Financial Rights has long argued the need for greater transparency of insurance data and we welcome the introduction of a collection and publishing regime.
Greater transparency and more consistent data in life insurance claims relating to claims, claims outcomes, claims handling and disputes across all policy types is an important step that will not only help Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to monitor claims trends and identify any potential issues of concern from changes in data, but will also go some way to address problems of information asymmetry that face consumers, if appropriately published.
It is critical that as much data and analysis is made available to the public in an accessible, easy to read manner that has been designed with consumers in mind.
In an era where big data is having a huge impact upon the insurance industry, largely favouring the insurance industry to sell more through increased targeting of products and advertising, as well as improving risk models and increasing risk segmentation and price discrimination – the data collection and publication being considered here provides an important opportunity to rebalance the impact of datasets in favour of the consumer.
