Thank you Chair and good morning to you and the Committee. My name is
We appreciate the opportunity to participate in this hearing today.
While I am the CEO of our Australia Pacific division, I have the opportunity to hear from my colleagues who lead divisions across multiple jurisdictions, which also gives me some perspective of the Australian model in the global context.
Insurance plays an incredibly important role in society and the economy around the world, which is why we must maintain a sustainable industry.
I've seen first-hand the devastation that was caused by the 2022 floods. Already this year, many people in
I know we don't always get it right and I am grateful for the feedback our customers have shared with us on the floods in 2022. We are listening and we are taking actions to address where we can improve. I am genuinely sorry for those of our customers who received poor experiences.
As you have heard, the floods occurred at a point in time when the external economic environment was particularly complex. This compounded recovery challenges in ways we hadn't anticipated, as
The scale and complexity of these floods was also unprecedented. The geographical breadth of the events, and their persistence, was remarkable. This meant insurers faced six-times the claims volume of the average catastrophe. And given the environment I just touched on, this significantly added to the strain on our ability to respond. In this context, I would also like to recognise the immense efforts of our claims and complaints teams who work to support our customers, and do genuinely care.
At
We have learnt a lot which is helping us help our customers more effectively right now.
We also know we need to be better prepared both as
In
When insurance and reinsurance losses increase in
Effective actions aimed at futureproofing our vulnerable communities and the national economy are a priority, now more than ever. For many years,
Investing in public mitigation infrastructure, creating more resilient homes, making changes to land-use planning and strengthening building codes - so we build homes and infrastructure that are fit for the future - these are measures that will deliver benefits.
We also appreciate these solutions are complex and it will take time for benefits to be seen. Without these investments and commitments however, people will continue to suffer extreme losses from natural catastrophes and the protection gap is likely to widen.
We stand ready to work with governments of all levels, the industry, our customers, and community stakeholders, to face into these issues and develop shared solutions.
Thank you again Chair for the opportunity to be here today.
(C) 2024 Electronic News Publishing, source