Life CCC shifts focus to customer outcomes in 2024–25 oversight strategy

At the centre of the new approach is the introduction of an impact framework, which aims to link compliance monitoring more directly to customer outcomes and broader industry improvement.

Chair of the Life CCC, Jan McClelland AM, said the changes reflect an evolution in how the committee approaches its regulatory role.

“Proactive, targeted oversight ensures our work delivers lasting benefits for customers,” she said. “The impact framework will help us measure success in customer outcomes, while promoting greater transparency and accountability across the industry.”

Inquiries played a key role in the Life CCC’s activities during the reporting period. Two significant investigations were underway in 2024–25: one examining how life insurers approach mental health underwriting and another looking at how insurers support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customers.

“Our inquiries provide important opportunities for reflection and reform,” McClelland said. “They shine a light on practices that can and must improve if insurers are to meet both the letter and the spirit of the code.”

The committee also began a review of how insurers manage claims for customers who are sick or injured, with the aim of improving its understanding of the end-to-end customer experience.

The Life CCC adopted a more tailored enforcement strategy in 2024–25, favouring insurer-led remediation in many cases. Insurers that demonstrated credible plans to rectify issues were allowed to do so independently, with audits conducted to ensure commitments were met.

At the same time, the committee continued to apply sanctions in more serious or systemic cases. One insurer, for example, was found to have denied applicants rights guaranteed under the code.

“We will continue to recognise insurers who take ownership of issues, while holding others firmly accountable when they don’t live up to their code commitments to customer protections,” McClelland said.

The Life CCC said that insights from its monitoring and inquiry work in 2024–25 are informing its current focus and will feed into the upcoming independent review of the Life Insurance Code of Practice.

“Accountability, transparency and trust are at the heart of good regulation,” McClelland said. “Our role is to ensure that compliance with the code translates into real, tangible improvements for customers. That’s the standard we will continue to pursue.”