IAG’s intermediated brands CEO Jarrod Hill has strongly rejected suggestions the group is weighing a sale of the division he runs. Hill, who leads CGU and WFI, was responding to a report claiming investment bank Barrenjoey may be positioning itself for a role in a potential sale process for IAG’s intermediated insurance business.
“Nick Hawkins, our Group CEO, has said that’s not the case,” said Hill to IB. “The connection to Barrenjoey — that is market gossip and there’s no substance to that.”
Hill said this rumour flies in the face of IAG’s investment in its intermediated division.
“This is a multi-year program of work — and we’re re-platforming our insurance business,” he said. “The level of investment that’s being put into this division goes counter-cyclical to some of those rumours that seem to leak out there.”
According to a report this week in S&P Capital IQ, sources believe investment bank Barrenjoey is positioning itself for a potential role in a sale process involving IAG’s intermediated insurance business. The division, largely associated with the CGU brand, generates more than $4.5 billion in gross written premium annually and delivered more t than $320 million in insurance profit, making it one of IAG’s larger operating segments by premium volume.
Any sale would involve divesting a business representing roughly a quarter of IAG’s total gross written premium, based on the group’s reported annual premium base of about $17 billion.
The market rumour follows IAG’s decision last year to separate the intermediated unit from the rest of the group, a step that can make a business easier to divest.
In October 2025, the Federal Court approved the transfer of about 920,000 commercial policies within the division to CGU Australia, a move seen as a significant internal restructure.
Sources have also pointed to the intermediated division’s comparatively lower earnings margins versus other parts of IAG, arguing that lifting earnings would likely require an expansion of its broker network.
