The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has announced an independent review of the insurance industry’s response to the 2022 South-East Queensland and Northern New South Wales floods. The consultancy firm Deloitte is undertaking the review.
“As the costliest extreme weather event in Australian history, last year's floods created significant challenges for the insurance industry in addressing the extraordinary volume of claims across a very wide geographic area,” said Andrew Hall (pictured above), the ICA’s CEO.
According to the ICA, the floods generated $5.8 billion worth of insurance claims. One year later, more than 15% of those claims are still unresolved.
“With more than 83% of claims now closed, insurers have agreed it is timely to review the industry’s response to identify best practice and what could be improved when responding to future extreme weather events,” said Hall.
The ICA’s media release said the review aims to “identify lessons learned from insurers’ response to the floods.”
Other issues to be examined include insurers’ response timeframes, claims handling, complaints handling and communication with policyholders, said the release.
The review will also look at the impact of regulatory requirements and insurers’ interactions with government agencies.
Part of the review process, said the release, will include consultations with regulators, including, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and consumer representatives. AFCA recently reported “a concerning decline in insurers’ responsiveness trends.”
The ICA said it selected Deloitte for the review “because of their significant experience across insurance and financial services, including claims and complaints management and responding to crises.”
The final report is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2023.
