{"id":74983,"date":"2024-12-03T12:41:36","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T02:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=74983"},"modified":"2024-12-11T13:20:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T02:20:03","slug":"life-insurance-complaints-low-relative-to-other-financial-sectors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2024\/12\/03\/life-insurance-complaints-low-relative-to-other-financial-sectors\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Insurance Complaints Low Relative to Other Financial Sectors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Of the more than 4.7 million complaints reported by financial firms of all types for the year to 30 June 2024 just under 55,000 related to life insurance, ASIC\u2019s first publication of industry-wide data reported under the internal dispute resolution data reporting framework reveals.<\/p>\n<p>ASIC explains that under the IDR framework, most licensed financial firms are required to report IDR data to ASIC on a six-monthly basis. It says this inaugural industry-wide <a href=\"https:\/\/download.asic.gov.au\/media\/hqra4k5u\/rep-801-published-3-december-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report <\/a>\u201c\u2026is a key milestone in the implementation of the framework.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>General insurance products were subject to the most complaints (33% of all complaints), followed by credit products (22%) and deposit-taking products (15%)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74984\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74984\" style=\"width: 745px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/IRD-complaints-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74984\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/IRD-complaints-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"745\" height=\"509\" srcset=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/IRD-complaints-1.png 745w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/IRD-complaints-1-300x205.png 300w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/IRD-complaints-1-218x150.png 218w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/IRD-complaints-1-696x476.png 696w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/IRD-complaints-1-615x420.png 615w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 745px) 100vw, 745px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-74984\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy of ASIC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Looking specifically at life insurance ASIC&#8217;s report says in the 2023\u201324 financial year, financial firms reported 54,896 complaints relating to life insurance products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than 51% of complaints were resolved on the same day. More than $11 million in total monetary remedy was provided to life insurance complainants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The report says the top three products for life insurance complaints were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Term life (41%)<\/li>\n<li>Income protection (22%)<\/li>\n<li>Funeral insurance\/funeral plans (11%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74985\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74985\" style=\"width: 845px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/Asic-IRD-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74985\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/Asic-IRD-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"845\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/Asic-IRD-2.png 845w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/Asic-IRD-2-300x102.png 300w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/Asic-IRD-2-768x260.png 768w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/Asic-IRD-2-696x236.png 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-74985\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy of ASIC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The top three issues for life insurance complaints were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Service-related issues (29%)<\/li>\n<li>General service delay (13%)<\/li>\n<li>Premiums (10%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74987\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74987\" style=\"width: 794px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/ASIC-IDR-3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74987\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/ASIC-IDR-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"794\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/ASIC-IDR-3.png 794w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/ASIC-IDR-3-300x106.png 300w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/ASIC-IDR-3-768x272.png 768w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/12\/ASIC-IDR-3-696x246.png 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 794px) 100vw, 794px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-74987\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy of ASIC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The report also notes the top three outcomes for life insurance complaints were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No remedy, or apology or explanation only (45%)<\/li>\n<li>Service-based remedy (37%)<\/li>\n<li>Monetary remedy (8%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It says that half of the reported life insurance complaints were resolved on the same day, while three-quarters of the complaints were resolved within eight days. Almost all complaints (99%) were resolved within 39 days.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u2026 ASIC is concerned that some firms are not reporting IDR data as accurately as is possible\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In its statement regarding the data, ASIC says while it does not verify that financial firms\u2019 self-reported data accurately reflects their underlying complaints handling \u201c\u2026we found variations in the volume of complaints reported by comparable firms and gaps in the IDR data that indicate the data reported to ASIC may not fully reflect the complaints received by some firms. As a result, ASIC is concerned that some firms are not reporting IDR data as accurately as is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It adds that 5,035 firms declared no complaints to report for the full year period. \u201cThis number is higher than ASIC expected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The commission says it will assess compliance with the reporting requirements \u201c\u2026by reviewing firms that make a nil submission against other datasets, including reports of misconduct, reportable situations and data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>ASIC Commissioner <strong>Alan Kirkland<\/strong> says it&#8217;s important for firms to foster a positive complaints management culture, including a focus on gathering accurate data.<\/p>\n<p>He says the gaps ASIC has identified suggest there may be inconsistent IDR reporting practices across the industry.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;Starting from next year, we\u2019ll be publishing data about complaints received by individual firms&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWhile there may be reasonable explanations for some of these variances, we encourage firms to carefully review our report and guidance to assist in reporting complete and accurate IDR data. Starting from next year, we\u2019ll be publishing data about complaints received by individual firms. It is crucial that firms act now to address any gaps in IDR reporting processes, because we will publish the data as it is reported to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kirkland said ASIC is closely examining the standard of IDR reporting and undertaking a range of activities to strengthen compliance with the regime.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/download.asic.gov.au\/media\/hqra4k5u\/rep-801-published-3-december-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a> to see the full report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Of the more than 4.7 million complaints reported by financial firms of all types for the year to 30 June 2024 just under 55,000 related to life insurance, ASIC\u2019s first publication of industry-wide data reported under the internal dispute resolution data reporting framework reveals. ASIC explains that under the IDR framework, most licensed financial firms [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":74990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-74983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-compliance-regulation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74983","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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}