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 influenced by a number of external factors. These include increased competition to lower premiums, an increase in natural disasters in Australia and the flow-on effect of the global financial crisis. IAG's recovery began in 2013, with the announcement of an insurance profit of $1,428 million, a 69% increase over fiscal 2012. Continuing the strong operating performance, 2014 reported a profit of $1,579 million dollars, up 10.6% (IAG Media Release 2014). In contrast, Suncorp's full-year profit announcement for 2013 was $491 million, a 32% reduction from fiscal 2012 results. While this may be seen as a significant loss, Suncorp chairman Ziggy Switkowski has stated that the sale of the non-core bank will free up capital to support shareholder returns (Suncorp Media Release 2013). Following this loss, Suncorp made a notable improvement to post a 2014 profit of $730 million.5.2.1 Return on Assets