A profitable business is a key indicator of where investors should place their funds. According to Ibis World (2015), the profitability of general insurers over the past five years has been affected due to a number of factors. external factors. These include increased competition to reduce premiums, an increase in natural disasters in Australia and the impact of the global financial crisis. IAG's recovery began in 2013, with the announcement of an insurance profit of $1,428 million, an increase of 69% compared to the 2012 financial year. Continuing its strong operating performance, a profit of $1,579 million was recorded in 2014, an increase of 10.6% (IAG Press Release 2014). In contrast, Suncorp's reported profit for FY 2013 was $491 million, a 32% reduction compared to FY 2012 results. Although this could be considered a significant loss, Suncorp Chairman Dr Ziggy Switkowski stated that the sale of the secondary bank would free up capital to support shareholder returns (Suncorp Press Release 2013). Following this loss, Suncorp made considerable improvement to record a profit of $730 million in 2014.5.2.1 Return on assets