Investor Interview: Tower's Keith Taylor

In late May, Tower reported a significant turn-around in profitability with a $20.5 million first-half net profit compared with a$148.9 million net loss in the same six months a year earlier. The improvement mostly reflected much smaller write-offs and the problematic Tower Australia moving from losses to profits. In June, international ratings agency Standard & Poor's recognised the improvement by upgrading the outlook for the company's various ratings from negative to stable.

ShareChat: How has Tower Australia been able to increase its risk business volumes?

Chief executive Keith Taylor: One of the issues that Tower Australia had has been the break-down in the relationships we had with our traditional writers of risk products. We've put a lot of effort into our existing relationships but we've also put our efforts into building up new relationships. We've also upgraded our risk insurance products. We've reviewed them and made them more competitive in some areas. Some of the features have been changed.

SC: What is driving the improvement in lapse and surrender rates in Tower Australia?