Profile
Dinesh Murali Dinesh Murali is the chief executive and managing director of Kiwi underwriter Delta Insurance NZ. Covernote spoke to Dinesh about his career so far, his views on the broker channel, and expectations for the market in H2.
Tell us about your career so far and how long you’ve been in the insurance market? I’ve been in the insurance business – wholly in New Zealand - for around 15 years. I actually got into the game by accident: I was keen for a career in the financial area as a fund manager or something similar but couldn’t get a start and ended up working as an underwriting assistant. When I first applied for the job, I didn’t really know what underwriting was, but I loved the whole concept of it once I got into it and it’s been a great journey since. I find the industry really vibrant, challenging and rewarding, and the people involved – colleagues, partners, and clients – make it a pleasure to come to work each day. It’s a huge honour too, to now be at the helm of Delta’s NZ operations. What are the main challenges in the NZ insurance sector in 2021? Unquestionably, COVID-19 has recoloured the global insurance industry and society in general and NZ is no different. The regulatory changes in March this year have also challenged the industry to work harder to get the best outcomes for our customers and refine the system to be more transparent, reliable, and strong – which is a great thing. COVID-19 did see some international insurers pulling out of some sectors of the
