{"id":32684,"date":"2016-03-10T15:06:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T04:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=32684"},"modified":"2016-03-10T15:10:48","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10T04:10:48","slug":"comminsure-announces-updates-other-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2016\/03\/10\/comminsure-announces-updates-other-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"CommInsure Announces Product Updates, Other Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has announced that the Board of its insurance arm, CommInsure, has approved ‘…a range of measures to upgrade its product offering and provide further assurances.’<\/p>\n

This announcement, which outlines product updates and structural changes within the insurer’s claims division, comes in the wake of serious allegations made against the CommInsure business in recent Fairfax and ABC media reports in relation to a spate of disputed insurance claims (see: CommInsure Allegations…<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Product changes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Product changes\/initiatives include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Accelerating the planned upgrade of the heart attack and severe rheumatoid arthritis definitions in CommInsure’s Trauma product<\/li>\n
  2. Releasing the upgrade in a product disclosure statement by the end of March, noting coverage will be backdated and apply for all claim events from May 2014 onwards, which was the date of the last relevant product disclosure statement for the Trauma product<\/li>\n
  3. Commitment to a more regular review of the life insurance offering to ensure definitions reflect evolving medical standards and practices<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Claims process changes
    \n<\/strong><\/p>\n

    CommInsure has announced it will introduce an additional layer of independence and assurance to its claim assessment and decision-making processes.\u00a0 It says where its claims committee recommends a complex claim be declined, it will be referred to an Independent Review Panel, which will comprise the Managing Director of CommInsure and at least two independent industry experts, who will be announced within the next month. \u00a0A sub-committee of the CommInsure Board will monitor the outcomes of the Panel.<\/p>\n

    Other claims related actions<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Assertions made in the media that CommInsure was not responsive to internal concerns raised are incorrect<\/h6>\n

    The CommInsure Board says it will appoint an independent expert to oversee a claim review program focused on declined claims, with particular emphasis on customer advocacy. \u00a0The independent expert will also be specifically asked to form a view on whether the circumstances surrounding the review of any particular claim warrants further action from the CommInsure Board.<\/p>\n

    Other statements in the release announcing these initiatives include a note from CBA that ethical concerns that have been aired in recent media reports will be independently investigated, and that ‘Assertions made in the media that CommInsure was not responsive to internal concerns raised are incorrect.”<\/p>\n

    CommInsure Board Chair, Geoff Austin<\/strong> apologised on behalf of CommInsure to the affected customers.\u00a0 He said the CommInsure Board has met and reviewed current initiatives and agreed to immediately take additional steps to reassure customers of the company’s values and commitment to their customers.<\/p>\n

    Echoing earlier comments made by CBA CEO, Ian Narev<\/strong>, Austin said \u201cWe expect the highest ethical standards of all our employees and will continue to ensure that the policies and processes within the business support these standards.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has announced that the Board of its insurance arm, CommInsure, has approved ‘…a range of measures to upgrade its product offering and provide further assurances.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259,48,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-breaking","category-company-news","category-compliance-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32684\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}