The Council of Australian Life Insurers (CALI) has appointed Paul Reid as the new industry representative of the Life Code Compliance Committee (LCCC), commencing on 3 June 2024.
Reid has almost 50 years of experience in the industry, almost four decades of which were spent at KPMG including 25 years as a partner at the firm. Having left KPMG in 2014, Reid worked as a non-executive director at TAL Life Limited until June 2023.
In recent years, Reid has provided his services pro bono to a number of organisations focused on helping young and disabled Australians, including the Chain Reaction Foundation, Assistance Dogs Australia, and St Lucy’s School.
Taking over governance of the Life Insurance Code of Practice last year, CALI helps regulate the industry and brings penalties down on those who breach conduct.
Functioning independently, CALI said it “sets standards higher than the law” to improve Australians’ access to life insurance protection in a “fair, transparent and accountable way”.
In this role, Reid will help contribute to CALI’s goals and ensure its standards continue to be met across the life insurance industry.
CALI chief executive Christine Cupitt said Reid’s extensive experience in the industry is valuable as he represents the industry and works to maintain the standards for clients.
“Paul is very well respected in our industry after excelling in high-level roles that have consistently strengthened the integrity of the industry and contributed to the way life insurers interact with their customers every day,” Cupitt said.
“We are thrilled to have someone of Paul’s calibre representing our industry on the issues that matter most to the people we serve.”
Reid noted the community value of life insurance and ensuring that it is carried out according to the industry code.
“Life insurance is a valuable and integral part of our society’s approach to protecting community members against the risk of losing their livelihood and the consequent impacts to their families,” he said.
“The community and the life insurance industry can only benefit by having a well thought out code of practice that sets benchmarks for the manner in which life insurers operate.”
LCCC chair Jan McClelland said she looks forward to working with Reid in his new role.
“This role is critical to promoting high standards and better industry practises whether through customer service, claims processing or addressing complaints,” McClelland said.
“We look forward to working with Paul and thank Brad for his service over the past two years.”
Upon leaving, Brad Clarke, whom Reid is replacing, will have held the industry representative position for almost two years and plans to return to consulting.
Cupitt added: “Brad has made a valuable contribution during his time in the role and we thank him for his work.”
Memo to CALI
You appear to have adopted the Life Insurance Code of Practice (LICOP) a little marketing exercise perpetrated on the industry by the life insurance product manufacturers while they were at the FSC.
This is one particular problem you might wish to address. In a judgement handed down by Justice Jackman in the Federal Court of Australia on 21 December 2023, (ASIC v Zürich), FCA 1641, the Judge, in paragraph 73 of his judgement, states emphatically that “the LICOP is not an “approved code of conduct” OR a “mandatory code of conduct” for the purposes of ss1101AC OR for ss 1101AF of the Corporations Act
In making that statement he was agreeing with the arguments of the defendant in the ASIC case, Zurich, which I assume is a member of CALI.
As it stands, a reasonable person could quite easily argue that the LICOP is still nothing more than a marketing exercise designed to give warm and fuzzy feelings to product manufacturers.
Over to you, CALI