The former deputy chair of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), Helen Rowell (pictured above), is leading an independent review of the 2020 General Insurance Code of Practice (2020 Code). The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has confirmed the details of the review in a media release this morning.
According to the ICA, the 2020 Code is due for a formal independent review this year as part of the three-year cycle for “continuously improving the Code”.
The three-person panel will consist of Rowell, consumer advocate Gerard Brody and industry expert Paul Muir.
“The ICA and insurers look forward to working with the review panel to ensure that our industry Code remains relevant and effective in supporting and protecting customers,” said Andrew Hall, the ICA’s CEO. “I know the panel will conduct a comprehensive and robust review of the Code, and that their findings and recommendations will help make the Code even more effective in supporting and protecting consumers.”
The release said the review is being conducted in two phases “to align with any recommendations from the Federal Parliamentary Inquiry into insurers’ responses to 2022 floods.”
The first phase will focus on general topics including support for vulnerable customers and the interaction between the Code and existing laws.
The second phase will look at flood related topics, including the responses required when a catastrophe occurs.
The release said the panel is also considering a recommendation from Deloitte’s review of the insurance industry’s response to the 2022 floods, “that the Extraordinary Catastrophe definition in the General Insurance Code of Practice be reworked.”
The Review Panel is consulting stakeholders, said the release, including the general insurance industry, regulators, the Code Governance Committee and consumer representatives.
More details on the three person panel can be found here.
What should this independent review consider? Please tell us below
