A Risk Hub perspective
Not many insurance companies would be game enough to launch into the Australian market with a deliberate decision to cover only a limited segment of clients (professionals: doctors, lawyers, engineers, dentists and the like) and nobody else. It’s a narrow target in a market that’s already pretty niche.
This selectivity carries across to their distribution strategy too, though it’s evolved over time. There’s still an accreditation process for advisers, but the intent behind it has always been less about exclusivity and more about making sure advisers properly understand PPS Mutual’s unique offering before they discuss it with clients. That process has simplified over the years (from a full-day commitment to around two hours), reflecting a deliberate move to make it accessible rather than a hurdle. For advisers who go through it, the upside is a genuinely differentiated proposition to advise on and the kind of direct access to the PPS Mutual team that doesn’t usually come with a larger distribution model.
We’ve said goodbye to a lot more insurance brands in recent years than we’ve said hello to, and with a model this narrow, you’d be forgiven for wondering how long any new entrant would last.
Ten years on, that double selectivity (narrow on who they cover, narrow on who can advise on it) seems to have worked out pretty well. They’re still here, growing, and the numbers tell a decent story:
- 17,336 members and $131m in in-force premiums (as at 30 April 2026)
- Lapse rate of 5.4% against an industry average of 14.3% (Source: NMG Report, rolling 12 months to December 2025)
- $76m in claims paid across the decade, with life and TPD acceptance at 100%
- Profit-Share pool at $15m, with around $4m allocated to members in FY2024-25
- Named Best Retail Life Insurer by Adviser Ratings three years running (2023, 2024, 2025)
That last one is harder to argue with than a stat from your own press release.
More on the 10-year story via Adviser Voice and Riskinfo.
A Changing of the Guard
Alongside the milestone, there’s been a change in distribution leadership, with Dan Waller stepping into the role of Head of Distribution in late 2025, succeeding Brian Pillemer.
I caught up with Dan at the recent Riskinfocus sessions and got a sense of his thinking as he takes on the role.
From that conversation, my read is this: Dan’s focus is on being closer to practices and building on the momentum PPS has built. Worth noting that PPS has already taken steps to broaden its reach, with an easing of the professional designation requirements a while back that expanded the target clientele somewhat. The sense I got from Dan is that there’s more of that thinking ahead, with education, support, and what PPS can bring to practices all very much on the agenda. The mutual model gives PPS a different kind of conversation to have with both advisers and clients, and making sure practices actually feel that difference in the day-to-day relationship seems to be a genuine priority.
On Riskinfocus: It’s a well-run event from the Riskinfo team that travels the country each year, focused on risk advice and practice support. If you haven’t made it along yet, it’s worth getting yourself there.
The Award: and What’s Coming Next
Also at Riskinfocus this year, Mark Everingham took to the stage representing his practice, Personal Risk Professionals (PRP), the inaugural winner of the PPS Mutual Risk Practice of the Year Award, which I had the privilege of helping to judge.
It was a good moment. Seeing the award translate into a genuine industry platform for the winner is exactly what the award is supposed to do.
For 2027, nominations will open later this year. Good on PPS Mutual for supporting risk practices in this way. It’s a constructive way for them to recognise advice practices who advocate for risk, at a time when the sector still operates under significant commercial and regulatory pressure. If you’re a risk-focused practice and haven’t looked at it before, it’s worth keeping an eye on when nominations open. More details to come as the timeline firms up.
On the Risk Hub Partnership
PPS Mutual has been a supporting partner of Risk Hub since day one, and that support is a big part of what makes it possible to keep the tools, resources, and content on Risk Hub free for the adviser community. That’s worth acknowledging as PPS Mutual reaches its 10-year milestone in Australia.
Good on them for a decade well done.
Marc Fabris
Risk Hub
A note on this article: Some of the figures above were provided by my good friends at PPS Mutual or otherwise sourced from their published materials. This article reflects my own view.
