ASIC says pricing discount lapses reflect failure to 'put customer first'

The corporate regulator has called out the industry over its failure to “put customers first” after a number of insurers did not deliver pricing promises.

RACQ said last month it will refund more than $200 million, and QBE announced in July an internal review found pricing promises were not offered “fully” in some instances. Last October the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched Federal Court action against IAG over its failure to honour customer discount promises.

“We have previously noted the failure to honour pricing promises to consumers is an industry wide problem,” an ASIC spokesperson said.

The spokesperson says the underlying issue facing the industry “appears to be a failure to adequately manage non-financial risk”.

“It appears to us that insurers’ system and controls have not been robust enough to manage the risks associated with their business model, product design, pricing and distribution arrangements,” the spokesperson said.

“The failure to honour promised discounts to customers, either in part or in full, has occurred because general insurers have not done enough to put customers first when designing and pricing insurance products.

“The products and discounts offered have been complex and insurers have often been unable to keep track of the promises they have made in a centralised and complete way to understand when those promises have not been delivered.”

The spokesperson says insurers have also failed to invest in and upgrade legacy IT systems and failed to have sufficiently robust governance, controls and compliance arrangements in place to effectively manage conduct risk, which meant that some of the issues have been undetected for a long period of time.

Last October ASIC called on all general insurers to examine their pricing systems and controls to prevent consumer harm as a “matter of priority”.

“The reviews being conducted by general insurers of their pricing systems and controls are designed to find the problems, stop the issues occurring and identify the fixes that need to be made,” the spokesperson said.

“ASIC expects that the fixes identified will be implemented and tested to make sure they are working effectively and that insurers will make improvements to their governance, controls and compliance arrangements to proactively manage conduct risk in the future.

“We expect to see a general uplift in the robustness and sophistication of insurers’ risk and compliance management arrangements.”

According to ASIC, general insurers have reported a significant number of breaches or potential breaches and remediated thousands of customers in relation to failures to honour price discounts promised to customers since January 2018.

More than $400 million in remediation has been paid to over two million home, car, and other insurance customers since 2018.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says insurers have been “proactive” in their response to the ASIC price review since it was announced in October last year.

“The review has resulted in a substantial overhaul of insurer pricing processing and databases,” an ICA spokesperson said.