The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have published new information on life insurance claims and related disputes for the first six months of 2017.
Executive Board Member of APRA, Geoff Summerhayes (pictured) said the new data continued to indicate that more than 90 per cent of claims that went to decision were paid in the first instance.
“The data also shows that different products and distribution channels have different claims and dispute outcomes, with 97 per cent of death claims being paid in the first instance, 84 per cent for total and permanent disability claims and 87 per cent for trauma claims,” Mr Summerhayes said.
“These results are consistent with previous data released in November 2017.”
ASIC and APRA said the release completed round two of a pilot phase and would be followed by a third and final round of data collection.
They said they were now moving to establish an ongoing reporting regime with regular publication of credible, reliable and comparable data at both aggregated industry and insurer-specific levels.
The Agencies said the aim was to improve the transparency of life insurance claims practices.
Deputy Chair of ASIC, Peter Kell said that working together, ASIC and APRA had made significant progress with industry to improve the data.
“Our data reporting regime is already bringing improved transparency to this area, and our continuing work is benefiting consumers, insurers, and regulators,” Mr Kell said.
In addition to the data the Agencies released their joint response to a discussion paper entitled ‘Towards a transparent public reporting regime for life insurance claims information’, and invited comments by 5 July.
The Agencies’ 49-page response can be accessed on the APRA website at this PS News link.
