NIBA CEO Welcome

TRUST, PROFESSIONALISM, COMMUNITY

Welcome to August’s edition of Insurance Adviser. Among other things, this month we profile the upcoming NIBA Summit ‘Professionalism, Trust, Community’, which will be followed by a special Celebration Dinner that will not only recognise the QBE sponsored Stephen Ball Broker of the Year award winner and Vero sponsored Warren Tickle Young Broker of the Year, but also the Insurer and Underwriting Agency of the Year award winner. Of course, one can’t overlook that this year the broking community comes together to celebrate 40 years of NIBA, so it promises to be a celebration to remember.

To be held in Sydney on 12 October 2022 at the celebrious Establishment and Ivy Ballroom, this event is one not to be missed and replaces the traditional NIBA Convention normally held in October. Given the proximity of the deferred 2021.2 Convention in February, we are doing things differently this year.

Headlining the afternoon line-up is newly minted Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister, the Hon. Stephen Jones MP. The Minister has certainly hit the ground running and was impressive at the recent ICA Gala Dinner, where he spoke passionately about the industry response to national disasters, and the Labor Government’s commitment to investing in resilience and mitigation. Given the current economic environment impacting all Australians, and more specific issues directly facing our industry such as the ongoing impacts of natural disasters, I look forward to hearing the insights from the Minister. As the Assistant Treasurer, he will also receive the final recommendations from the Quality of Advice review due in December. This will include the long-awaited outcome of the review of insurance commissions.

Still on the theme of trust and professionalism, AFCA has recently updated its complaints data to the period ending 31 December 2021. While overall complaints were lower than the previous six months, and still only 20% of the total, complaints against general insurers were up by 27%, totalling 6,474. This is not unexpected, given the significant claims relating to storms and floods. What is significant, though, is that complaints against insurance brokers were at an all-time low. At just 50 complaints, this is the lowest number for a six-month period since the inception of AFCA. And while one complaint is one too many, this decreasing number is something all brokers should be proud of, in an environment where customers are being more and more exacting in their demands.

Many complaints can come down to a simple misunderstanding from the client as to what they are actually covered for, so it was interesting to review the 2022 readability scorecard: Australian Insurance Companies, whereby the average readability score was 74.3 out of a possible 100. While only measured on home and motor policies from 26 insurers, this is still a cold reminder that transparency and simplicity is vital in all our communications to clients. To help brokers manage communication with vulnerable clients, NIBA recently released guidance in relation to vulnerable clients to assist in the journey to the implementation of the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice on 1 November 2022.

As always, we have a jam-packed edition of Insurance Adviser for you, including recaps on the NIBA Gala Lunches held in July, a mentor and mentee sharing their experience of participating in the NIBA Mentoring Program, the importance of factoring international travel in accident and health insurance, and premium funding in the current economic climate, just to name a few. Happy reading.

PHILIP KEWIN

Chief Executive Officer, NIBA