Recently, APRA released its response its response to a consultation paper on proposed non-confidentially determinations for general insurance and life insurance, confirming they plan to make more data non-confidential and publicly available.
The move follows industry consultation on whether insurer-level and aggregate industry data should be made more accessible following reporting changes introduced under AASB 17.
While some concerns were raised by general insurers around commercially sensitive information, APRA ultimately confirmed it would proceed with most of the proposed changes, arguing greater disclosure would help ensure industry statistics remain useful for policymakers, market analysts and industry participants. For life insurers, no concerns were raised regarding the proposal.
For financial adviser and risk specialist Trish Gregory, any level of increased transparency within the industry is a net positive.
“With insurance industry revenue being more than $20 billion per quarter, small shifts in transparency can have huge impacts on consumer trust,” she told ifa.
“For the Life insurance sector specifically, profits fell to $121 million in March 2026, down from $293 million in the previous quarter – now to the layperson that sounds terrible, but this volatility can be based on claims, markets and pricing cycles.”
She continued that the only people who currently hold access to all the data are the insurers and regulators. If more people are able to access the raw data, accountability will increase as well as inform better decision-making from risk specialist and general advisers.
“But more data doesn’t help people make decisions. Most people think ‘this Insurer is bad’ or ‘the insurance industry just take your money and make you fight to get paid a claim’” Gregory continued, reflecting the general negative sentiment that has followed the life insurance sector since the royal commission.
“What they probably don’t know is that in 2024, Life insurers paid out $13.3 billion in claims, representing 95% of claims made. So, we need to make sure we have an industry that is a transparent as possible and can pay out claims when we need them to.”
For Gregory, trust can also be built by addressing Australia’s persistent under insurance problem.
“Underinsurance is everyone’s problem, as the financial consequence of underinsurance costs $1.5 billion every year in extra social security costs (disability payments, Centrelink support, healthcare costs). That means extra taxes on all Australians.”
“3.4 million Aussies are under-insured for income protection and 1 million Aussies are under-insured for death/TPD.”
“3.4 million Aussies are under-insured for income protection and 1 million Aussies are under-insured for death/TPD.”
Trish this was directly caused by LIF and the FPA and AFA agreeing to have brokerage rates reduced and clawback periods increased thus resulting in far less advisers writing risk business.