Insurers told to 'step up' and take code of practice 'seriously'

Sydney Morning Herald April 8, 2019 5.50am

Clancy Yeates

Insurance companies have been given a rebuke by the body that supervises the industry's code of conduct, after a review found "questionable' and "inconsistent" reporting of breaches.

In the wake of the royal commission into misconduct in financial services, there is pressure for major changes in how the sector's various codes of conduct are enforced, after commissioner Kenneth Hayne called for tougher powers for companies that fail to live up to the promises in such voluntary codes.

In general insurance, the commission sparked a review of how well insurers have been monitoring their compliance with the industry's code of practice, which sets standards including being "open, fair and honest" with customers.

The review, by the General Insurance Code Governance Committee, will be published on Monday alongside annual insurance statistics. It unearthed significant problems with some insurance companies' practices, and how seriously they took the code.

While larger insurance company members generally reported breaches of the code, the committee, chaired by former top public servant Lynelle Briggs, said there were "inconsistent" and "questionable" numbers being reported by this group of companies.

A group of smaller wholesale insurance companies reported surprisingly low number of breaches, it said. Since July last year, there had also been a "very marked" increase in self-reported significant breaches, which it said raised "questions" about the earlier levels of reporting breaches.

"The Code Governance Committee has oversight of subscribers’ culture through its Code monitoring and investigation functions and responsibilities. There is evidence, however, that not all subscribers are taking the Code and its obligations as seriously as they might," Ms Briggs wrote in the report.

During the royal commission, financial businesses were often assessed against various codes of conduct that exist across finance, which is a key part of self-regulation.

Patrick Veyret, policy and campaigns adviser at Choice, said it was "no surprise" some insurance companies were not taking breach reporting seriously, as breaches of the code were not enforceable and did not attract serious penalties.

"This is symptomatic of the failure of self regulation: where industry have written their own weak and unenforceable rules," he said.

Ms Briggs is a former Australian Public Service Commissioner who is also a commissioner on the government's aged care royal commission. She called on the industry to "step up" and take the code seriously, and address compliance failures rather than give them "lip service."

“Appropriate compliance monitoring and governance arrangements do not exist in all subscriber organisations," Ms Briggs said.

"In light of the evidence coming out from the Royal Commission, and the outcome of APRA’s prudential review of CBA’s accountability, culture and governance frameworks, some subscribers need to question whether they have shown good faith in the past."

Another "common and worrying" theme that had emerged was that some insurers attempted to interpret the code's financial hardship standards "as narrowly as possible," Ms Briggs wrote.

Commissioner Kenneth Hayne's final report said that code of conduct provisions in insurance should be made "enforceable," and the compliance committees that oversee these should be given powers to impose penalties for breaches of the code.

The committee's report published on Monday said there were a total of 40.4 million retail insurance policies in fore in Australia, and insurers received gross written premiums of $42.7 billion in 2017-18, making profits of $5 billion.