Suncorp sees a chance to grow further in the commercial space following the launch of Vero Specialty Lines in 2024, despite the recent loss of a key contract.

“I think Vero Specialty Lines is a huge opportunity for us,” CEO Steve Johnston said this morning in an investor update.

“It’s effectively sort of restructuring the commercial market in so much as [we are] building underwriting agency capability within the manufacturing layer of our business, and it will allow us over time to safely address market segments that we’ve historically ... avoided or moved out of or remediated.

“Strata being one, maybe farmers and other areas … there’s a very big opportunity for us to grow organically in that market.”

Suncorp’s commercial business has a 9% market share, and personal injury has 27%.

The commercial and personal injury division made an underwriting profit of $486 million in FY26, up 46.4% on 2024-25, and gross written premium totalled $4.5 billion.

The insurer said this morning it has lost a commercial contract worth $125 million in GWP and accounting for 0.8% of overall GWP.

Mr Johnston said: “In that environment, we’ll put our best foot forward. We consistently challenge ourselves around making sure we’re putting our best proposition into the market from both a price and service perspective, but we won’t go beyond a certain point.

“We’ve been around long enough and we’ve seen enough examples where in these cycles, competition takes hold, discipline goes out the back door, and when cycles turn, companies that are remediating are on the back foot, and we don’t want to be in that position.

“So we will be disciplined in that portfolio.”

The loss of the contract contributed to Suncorp revising its FY27 GWP growth outlook to 3% from 3%-5% previously.

“We believe our competitive advantages position us strongly for the opportunities ahead,” Mr Johnston said.

“Our brands, technology, scale, and enhanced resilience give us confidence in our ability to create more contemporary products, deliver more personalised customer experiences, increase seamless digital self-service and use AI at scale to transform customer and claims journeys.”