The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has today submitted its strengthened General Insurance Code of Practice to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) following extensive consultation with consumer groups, regulators, government and general insurance providers.
The revised Code represents a substantial uplift in consumer protection, with legal enforceability, greater support for customers experiencing vulnerability and financial hardship, and stronger claims handling, transparency and accountability provisions.
It retains flexibility needed to operate across the diverse products, customers and claims that make up Australia’s general insurance market and the broad network of third-party suppliers and service providers that support it.
The general insurance industry is making the Code contractually enforceable for the first time. This will strengthen consumers’ ability to hold insurers accountable, including by taking action through the courts, making a complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), and having potential Code breaches investigated by an independent Committee.
ASIC approval would give consumers further certainty and assurance that the Code is robust, credible and can be relied upon.
Key consumer protections in the Code include:
- Legal enforceability: Code obligations are incorporated into consumer insurance contracts,
giving customers a direct contractual right to enforce those obligations.
- Automatic claim acceptance: home and motor claims will be automatically accepted after 12 months where no decision has been made due to circumstances within insurers’ control.
- Better claims experiences: higher standards for trauma-informed claims handling and strengthened requirements for primary points of contact and cash settlements.
- Stronger support for customers experiencing vulnerability: a new circumstance-based definition of Vulnerability recognising that vulnerability can be experienced by anyone, and a new Extra Care framework that commits insurers to tailored support and flexibility for customers who need it most.
- Broader family violence protections: the definition of family violence now includes financial abuse and coercion, with key protections becoming contractually enforceable obligations.
