In the same week that insurers were slammed by a major consumer group over their handling of claims related to this year’s natural disasters, Suncorp has released a report quantifying the economic impact it is having on Queensland’s recovery.

The report makes for compelling reading, but it is unlikely to convince the industry’s many critics that insurers play a valuable role in getting communities back on their feet.

Commissioned by Suncorp and undertaken by Deloitte Access Economics, the report shows that Suncorp has pumped $422.3 million into the Queensland economy this year, and that its economic contribution over a 10-year period as a result of this year’s disasters will be in the region of $1.2 billion.

Indeed, come 2020 the economic contribution from claims payments is still estimated at around $210 million.

Much of this stimulus was undertaken in regional areas of the state where the economic costs of disasters were more acute.

The data shows Suncorp Group has handled around 40,000 claims from the Queensland disasters to date, valued at just over $1 billion. Residential claims totalled $767.7 million, while commercial claims were approximately $267.2 million.

Suncorp Personal Insurance CEO Mark Milliner says the report “shows that our claims systems and policies allowed us to process claims quicker, while spending and employing faster than any government or council”.

“This quick and targeted spending ensured Queensland received an effective financial stimulus that helped drive retail, small business and construction growth in what was an already depressed market.”

In addition to the cash contribution, Deloitte has quantified that Suncorp has helped create nearly 3700 new jobs in Queensland in the immediate post-disaster period, mostly in the southeast of the state.

While the positive employment impact will scale down over time, Suncorp will leave behind a legacy of almost 500 full-time jobs still in existence come 2020. 

A policy to purchase locally meant that 93% of the repair and rebuilding activities authorised by Suncorp were carried out by local companies.

“We know the use of local trades is far more financially viable due to the high cost of transport and temporary reallocation for imported services,” Mr Milliner adds.

“It is also in any insurer’s best interest to ensure premiums paid by customers return to their local economies in order to secure jobs and business trade.”

Speaking at the insurer’s annual general meeting last week, Suncorp Group CEO Patrick Snowball told shareholders the insurer has “re-established Suncorp’s credibility and confidence with our stakeholders” and even increased its market share out of the catastrophes.

“I am pleased to report that despite the need for premium rises we not only retained our customers, but in areas such as Queensland, increased our business due to the way we managed claims from floods and Cyclone Yasi.”

As the report points out, the broader economic impact of the insurance industry following a natural disaster is commonly not well understood.

The question remains as to whether the traumatic and emotive period following a catastrophe has sufficiently passed for the valuable contribution of the insurance industry to be fully understood and acknowledged.