State Insurance Regulatory Authority

SIRA does not make direct investment decisions. It sets the prudential framework and funding standards that govern how icare and the Nominal Insurer's assets are managed. Actual portfolio construction and manager selection are executed by TCorp within the NSW Treasury's investment mandate. SIRA's board — chaired by Nicholas Whitlam — enforces compliance with those standards.

The assets backing the workers' compensation and motor accident schemes are pooled through the TCorp IGF Investment Trust. The portfolio spans Australian equities, global fixed income, infrastructure, and inflation-linked assets, reflecting the long-duration liability profile of outstanding claims. SIRA's role is to ensure the funding ratio remains above the regulatory floor, not to dictate specific allocations.

SIRA and icare were created together in 2015 when the NSW government split the former WorkCover Authority. SIRA is the independent regulator — it licenses insurers, sets premium rates, and enforces scheme solvency. icare is the service-delivery arm that manages claims, collects premiums, and acts as the Nominal Insurer for the workers' compensation scheme. They are legally separate entities.

Outstanding claims liabilities across the regulated schemes are roughly A$30 billion, concentrated in the Nominal Insurer's workers' compensation book and the Home Building Compensation Fund. SIRA does not publish an AUM figure because it does not control the investment portfolio directly — the assets sit on TCorp's platform and are reported by icare and NSW Treasury.

No. SIRA is a pure regulator — it holds only operational cash and does not maintain a proprietary investment book. Its funding is drawn from levies on regulated insurers, and any surplus cash equivalents are held as working capital rather than invested for return. The scheme assets it supervises are legally owned by the Nominal Insurer and managed by TCorp.

SIRA and APRA maintain a formal Memorandum of Understanding for exchanging prudential information. Where a private insurer regulated by APRA also operates in the NSW workers' compensation or motor accident market, SIRA coordinates capital adequacy assessments to avoid regulatory duplication. The MOU is public record.

SIRA regulates the NSW Motor Accidents Insurance Scheme, the Home Building Compensation Fund, and the Workers' Compensation Nominal Insurer. It sets the funding standards and licensing conditions for all private insurers participating in these compulsory insurance markets and conducts scheme-wide performance monitoring.