Comsure has been an aggressive competitor in the Queensland insurance market since 1974. The company was formed by Queensland businessmen who had earlier successfully floated the Australian Community Insurance Company Ltd (ACI) on the Australian Stock Exchange. ACI was a conservative insurer and, rather than reject risks which did not meet its underwriting criteria, the business was directed to Comsure for placement with other insurers.
ACI was eventually sold to the large Dutch insurer, National Nederlanden, which operated in the Australian market as ANIC. (It later made a successful takeover of Mercantile Mutual.)
The ANIC/Comsure structure was no longer a 'fit' within ANIC, so a management buy out by Executive Director Terry Hamill was completed in 1982. Comsure prospered in the 1990s economic growth, which was particularly strong in Queensland.
The mid-1990s saw the emergence of cluster groups which form the majority of insurance brokers that are not part of multi-national companies. That influenced the Hamill Group to sell 49% to ING in 1995, retaining a controlling interest. The partnership proved successful with ING providing expertise in training, IT and management skills. ING later formed the general insurance network Austbrokers.
As part of the Hamill Group succession plan, in 2000 Stephen Hamill purchased a shareholding in Comsure and is now Managing Director.
Comsure was voted Regional Broker of the Year for Queensland by the National Insurance Brokers Association in 1991 and 2000.
In 2006, ING took a strategic decision that it no longer wanted to be involved in the Australian general insurance market and successfully floated the Austbrokers network on the Australian Stock Exchange in November that year (ASX code: AUB).
AUB represents 135 partner businesses across more than 425 locations in Australasia.
On 1 July 2020, Comsure announced a merger with two other south-east Queensland-based brokerages, Bestmark and Citycover, to form Austbrokers Comsure.
That more than doubled Comsure’s size, making it the largest Queensland brokerage in the Austbrokers network.
Ian Garbutt, a highly experienced insurance professional who ran Bestmark for two years, took on a new role as CEO of Austbrokers Comsure.