Submission to Senate Inquiry into Consumer Protection
07 Mar 2017
IAG welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry into the regulatory framework for the protection of consumers, including small businesses, in the banking, insurance and financial services sector. IAG’s submission addresses a number of the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference that are relevant to the general insurance sector.
Executive summary
IAG considers that the existing regulatory regime covering general insurance provides a high level of protection to consumers.
The best approach to any reform of the regulatory regime is collaboration between Government, regulators, consumer groups and industry to ensure fair treatment of customers. Better outcomes are likely to be achieved by continuing with a constructive and collaborative approach to reform rather than through a prescriptive regulatory regime that may have unintended consequences.
IAG contends that effective and robust corporate governance depends on corporate culture which values and instills accountability, transparency and risk management and has in place strong and well understood checks and balances. Ultimately, boards and management should be responsible for their own cultures and behaviour, and for openness in corporate governance.
IAG's governance structure has at its core a risk management framework that includes internal policies, key management processes and culture.
IAG takes ethical and responsible decision making very seriously. We expect our employees and directors to do the same, as reflected in our internal policies around ethics, conduct, continuous disclosure and diversity.
IAG believes the existing internal and external dispute resolution frameworks for consumers of general insurance products are operating effectively. A major benefit of the current dispute resolution framework for general insurance is that it delivers a high quality, professional response to complaints and disputes.
IAG commits significant resources to develop clear processes and training and to establish specialist teams dedicated to resolving complaints and disputes as quickly and fairly as possible.
IAG’s strategic objective is “to deliver world class customer experiences”. All the elements of our strategy are driven by our customers’ needs. IAG’s remuneration policies support the achievement of this strategic objective. By doing this, we will deliver both business performance, shareholder returns and positive customer outcomes.
