Australia: Zurich scouts for acquisitions

One of the world's biggest corporate insurers, Zurich Insurance Group, has opened to the door to potentially buying rivals in Australia as it hunts for new growth avenues in an increasingly competitive insurance market.

Mike Kerner, chief executive of general insurance for Zurich, said the company continues to comb the insurance market globally for potential acquisitions, and Australia was not an exception to the rule. 

"We have the capital and we have the ability to do it. But we need those opportunities to make sense from a financial perspective," said Kerner.

"We take a look from a Zurich perspective at M&A opportunities really around the world. We are interested in growth and growth comes from organic opportunities and inorganic opportunities," he said.