APRA, ASIC release insurance claims data

The report follows a proposal from APRA made in May 2017 that the two agencies collaborate to establish a new reporting requirement for life insurance claims and disputes, and their outcomes.

The two regulators found 103,100 claims were finalised during 2016, with 92 per cent of these being admitted and 8 per cent declined.

“Significant progress has been made to date on this initiative to develop a consistent public reporting regime for claims data and claims outcomes, which will improve transparency and accountability in the life insurance industry,” said APRA member Geoff Summerhayes.

APRA noted that “meaningful comparisons are difficult to make” between insurers at present as insurers have a wide range of systems and definitions that differ from business to business.

“For example, where two insurers have different definitions for what constitutes a reported, declined or withdrawn claim, the data they reported on these items is not comparable between them,” the prudential regulator noted in a statement.

However, Mr Summerhayes commented that the two regulators were developing a set of common definitions and “significant progress” was being made in this area.

The regulators also announced the second round of the pilot data collection program, and listed “refinements” to both the definitions used by insurers and the data template.