APRA proposes to uplift transparency around life and general insurance data

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has proposed publishing a greater breadth of industry-aggregate data for the general insurance (GI) and life insurance (LI) sectors.

In a letter to industry today, APRA announced its intention to determine all class of business data for GI and all product group data for LI as non-confidential, unless sensitive commercial reasons are determined.   

This initiative supports APRA’s strategic priority to increase the transparency of the data it collects, and aligns with the Australian Government Public Data Policy Statement. It follows APRA’s December’s proposal to determine that all data collected for its quarterly authorised deposit-taking institution publications should be considered non-confidential. 

By facilitating greater public access to this information, APRA is seeking to promote:

• competition, contestability and efficiency in the financial system; 
• innovative uses of data;
• greater consumer understanding and more informed public discussion of insurance-related issues;
• informed decision-making for all market participants, consultants, analysts and other users of the GI and LI statistical publications. 

As part of this latest consultation, APRA also proposes disclosing explanations from individual GIs and LIs in relation to material revisions to, or large movements in, their data.

The industry aggregate data to be determined as non-confidential will be included in the Quarterly General Insurance Performance Statistics (QGIPS), the Annual General Insurance Claims Development Statistics (AGICDS), the Quarterly Life Insurance Performance Statistics (QLIPS) and the Life Insurance Supplementary Statistical Tables (LISST) from the second half of 2020. 

The six week consultation is open until 20 March 2020.

Copies of the consultation letter are available on the APRA website at: Confidentiality of general insurance and life insurance data.

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, private health insurers, friendly societies, and most members of the superannuation industry. APRA currently supervises institutions holding $6.5 trillion in assets for Australian depositors, policyholders and superannuation fund members.