QBE Insurance - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

QBE Insurance is Medium Risk.

QBE is Medium Risk. The company often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. QBE implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. The company occasionally embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues at times. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	Lower Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	High Risk
Political Actions	Lower Risk

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

QBE has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (1).

Criteria:

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

QBE does not appear to discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs (1).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

QBE appears to prioritize diversity over merit in its business structure through the establishment of gender targets for its hiring and leadership composition. The company was seeking “40% women in leadership across QBE by 2025, and 40% women on our Board by 2025”. The company achieved this goal in 2022 (1). The company does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (2)(3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

QBE supports ESG within its business practices. From its 2022 Annual Report: “The ESG Risk Committee continues to play a key role in supporting the ERC in its identification and management of ESG risks, including climate change” (1). The company supports DEI within its business practices. From its 2022 Sustainability Report: “Being inclusive is part of our DNA, and our global Inclusion of Diversity approach enables us to live our purpose” (2). QBE was a member of the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance, committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. However, it withdrew its membership in March 2025 (3).

Criteria:

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

QBE is a Ally level partner of PFLAG, an LGBTQ+ activist group that promotes books for children with sexually explicit and gender fluid content and advocates against laws that inform parents of their child’s gender dysphoria or prevent unapproved transgender medical treatments for minors (1)(2)(3). Additionally, the company funds LGBTQ+ and diversity initiatives through scholarships. From its QBE NA Culture Fact Sheet: the “Rainbow Scholarship is an endowment focused on high school students planning to attend Madison College and/or currently enrolled Madison College students who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community” (4). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of QBE using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (5).

Criteria:

Uses corporate political actions and/or financial contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

QBE’s PAC has been defunct since 2010, and the company has not lobbied for ideological purposes (1)(2)(3).