APRA releases 2009 data from National Claims and Policies Database

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) today released the latest set of annual reports on policies and claims for public and product liability (PL) and professional indemnity (PI) insurance from the National Claims and Policies Database (NCPD).

These reports contain data as at 31 December 2009 and comprise: an overview of PL and PI insurance; policy and claims reports containing aggregate (level 1) data for APRA-regulated general insurers and Lloyd's Australia; and a claims report for state and territory general insurers. Detailed (level 2) policy and claims web-based reports for APRA-regulated general insurers have also been updated with 2009 data and are available at www.ncpd.apra.gov.au.

This is the second year of release of aggregate data for state and territory insurers and for detailed level 2 information. It is also the first time that data from Lloyd's Australia have been made available.

Some of the basic statistics from the 2009 data show that for APRA-regulated general insurers, the number of PL risks written nationally increased by one per cent in 2009 to 2.15 million, with an average written premium of $750. The number of PI risks increased in 2009 by 10.3 per cent to 384,000, with an average written premium of $3,078. Payments made during 2009 totalled $1.2 billion on 89,000 claims.

Following consultation during the last year with industry, and interested third parties, APRA has determined that data contained within the NCPD are non-confidential. APRA will release claim reports unmasked for confidentiality once privacy issues relating to individual claims are addressed.

APRA Executive Member John Trowbridge said policy information has been released today with no confidentiality masking for the first time. 'This is a breakthrough for the NCPD and its usefulness, and is in line with the stated aims of the database. Users of the data will now be able to conduct more informed analysis on public and product liability and professional indemnity insurance.'

'APRA is also very pleased to be able to release data from Lloyds for the first time, extending further the scope of published data,' Mr Trowbridge said.

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