory scheme in your state already does the thing you are asking us to price.
Fifty one people, one floor, one city
Underwriting, claims, risk and the phones all sit on the same floor on Edward Street. That is deliberate: an underwriter who can hear the claims team is a better underwriter.
We are not a call centre in front of a offshore back office. When you ring 1300 928 853 between eight and seven on a weekday, you are speaking to somebody in the building, and they can see the same screen the assessor can.
- Ngaire Tallis Head of Property Risk Twenty two years in catastrophe modelling, six of them at a reinsurer. Wrote the first version of the risk report on a kitchen table in Yeronga.
- Josh Meagher Claims Assessment Lead Loss adjuster before he was an insurer. Has assessed after every major Queensland event since 2011 and has strong opinions about whirlybirds.
- Priya Kandiah Product Manager, Home Came from consumer advocacy. Her job here is to argue with underwriting about wording, and she usually wins.
- Ellis Warragul Head of Underwriting Prices the book. Believes a premium nobody can explain is a premium nobody should pay.
How we are licensed and held to account
- Australian Financial Services Licence
- AFSL 244 019, held by Wattle General Insurance Pty Ltd, ABN 61 214 908 337. The licence sets what we are allowed to advise on, deal in and issue, and ASIC supervises it.
- General Insurance Code of Practice
- We subscribe to it. It sets the timeframes for claims decisions, the standards for how we deal with people in financial hardship or experiencing family violence, and the rules for appointing and supervising investigators and repairers. It is monitored by an independent body that can sanction us.
- Australian Financial Complaints Authority
- We are a member. If our internal complaints team cannot resolve something in thirty days, you can take it to AFCA at no cost. AFCA is independent of us and its determinations are binding on us but not on you.
- General advice only
- Wattle provides general advice. We do not consider your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider the PDS and the TMD before deciding, and get personal advice from a licensed adviser if you need it.
- Privacy and complaints
- We handle personal information under the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles. Read the privacy policy, or start a complaint from the contact page.
Start with the report, not the quote
A property risk report on your address, free, whether or not you ever buy a policy from us. It is the most useful thing we make.