APRA releases insurance claims data for state and territory general insurers

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has today released for the first time insurance claims data for state and territory insurers.

The data are contained in reports on claims for public and products liability (PL) and professional indemnity (PI) insurance. The reports cover claims from 2003 to 31 December 2008 and are sourced from APRA’s National Claims and Policies Database (NCPD).

Up until now, only reports containing claims and policy information for APRA-regulated general insurers have been produced from the NCPD. State and territory insurers submit data to the NCPD on a voluntary basis but their data have not been published previously due to constraints with the data collection.

APRA Member John Trowbridge expressed appreciation for the support of the state and territory insurers in supplying the data and also in agreeing to their release in full, without any masking. ‘That state and territory insurers have agreed to release the data in full, unmasked, means the information in the reports is far more useful and meaningful than would have been the case had the data been masked to protect confidentiality.’

NCPD reports for APRA-regulated general insurers are currently masked to maintain confidentiality. As a result, large volumes of data are being excluded from the reports, severely limiting their value.

The reports show that during 2008 Australian state and territory general insurers paid $326 million on more than 10,000 claims for professional indemnity and public and product liability insurance. Around 80 per cent of both claims reported and claim payments were for public and product liability business, with the remaining 20 per cent being for professional indemnity business.

The NCPD was established by APRA in 2003 at the request of the Federal Government in consultation with the insurance industry and other stakeholders. It aims to provide insurers, the community and State and Federal Governments with a better understanding of PL and PI insurance through the ability to monitor trends in premiums and claim costs.

The National Claims and Policies Database reports are located on the NCPD website at: www.ncpd.apra.gov.au/Home/Home.aspx