The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority today reminded the general insurance industry of its obligation to submit claims and policies data to the National Claims and Policies Database (NCPD) facility by 28 February 2005. This obligation applies to all authorised general insurers, including Lloyds of London, which are to submit data for public liability and professional indemnity claims and policies under the general insurance reporting standards introduced last year. 

Database administrator, Fujitsu Australia, is also contacting industry this week to remind them that the due date for data submissions is less than one month away.

The Database was launched on schedule on 4 January 2005 in line with the phased project implementation timetable agreed by APRA and Fujitsu in mid-November 2004. The first batch of data for submission by industry will cover the period from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2004, information from which will be released publicly in the form of aggregate reports in May this year.

APRA Member, Mr Steve Somogyi, said that the requirements set down for the submission of data were fairly stringent and that industry would have been working to meet those requirements since June last year when the standards were introduced.

“Some insurers have attempted to submit data but the rigour of the validation rules has meant that some of these data have had to be resubmitted or corrected,” he said. “APRA expects further submissions of data this week.”

The insurance industry will utilise information collected by the NCPD to improve the affordability and availability of public liability and professional indemnity insurance in the Australian market. Federal and State governments, the community and industry will also be able to refer to the database to identify trends, establish industry benchmarks, enhance market transparency and facilitate informed commercial decision-making and policy formulation for these classes of risk.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is the prudential regulator of the financial services industry. It oversees banks, credit unions, building societies, general insurance and reinsurance companies, life insurance, friendly societies, and most members of the superannuation industry.APRA is funded largely by the industries that it supervises. It was established on 1 July 1998.APRA currently supervises institutions holding approximately $2.0 trillion in assets for 20 million Australian depositors, policyholders and superannuation fund members.