Zilla Efrat
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Freelance financial journalist and copy writer. The pen is mightier than the sword.
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Articles by Zilla Efrat
A practical guide to AI fluency for emerging directors
If a boardroom discussion on artificial intelligence (AI) seems overwhelming, don’t panic. There are ways to boost your AI fluency so that you can effectively contribute to sound AI decisions. Katherine Boiciuc GAICD, EY Oceania Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, says AI fluency isn’t technical literacy. “Technical literacy is understanding how an AI model is built. Fluency is knowing what ‘good’ looks like and being able to tell when you’re not getting it.
What effective reverse mentoring looks like in the boardroom
Reaping the benefits of reverse mentoring With the AICD’s 2025 Board Diversity Index revealing that the average director age on the ASX 300 has been stuck at 61 for years, even though 84.5% of directors have served under 10 years, reverse mentoring is seen as a way of rejuvenating boardroom thinking. Nyanjom explains that boards are necessarily distanced from the day-to-day experiences of employees, customers and communities. “Reverse mentoring can shorten that distance.
Beyond the CV: what chairs look for in first-time directors
“The question all chairs are interested in is the candidate’s ability to elevate collective decision making, or put more forcefully, whether the candidate will add value to the boardroom or destroy the boardroom,” says Gaines. Rick Crabb FAICD, an experienced mining industry director, says boards are also looking for range – the ability to think broadly across many areas, while still drawing on individual strengths.
The hidden workload of non-executive directors
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY New non-executive directors are often unprepared for the hidden workload that comes with a first board appointment. Beyond formal meetings, the role involves analysing complex board papers, understanding legacy decisions, navigating board dynamics and staying across emerging risks. Preparation, continuous learning and clear conversations about expectations can reduce the shock.
Managing ethical dilemmas in the boardroom: Do's and don’ts
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Board decisions often sit in the grey, balancing whistleblower protections, fairness to individuals and reputational risks. Strong governance relies on agreed principles – legal duties, ethical responsibilities and accountability to stakeholders – not purely individual morality. Ethical decisions depend on aligned values, open debate, strong leadership and, sometimes, knowing when stepping away from the board is the most appropriate choice. Anonymous whistleblowers.
From executive to director: The three mindset shifts you must make to succeed
Joining a state public sector board lets directors apply their expertise for the public good. But seats are limited, selection is opaque and boards vary widely in purpose, independence and governance responsibilities. For many first-time non-executive directors (NEDs), the challenge is learning when to speak up and when to step back.
MHIA’s Ben McInnes wins ANZIIF Young Professional of the Year
The accolades keep coming for Ben McInnes, the 2025 winner of ANZIIF’s Young Insurance Professional of the Year. In addition to being named the Caravan Industry Association of Australia’s Future Leader of the Year in 2024, he was appointed managing director of MHIA Insurance in 2021, aged just 30.
Practical steps for directors on how to manage cybersecurity breaches
The message from cybersecurity experts is that breaches are no longer just an IT issue, with boards and management increasingly accountable for them. Nigel Phair GAICD, a professor in the Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity at Monash University, thinks cybersecurity risk should be elevated from an operational or technical level to that of a strategic risk. “It needs to be integrated into all facets of board governance, risk and strategy discussions,” he says.
What to know before joining a board
What should directors consider before joining a board? We ask four experienced directors to share their must-do tips. Elizabeth Jameson AM FAICD Chair of Endeavour Foundation and director of the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health. Her directorships have included boards at more than 25 organisations. What has been the most useful source of information in your decision-making? Meeting the company secretary. That’s often overlooked by directors doing due diligence.
When should directors seek legal advice?
Hindsight is a beautiful thing. The corporate world is likely littered with directors who regret not seeking independent legal advice. But when is the right time to do so? “To use the favourite words of many lawyers, it depends,” says Ian Robertson AO FAICD, partner and chair of Holding Redlich. “There are some obvious situations. One is when there are suggestions of a conflict of interest.
Cat Bonds and ILS gain momentum in APAC as Reinsurers seek flexible capital
Ask an Expert: What are key priorities for insurers facing escalating catastrophe losses? In this edition of Ask an Expert, Eileen Potter, VP, Insurance, Smart Communications explores key pr
Strata Insurance under scrutiny: time to close the transparency gap
Strata insurance in Australia and New Zealand is facing a crisis of confidence. While recent reforms have taken steps toward greater transparency, industry insiders, regulators, and consumer groups say it's not enough.
DEEP DIVE: Progress and pitfalls as New Zealand insurers navigate CoFI
ReACT - Regulation and the law, what you need to know now General Insurance, Claims, Insurance Broking, Life and Retirement Income ReACT - Regulation and the law, what you need to know now General Insurance, Claims, Insurance Broking, Life and Retirement Income
Managing psychosocial risk under increasing governance regulation
In a time of political change, navigating uncertainty while maintaining your climate action strategy is vital, say Pru Bennett GAICD and Rory Macpherson from business advisory Brunswick Group. Understanding psychosocial risks, or the elements that create a risk of psychological harm in the workplace, is the new frontier of work health and safety (WHS) and there’s no quick fix in managing them, says Tony Morris, a director of SafeTM.
DEEP DIVE - What will it take to rebuild consumer trust?
Reversing the insurance industry's negative reputation Customer misconceptions, reinforced by negative media coverage, exist across all areas of insurance.
Brokers improve Code of Practice reporting, but more needed
ANZIIF is the leading membership, training and professional development organisation for the insurance and finance industry in the Asia-Pacific region. We partner with a broad range of organisations and government to provide services that support professional excellence. We help enhance standards and improve community understanding of insurance and finance.
More chief risk officer roles needed in Asia, expert says
Andrew Chan, Senior Manager, Risk & Opportunity at CLP Power Hong believes that risk managers should position themselves as risk leaders and elevate risk-related conversations to the C-suite level. Chan, who has also held key global risk and insurance roles at Hong Kong Shanghai Hotels, Dairy Farm Group and PCCW, is a speaker at the 2024 Global Programmes Asia conference, to be held in Singapore on 28 November 2024.
Dato’ Tan Kian Beng is ANZIIF’s new Ambassador to Malaysia
With more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, and a highly respected long-time member of ANZIIF, Dato' Tan Kian Beng, KLHO Regional Manager at Generali Malaysia is a worthy recipient of the role of ANZIIF Ambassador for Malaysia. “I am truly honoured and excited to be appointed as an ANZIIF Ambassador,” says Tan, who became an ANZIIF Fellow in 2023.
The power of corporate retreats in strengthening culture
These experts explain how corporate retreats target company culture, prioritising team unity, revitalising communication and sharpening decision-making abilities. According to Makinex chair Anthony Moss GAICD, corporate retreats are a tool to help boards and management gain new perspectives and thus make better decisions. Moss is also founder and chair of the CEO Advisory Board, the Executive Leaders Group, and founder and director of strategy consultancy Lead Your Industry.
Twin disasters changed the risk narrative in New Zealand
New Zealand’s insurers have learned some lessons and become more proactive following the twin disasters of the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023. Tim Grafton, an independent director, consultant, and CEO of the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) from 2012 to April 2024, says these events changed the narrative for New Zealand risk. Before the events, he says flood events were localised with insurance losses seldom, if ever, triggering reinsurance support.
How Bunnings is creating an age-inclusive organisational culture
As Australia’s life expectancy rates increase, employers will need to design work experiences that consider the needs of older workers. Here’s how Australian retail store Bunnings is doing just that. Changes to the demographic make-up of your organisation can have profound impacts on organisational culture – both in a positive and negative way, depending on whether you create the conditions that allow for cohesion.
Ryan Shaw GAICD on using ADF skills in the boardroom
Ryan Shaw GAICD believes his years in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) have given him the skills and training to make a strong contribution in the boardroom. While the military shaped Ryan Shaw GAICD’s career, it was not his first choice. He grew up playing sports and aiming for professional leagues. “When I started to see my colleagues getting picked up for contracts with clubs, it became obvious I needed to make plans for my future, as I wasn’t going to play football for a living,” he says.
How directors can create psychologically safe environments
Recent changes to occupational health and safety regulations address the important issue of mental wellbeing in the workplace. Preventing psychological harm is an essential part of creating a healthy and safe workplace, thanks to changes to the work health and safety (WHS) regulations. The model WHS laws now include regulations on psychosocial hazards.
Drop the technology think and ask more questions
By Zilla Efrat Technology is useful but by itself, it’s a toy. It can only go so far and you have to be smart in how you use it. That’s the view of Jane Treadwell who has spent her career transforming the public sector’s use of technology. ‘Digital transformation is not about technology. It’s about your way of thinking, operating and innovating,’ she says.
Insurers urged to help combat financial abuse
General Insurance Code of Practice 2023 General Insurance, Claims, Insurance Broking General Insurance Code of Practice 2023 General Insurance, Claims, Insurance Broking
Quality control no guarantee against recalls, liability experts say
People often think bad things “won’t happen to me”, and for many food manufacturers, having confidence in their quality control processes means believing that a recall won’t happen to them. Yet, many well-known brands have had to recall products despite having strong teams of quality control personnel and state-of-the-art facilities.
AFCA puts insurers on notice as complaints hit record numbers
AFCA's David Locke on a 'resolution mindset' Throughout his career, head of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority David Locke has strived
Interview: Alan Duncan — What lies on the economic horizon? - Governance Institute of Australia
By Zilla Efrat Keep those hatches battened down! 2024 looks set to be as challenging as 2023 was. According to Professor Alan Duncan, the director of the Perth-based Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, many of the major economic and social themes that dominated the Australian landscape in 2023 will continue into 2024. Plus, boards and management can expect a few more challenges.
What does director and officer insurance cover?
Ensuring you have the appropriate D&O insurance in place is more important than ever, given the widening of risks directors face and their potential liabilities under Australian law. Directors and Officers (D&O) insurance covers the defence costs and settlements of proceedings against directors and officers, except when those claims result from fraud, dishonesty, wilful default or insolvency.
What directors need to know about workplace industrial relations reforms
Major legislative changes and their possible impact on organisations have placed workplace relations firmly back on the boardroom agenda. Brent Ferguson, head of national workplace relations policy at AI Group, describes recent changes to workplace IR laws as the most significant suite of amendments to Australia’s workplace relations laws in more than a decade. Passed via the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 on 2 December, they amend the Fair Work Act 2009.
Industry must comply with premium funding code by year's end
How brokers can break the news that premiums are increasing Inflation, natural catastrophes, cyber risk and broken supply chains have created an environment in
Insurance Council COO Kylie Macfarlane to speak at 2023 GI Breakfast
Not long after Andrew Hall took the reins at the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), he asked his former colleague Kylie MacFarlane to come on board to help establish a new strategy for the organisation. And the rest, as they say, is history. Macfarlane joined ICA as chief operating officer in January 2021 after an extensive career in banking and other financial services organisations. Her previous role was general manager of corporate responsibility at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).
Evolving risks of PV Solar Systems to be addressed at upcoming Liability Conference
Photovoltaic (PV) solar systems are becoming more popular than ever as we strive to convert sunlight into electricity to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. But these systems also carry an emerging risk. That’s according to Mark Cousins, a partner at Burgoynes, who specialises in investigating fires, explosions and other major incidents. Australia has the highest uptake of solar PV systems globally, with around 3.4 million rooftop installations in use, according to the Clean Energy Regulator.
Insurance Leader of the Year award bestowed upon industry excellence Win-Li Toh
Win-Li Toh, who picked up the gong for Insurance Leader of the Year at ANZIIF’s 19th Australian Insurance Industry Awards in August, has certainly come a long way from her early years as a child in Ipoh, then a small mining town in Malaysia. She enjoyed mathematics, good debate and problem solving at school and was later accepted into Oxford University to study mathematics.
Insuring success - ANZIIF's Awards night shines light on industry achievers
There was plenty of razzle and dazzle as the who’s who of Australia's insurance industry came out in style to attend ANZIIF’s 19th Australian Insurance Industry Awards at the Star Hotel in Sydney last week. MC for the evening, Narelda Jacobs, a Whadjuk Noongar journalist and presenter, kept proceedings moving quickly, engaging an audience of around 800 people.
Could European-style ESG labelling help the fight against greenwashing
KGAL Portfolio Manager Sustainable Infrastructure Carsten Haubner said Australia could learn lessons from European regulators who implemented a classification system with a sliding scale of sustainability. Growing demand from institutional and retail investors to ensure their money isn’t having a detrimental impact on the environment means there is a need to be certain of just how green their investments are, he says.
Stringent requirements to tackle modern slavery for 1,000s more Australian and New Zealand businesses
Thousands more Australian and New Zealand businesses face stringent obligations under new requirements aimed at tackling modern slavery. Professor John McMillan’s review of the first three years of the Modern Slavery Act, which was tabled in Parliament in May, makes 30 recommendations to combat modern slavery. Key amongst these is extending reporting obligations to entities that have an annual revenue of $50 million, lowering the threshold from $100 million.
Interview: Helen Rowell - Reflections on APRA’s role in lifting standards and facing challenges
After a distinguished 21 years with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), Deputy Chair Helen Rowell’s term will end in late June 2023. She delivered her final speech for APRA at Governance Institute’s NSW Governance and Risk Management Forum on 16 May 2023. We sat down with her after the event as she reflected on her career with the regulator. Helen Rowell has certainly had a front-row seat watching APRA, and its supervision evolve with the many challenges it has faced.
Emerging executive roles in the super fund industry
Looking to make your next move in the superannuation job market? Here’s a look at the new roles emerging or currently in hot demand. “As a general rule, as funds become larger, they also become more complex. So, it’s not surprising that larger funds are adding new roles to manage and respond to this complexity,” observes Graeme Miller, chief investment officer at Telstra Super.
Practices want new clients but at the expense of less profitable ones
Over one-third of advice practices actively plan to take on more clients but it will most likely be at the expense of less profitable ones. According to findings from the latest Adviser Ratings ‘Landscape Report’, these practices are clear on the type of clients they’ll recruit.
Iress ties up with HostPlus and IFS to offer scaled digital advice Original
HostPlus is the latest major institution to enhance its digital advice offering, partnering with Iress and Industry Fund Services to utilise the advice tech provider’s digital advice product. Over 12 million Australians have unmet advice needs according to Iress and the new tool will go some way to provide scalable and accessible advice Hostplus’ members.
‘This has given us a clear focus’: The value of practice benchmarking
Not enough financial planning firms embrace benchmarking even though many agree that it’s important. That’s the view of Rod Bertino, a principal of practice management consultancy Business Health, who notes that benchmarking is rarely seen as urgent and sometimes, other stuff gets in the way. Benchmarking, he says, allows planners to know how they compare with others.
‘It’s been a substantial change’: Pros and cons of partnerships
Many financial planners choose to work within a partnership structure to share the load of running a business. Troy Theobald’s three-partner financial planning practice RFS Advice is in Australia’s retirement capital, the Gold Coast, and caters to retirees, high net worth individuals and entrepreneurs. In the past six years, it has grown from $80 million to $500 million assets under management and from two to 19 staff with a self-licence.
Money talks but other incentives are louder
Some financial advice firms continue to overlook crucial pieces of the puzzle needed to attract and retain talent, a new report reveals. Prepared by Business Health just last month, the ‘Swimming at the deep end of the talent pool’ report breaks down the findings of a compensation survey of Australian advice firms in a bid to better understand what firms are offering their staff in terms of remuneration and benefits.
Member comms go up as returns slide Original
It’s no surprise that super fund members are worried. SuperRatings estimates the median balanced option generated a return of -0.4 per cent for February and expects further ups and downs in returns in coming months. This follows a fall of -4.8 per cent return in 2022, the first negative calendar year since 2011. According to UMR Strategic Research, the market swings last year caused a third of industry fund members to consider changing their super options.
‘Detraction from a great client experience’: Moving on from paper SOAs
While they still need to build up confidence with the technology, advisers are slowly starting to recognise the pros of video Statements of Advice. James Wortley first introduced video SOAs into his practice, Enlightened Financial Solutions in Mackay, in 2018 – a year after it obtained its own AFSL. “Like all new beginnings, we wanted to reinvent the financial advice process but concentrate on the client experience at every step,” he tells Professional Planner.
Jones avoiding ‘heroic claims’ red tape reduction will improve advice access
While red tape reduction will be a breath of fresh air for the advice profession, the Government doesn’t expect it will improve access to advice and instead it will be up to super funds to help give members more advice.
Corporate super funds face survival challenge
Standalone corporate super funds face significant challenges to remain viable, hit by dwindling in-flows due to falling membership. Last month, Commonwealth Bank Group Super announced it would merge with the Australian Retirement Trust (ART), following Australia Post super fund. APRA’s data shows that out of all the funds it regulates, corporate super funds shrunk the most between 2008 and 2018 – from 143 to 24 – and more consolidation is expected.
Generation now: it’s time to engage those wealthy clients’ kids
It was during a poolside conversation at an advice conference that CoreData Research global CEO Andrew Inwood said the penny dropped for an SMSF adviser. Most of his clients – certainly the wealthier more profitable ones – were about 70, the adviser realised, and if he didn’t take steps soon to engage with a younger generation of clients, his business was likely to die as his clients did. “You might want to start thinking about that,” Inwood said he told the adviser.
Bigger isn’t better: The advice practices playing the small game
When it comes to practice size, smaller is certainly better for some planners despite the challenges of hiring other good advisers. “Having previously worked in a large ASX-listed financial planning practice, working in a small boutique practice is a breath of fresh air,” Main Street Financial Solutions principal and private client adviser Charles Badenach tells Professional Planner.
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