The newly formed life insurance peak body, the Council of Australian Life Insurers (CALI), now numbers 19 life insurers and reinsurers, or 99 per cent of the life insurance industry and 100 per cent of the reinsurance industry in Australia.
In a statement issued on Monday, CALI co-chairs Damien Mu, chief executive and managing director at AIA Australia, and Brett Clark, group chief executive and managing director at TAL said the strong engagement and support from across the industry underscored the important role that the body will play.
“CALI has been established as a dedicated peak body to act as the progressive voice of life insurance in Australia and to represent the interests of the industry and our customers and partners,” the pair said.
“CALI has an essential role to play in driving positive outcomes through engagement with our stakeholders, including government, consumers, their representatives, and regulators.”
The CALI board will be made up of representatives from AIA Australia, ClearView, Integrity Life, MetLife, MLC Life Insurance, Pacific Life Re, Resolution Life Australasia, TAL, and Zurich Financial Services, while Christine Cupitt is set to assume the role of CEO in January 2023.
“The mandate which accompanies such strong endorsement and commitment from across the industry ensures Chris and the team she establishes will be well positioned to advocate for sound public policy outcomes that benefit customers and the community,” said Mr Mu and Mr Clark.
CALI members include AIA Australia; Challenger; ClearView; General Reinsurance Life; Hannover Re; HCF Life; Integrity Life; MetLife Australia; MLC Life Insurance; Munich Re; NobleOak; Pacific Life Re; QInsure; RGA Reinsurance; Resolution Life Australasia; SCOR Life & Health; Swiss Re; TAL; and, Zurich Financial Services.
Initially, I had higher hopes for CALI. I thought they would find the kahuna’s to tell the government that LIF is a total disaster. Now I see 50% of the CALI membership belongs to reinsurer’s, who as far as I can tell were part of the driving force in APRAs ear behind the 2021 disability changes. And then there is a selection of retail insurers in the CALI insurers list whose duplicity at the time LIF was devised by the banks, when the banks “owned” the FSC, still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth . After all, a cut of 50% in distribution costs did look good, until the predictable loss of 50% of new business hit insurers across the chops