SGIO was an insurance company founded and based in Western Australia. Established in 1926 as the State Government Insurance Office by the Government of Western Australia, it provides business insurance. It is a subsidiary of Insurance Australia Group (IAG).
The company also previously offered personal insurance. In June 2022, IAG announced that SGIO will no longer offer personal insurance to customers, and will transfer new and existing customers to NRMA Insurance from December 2022.
History On 15 June 1926, the Government of Western Australia established the State Government Insurance Office (SGIO) to provide workers' compensation insurance to miners in the Kalgoorlie goldfields.Insurance of Miners Kalgoorlie Miner 5 June 1926 page 4History Timeline Insurance Commission of Western Australia In August 1992, the Lawrence Government announced the SGIO was to be sold.SGIO to be sold by a public share float Premier of Western Australia 4 August 1992 This was completed in March 1994 with the SGIO listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).Public SGIO float fully underwritten Premier of Western Australia 7 February 1994 In 1998 the NRMA and Wesfarmers both made takeover offers with the NRMA ultimately successful and the SGIO delisted from the ASX in January 1999.Wesfarmers announces cash takeover offer for SGIO Insurance Limited Wesfarmers 10 September 1998Wesfarmers withdraws SGIO offer Wesfarmers 22 October 1998Wesfarmers sells SGIO shareholding Wesfarmers 23 October 1998Advice by NRMA - Intention of Compulsory Acquisition SGIO 18 December 1998Removal from Official list - SGIO Insurance Limited Australian Securities Exchange 25 January 1999 In August 2000, it became part of the Insurance Australia Group when this was spun off from the NRMA.NRMA returns to insurance for HELP Sydney Morning Herald 23 March 2006
SGIO held a monopoly in its early days in workers compensation insurance which made this company a strong competitor. SGIO now provides both personal and commercial insurances and is one of Western Australia's largest general insurance companies.Harris, M & Lye, J 2010, ‘The Fiscal Consequences of Privatisation: Australian evidence on privatisation by public share float’, International Review of Applied Economics, vol. 15 (3), pp. 305-321 Subsequently, other forms of insurance were offered through SGIO.
In 2011, SGIO conducted the Reversing Visibility Index by testing 243 cars on their reversing cameras. With this test, they found that 14 percent scored a full five-star rating (the five-star rating indicated better reversing visibility than all other vehicles) with was higher than their previous testing in 2010. This testing was a result of previous research from SGIO that showed 65 percent of Western Australian drivers had a near miss while reversing. SGIO showed their support after this testing for reverse cameras as it showed an improvement in safety ratings. The company then called for manufacturers to continue the trend of including reverse cameras in new cars.
In June 2022, the Insurance Australia Group announced that SGIO will no longer offer personal insurance, and will begin transferring new and existing SGIO personal insurance customers to the NRMA Insurance brand starting in December 2022. Despite this, IAG will continue to offer business insurance under the SGIO brand.
Sponsorships SGIO was a major sponsor of the West Coast Eagles from 1988 until 2018. It became the West Coast Eagles' naming rights sponsor in 2000.
In 2016, SGIO and the West Coast Eagles started up a campaign called “SGIO Surprisingly Good Goals” to help raise money for charities that help the community in Western Australia. The campaign raised money by having SGIO donate $200 per West Coast goal. They also were able to engage the fans into this campaign event by having them submit their own videos of their “good goals” and donated $20 to charity per submission. By the end of the season SGIO and the West Coast Eagles reached their goal of $100,000, and with this money raised they were able to donate to three different charities in Western Australia: Reconciliation WA, Lifeline WA and the Motor Neurone Disease Association of WA.
See also Insurance Commission of Western Australia, another state-owned insurer in Western Australia.
References
External links Official SGIO Website