Private Executive

Insurance moves: Acenda Life, Arch, PPS. Arch promotes its northern casualty manager to lead the book, Acenda swaps its commercial and people chiefs, and PPS Mutual adds an NSW adviser-facing manager 14 Oct 2026 Arch Insurance Australia has promoted a former Chubb casualty leader with broking experience to run its retail casualty book, Acenda Life has moved its people chief into the chief commercial officer role as its integration enters a new phase, and PPS Mutual has hired an adviser-facing business development manager for New South Wales. Arch Insurance Australia promotes Whitlock to casualty head. Arch Insurance Australia has promoted Andrew Whitlock (pictured, left) to head of casualty, effective immediately, nine months after he joined as northern region casualty underwriting manager from Chubb. The insurer announced the move on October 6. Whitlock is responsible for the casualty team, underwriting strategy and growth of Arch's retail casualty portfolio across Australia. The portfolio spans primary and excess liability placements across a broad risk appetite, with a core focus on products-led risks including manufacturing, wholesale, retail, importing and exporting. Based in Sydney, he reports to managing director Dominic Brannigan and works closely with James Mecham, deputy chief underwriting officer for long tail lines and head of general casualty at Arch Insurance International. His appointment brings a broking background to the job. In the northern region, Whitlock ran underwriting and broker relationships across New South Wales, the ACT and Queensland, Insurance Business reported when he joined. Before Arch he was a casualty segment leader in Chubb's major accounts division in Australia, and he previously held broking roles at Brown & Brown in London. Brannigan said Whitlock's contribution to the northern region's growth had been significant, and that the business expects him to strengthen its casualty offering across Australia while continuing to deliver strong support to brokers. Mecham said the appointment strengthens alignment between Arch's Australian retail operations and its wholesale team in the London Market, and described casualty as a core line of business for the group. Acenda Life names chief commercial officer and people chief. Acenda Life has appointed Ross Miller (pictured, centre) as chief commercial officer, responsible for its Australian commercial teams across insurance, wealth and retirement solutions. Sean McCormack is stepping down from the role. The announcement came on October 12. Miller joined Acenda in February as group chief people and culture officer after more than 25 years at Westpac Group. His roles there included chief customer and engagement officer for consumer and business banking, general manager of St. George Bank, and group general manager of human resources for Westpac's Australian financial services businesses. In the customer and engagement role he led channel and distribution delivery across branch, virtual, home lending, Indigenous banking, and small business and SME operations serving more than 10 million customers. Lisa Green succeeds him as group chief people and culture officer, effective immediately. She has more than 30 years of human resources experience across Australia and the United States, including senior roles at Citigroup and J.P. Morgan in Sydney and New York, group executive of human resources at ASX Limited and, most recently, chief people and culture officer at oOh!media. McCormack originally joined MLC Life Insurance in 2009 and rejoined Acenda Life in 2025 to lead the commercial division through the early stages of the integration of Acenda Life and Resolution Life Australasia. Group chief executive Chris de Bruin said McCormack had led the team to important market wins, supported the integration of its people and helped establish the cultural foundations of the Melbourne office. The Acenda Group was formed in October 2025 after Nippon Life's global acquisition of Resolution Life Group. It brings together Acenda Life, Resolution Life Australasia and Asteron Life New Zealand and supports more than two million customers across Australia and New Zealand. De Bruin said the group is "making strong progress towards a simpler, digitally enabled operating model" almost a year into its Australian integration, and that the appointments bring together the commercial, customer and people capabilities for its next phase while keeping disciplined execution for customers, advisers and partners. He pointed to Miller's understanding of customer and distribution operations as important as the group sharpens its commercial strategy. The release gives no detail on any changes to adviser-facing teams or products. PPS Mutual adds New South Wales business development manager. PPS Mutual has appointed Maria Repac (pictured, right) as business development manager for New South Wales, reporting to Sabrina Sequeira-Walmsley, state manager for New South Wales and the ACT. The insurer announced the hire on October 7. Repac will help expand its accredited adviser network across the state by deepening existing partnerships and building relationships with new advisers. Sequeira-Walmsley said the appointment reflects growing adviser demand in the state, with advisers seeing more complex needs from professional clients and wanting a partner who understands that market. She said Repac's experience across underwriting, claims and operations gives her a practical understanding of how to support advisers. Repac has more than two decades of experience across life insurance and financial services. She joins from MetLife Australia, where she began in the underwriting team before moving into business development in 2022 as a business development consultant, working with advisers to grow their risk businesses and reconnect with advisers who had previously engaged. Before MetLife she was operations manager at claims management software business ANCIS and an HR adviser at Munich Re. She also spent almost 14 years at Commonwealth Bank and CommInsure, including as a specialist claims support analyst on complex and long-term claims, and holds a Diploma of Financial Planning. Insurance Business reported in May that PPS Mutual appointed Hasib Qayumi as its New South Wales business development manager from May 4. The release does not say whether Repac's role is additional to that post or replaces it. PPS Mutual's life insurance products are sold exclusively through accredited independent financial advisers and designed for professional clients such as doctors, lawyers and accountants. The insurer said its annual lapse rate of 6.4% compares with an industry average of 14.3%, a comparison it sources to the NMG Retail Advice Channel Risk Distribution Monitor as of June 30, 2026, and that Adviser Ratings has named it Best Retail Life Insurer for three consecutive years. Insurance Business reported separately that its profit-share pool reached $19.6 million at the end of 2025-26.

Delorean seals $20m Westpac mandate for $62.1m Brickworks biomethane plant in Sydney. 14 October 2026 Business news subscription Concept design for Delorean Corporation's Horsley Park biomethane plant Check Loan Rates Perth-based bioenergy company Delorean Corporation (ASX: DEL) has signed a $20 million financing mandate with Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX: WBC) for its $62.1 million biomethane plant at Brickworks' Horsley Park site in Western Sydney, leaving $11.6 million still to find before a financial close deadline next month. The mandate, entered into through project company Horsley Park Bioenergy, covers proposed asset finance and trade facilities that will fund capital plant and equipment once binding documents are signed, which Delorean expects "within the coming weeks". "Entering into a financing agreement and mandate with one of Australia's leading banks, Westpac, for the NSW1 Horsley Park Bioenergy Project marks another significant milestone in Delorean's journey to establish renewable gas as a key component of Australia's future energy mix," says Delorean managing director Joe Oliver. "The agreement with Westpac demonstrates confidence in the strength of our project fundamentals, our long-term partnerships with Tier 1 customers, and our ability to deliver scalable commercial renewable gas infrastructure in Australia." Oliver says that, subject to financial close, the plant will become what he describes as "Australia's first industrial-scale bioenergy project to deliver renewable gas directly behind the meter for industrial manufacturing". Delorean, which says the terms are more favourable than the financing on its SA1 Salisbury project in South Australia, sees the mandate as establishing a relationship with a "second Big Four Australian bank", after it signed $14.5 million of loan facilities with National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) for SA1. Together with $30.5 million in government grants announced on 8 April, the Westpac money would cover $50.5 million, or about 81 per cent, of the project's estimated capital cost. The grants comprise $20 million from the NSW Government's Net Zero Manufacturing Initiative and $10.5 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) under its National Industrial Transformation Program. The remaining $11.6 million is expected to be sourced through equity. Delorean will own and operate the plant on land leased from brick manufacturer Brickworks Building Products, a wholly owned subsidiary of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company (ASX: SOL), next to the Horsley Park brick plant. Brickworks will take the biomethane from first gas until the 25-year lease ends. The plant will use anaerobic digestion, a biological process that breaks down organic waste to produce gas, and is designed to process 120,000 tonnes a year of source-separated organic waste, with approval for up to 150,000 tonnes. It is expected to produce about 253,000GJ of biomethane a year, piped directly to the brick plant behind the meter rather than through the wider gas network. Delorean says that will cut the brick plant's natural gas use by around 50 per cent and the site's overall Scope 1 emissions by about 38 per cent. The project is expected to earn gate fees for accepting waste, plus income from renewable gas and Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs), with potential upside from NSW Renewable Fuel Certificates and liquid fertiliser. In April, Delorean estimated the project would generate more than $13 million in revenue a year, before CPI, over its minimum 25-year life. "Reliable and affordable gas remains critical to Australian manufacturing, and biomethane projects like this provide an important pathway to diversify energy supply and support industry," Brickworks Building Products CEO Mark Ellenor said at the time. Delorean estimates 21 months of construction to completion of commissioning in 2028, with first waste revenue and first gas within about 20 months, compared with the 18 months flagged in April. Co-founded by executive chair Hamish Jolly and Oliver, Delorean listed on the ASX in 2021 through a $14 million initial public offering at 20c a share. The founders hold 37.4 per cent of the company. Read Travel Guides It is shifting from building bioenergy plants for third parties to owning and operating its own, and reported FY26 revenue of $9.3 million and EBITDA of $1 million. Its SA1 Salisbury plant, which will sell renewable gas to Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) and biogenic carbon dioxide to Supagas, is 85 per cent complete, with first revenues expected this calendar year. Delorean describes a five-project portfolio carrying $214 million in total capex, and says it is targeting unlevered project internal rates of return of 15 per cent or more. Join thousands of founders, investors and executives who read Business News Australia every morning. No paid subscriptions, just free. Unsubscribe anytime. Partner Content

Australian Museum renews agreement with Westpac for 200th anniversary. October 12, 2026 12:04 Museum operator Australian Museum has renewed its partnership with Westpac for another 10 years. The agreement coincides with the museum's upcoming 200th anniversary in 2027. The announcement: The 10-year renewal sees Westpac as Principal Partner of AM200 and continue its longstanding support of the AM and Westpac Long Gallery. Sydney, Monday 12 October 2026: The Australian Museum (AM) and Westpac have renewed their longstanding partnership for a further 10 years, with Australia's first bank continuing as Principal Partner of the AM along with AM200, marking 200 years of Australia's first museum. The renewed partnership builds on a decade of support from Westpac and will see the organisation retain its naming rights to the Westpac Long Gallery, while supporting the delivery of AM200 and beginning a new chapter in its longstanding relationship with the Museum. A major focus of Westpac's continued support will be the Birds of Australia gallery on the second floor of the Westpac Long Gallery, which is currently being reimagined with new scientific research, First Nations perspectives, immersive storytelling and improved accessibility. The partnership will also support a refresh of Treasures Illuminated, the interactive projection bringing objects and stories from the Museum's collection to life. Across 2027, the nation's first museum will mark its 200th anniversary with a year-long program of blockbuster exhibitions, major public events, talks, performances, after-hours experiences and family activities celebrating 200 years of curiosity, discovery and the people, stories and ideas that have shaped how we see the world. Australian Museum Director and CEO Kim McKay AO said the renewed partnership continued a significant relationship between two of Australia's foundation institutions. "Westpac has been part of an important chapter in the Australian Museum's history, and we are delighted to have their support continue as we prepare to mark our own 200th anniversary," Ms McKay said. "From the restoration of the Westpac Long Gallery to the experiences that have brought this remarkable space to life, Westpac's support has helped us share our collections and stories with millions of visitors. "There is a wonderful symmetry in a partnership that began around Westpac's own bicentenary, now continuing into ours. As we celebrate 200 years of the Australian Museum, we look forward to building on that legacy together and creating new experiences for the generations that follow." Carolyn McCann, Westpac Chief Executive, Consumer said "There's something special about Australia's first bank supporting Australia's first museum as it celebrates 200 years. "Our organisations have played different roles in the nation's history, but we share a commitment to helping Australians understand where we've come from and imagine what comes next. "We're proud to continue to expand our support of the Australian Museum, helping create experiences that inspire curiosity, create opportunities for learning and help connect future generations with Australia's rich cultural and scientific heritage" Westpac first became the Australian Museum's Principal Partner in 2015, providing support for the restoration of the historic Long Gallery and the creation of 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum, which opened in the newly named Westpac Long Gallery in 2017. More than seven million people have visited the AM since the gallery opened. The 10-year partnership will run throughout the Australian Museum's bicentenary celebrations and continue Westpac's support of the Museum and Westpac Long Gallery into its third century. Have your say. Or comment anonymously Your comment will be marked as unverified