APRA and ASIC will improve data collection for general insurance and life insurance as part of their plan to collect more data aligning with the Insurance Data Transformation (IDT) project.
The project aims to help insurers, regulators, and policymakers undertake a more comprehensive assessment of prudential conduct risks facing the Australian insurance industry. It will also enable consumers to better understand insurers’ businesses, products, and services.
In its discussion paper, APRA noted that existing data collections have resulted in a significant amount of valuable information being gathered on the general insurance and life insurance sectors. However, the aggregated nature of data can limit its usefulness.
“[APRA and ASIC] regularly experience ‘insights gaps’ where the data are either inflexible or insufficient to effectively identify key issues and emerging trends that could lead to prudential and conduct risks and harms. Such limitations inhibit [their] strategic drive for data-enabled decision making,” APRA said.
APRA and ASIC seek industry feedback until December 22, 2023. Submissions should be sent to [email protected].
APRA also recently released a guide comprising key information to assist users accessing and using APRA Connect, the regulator’s new data collection solution that will help APRA-regulated entities lodge entity information and data with the regulator.