Fewer insurance intermediaries in Australia are placing business with unauthorised foreign insurers (UFIs), according to new half-year figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). The number of intermediaries recorded as UFI users fell over three consecutive half-years, even as total premium invoiced by intermediaries stayed within a comparatively narrow band. APRA publishes statistics on intermediated general insurance placed with APRA-authorised general insurers, Lloyd’s underwriters and unauthorised foreign insurers, on a bi-annual basis.
Fewer intermediaries touching offshore cover
APRA’s tables show a steady decline in the number of intermediaries recorded as placing business with UFIs across three consecutive releases. In the June 2025 half, APRA recorded the Number that placed business with unauthorised foreign insurers 97; by the December 2025 half, that had fallen to the Number that placed business with unauthorised foreign insurers 93; and in the June 2026 half it fell further still, to the Number that placed business with unauthorised foreign insurers 77.
In the December 2025 half, APRA recorded the Business placed with unauthorised foreign insurers 1109; in the June 2026 half, that figure was the Business placed with unauthorised foreign insurers 1160 — even as the number of individual intermediaries placing that business fell.
UFIs sit outside Australia’s prudential perimeter. UFIs are not regulated by APRA nor required to comply with APRA’s general insurance prudential requirements. Purchasers of insurance from UFIs do not have the protection provided by the Australian regulatory system. The category exists because UFIs are foreign domiciled insurers that are permitted to carry on insurance business in Australia only under limited exemption arrangements established under the Financial Sector Legislation Amendment (Discretionary Mutual Funds and Direct Offshore Foreign Insurers) Act 2007, and can write cover through Australian intermediaries under those exemptions.
For readers who follow APRA’s prudential settings for insurers, InsuraBeat has separate coverage of APRA’s overhaul of its reinsurance approval framework.
Premium volumes hold broadly steady
Outside the UFI channel, overall premium flows through intermediaries were little changed across the same half-years. According to the underlying dataset APRA released alongside the statistics, the Total premium invoiced 21593 in the June 2025 half; the Total premium invoiced 22974 in the December 2025 half; and the Total premium invoiced 21869 in the June 2026 half. Of the June 2026 total, APRA recorded the Business placed with APRA-authorised general insurers 18209, the Business placed with Lloyd’s underwriters 2500, and the Business placed with unauthorised foreign insurers 1160.
APRA’s release also situates the intermediated channel against premium written directly by APRA-authorised general insurers. For direct business — total business written by APRA-authorised general insurers, excluding Lloyd’s — APRA recorded the Gross written premium – direct business 35572.7 in the June 2025 half and the Gross written premium – direct business 35699.1 in the December 2025 half.
| Metric | Jun 2025 | Dec 2025 | Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intermediaries placing business with UFIs | unauthorised foreign insurers 97 | unauthorised foreign insurers 93 | unauthorised foreign insurers 77 |
| Total premium invoiced (A$m) | premium invoiced 21593 | premium invoiced 22974 | premium invoiced 21869 |
Underwriter engagement and inactive intermediaries
The total population of registered intermediaries also declined slightly between the two most recent halves. APRA recorded the Total number of intermediaries 1755 for the December 2025 half, against the Total number of intermediaries 1735 for the June 2026 half. Fewer of them placed business with an underwriter of any kind: the Number that placed business with an underwriter 651 did so in the December 2025 half, compared with the Number that placed business with an underwriter 604 in the June 2026 half.
Separately, APRA recorded the Number that placed business only through other Australian intermediaries 24 for the June 2026 half — intermediaries that reached the market only through other Australian intermediaries, rather than directly with an underwriter. The number recorded as placing no business at all rose over the same two halves, from the Number of intermediaries that placed no business 1075 in the December 2025 half to the Number of intermediaries that placed no business 1107 in the June 2026 half.
How APRA collects and defines this data
Data from general insurance intermediaries are collected by APRA as the agent of ASIC under the Corporations Act 2001.
For readers who follow how APRA structures oversight of the insurers it does regulate, InsuraBeat has separate coverage of APRA’s planned governance reset for insurers.
What happens next
APRA publishes statistics on intermediated general insurance placed with APRA-authorised general insurers, Lloyd’s underwriters and unauthorised foreign insurers, on a bi-annual basis, via its publication page for the series. The next release is scheduled for March 2027 (December 2026 edition), which will cover the second half of 2026 and add a fourth data point to this UFI-intermediary trend.
