Youi’s Australian arm has engaged in “sales breaches” similar to those its New Zealand business recently admitted, parent company Outsurance Holdings says.

It has not provided figures, but says such cases made up a small proportion of quotes and sales.

“Youi Australia has experienced similar sales breaches because the two businesses share common call-centre infrastructure,” Outsurance Joint CEO Willem Roos and Chairman Laurie Dippenaar say in the South African-based group’s annual report.

“In the case of Youi Australia, the number of unacceptable sales registered were isolated and once again represented an extremely small proportion of total quotes and sales.

“The necessary preventative and disciplinary actions have been instituted, as in the case of the New Zealand operation.

“These matters have been discussed with the regulatory authorities and management continues its constructive dialogue with its regulators.”

Youi Australia declined to provide details when contacted by insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“This is not a new issue,” a spokesman said. “We have previously acknowledged that we made some mistakes in our sales process.

“We took responsibility for that and have made changes to our systems and processes to address them.”

The Australian insurer performed well last financial year and is central to Outsurance’s growth plan.

It achieved headline earnings of $47 million in the year to June 30, up from $5 million the previous year, while gross written premium increased 16.8% to $668 million.

The combined operating ratio improved to 89.8% from 100.9% and the cost-to-income ratio strengthened to 30.9% from 36.3%.

“A substantial decrease in Youi Australia’s cost-to-income ratio is a key driver behind Youi’s improved underwriting margin,” Outsurance said.

“This decrease is attributed to the enhanced scale of the business coupled with cost containment and the realisation of operational efficiencies.”

The New Zealand arm, established in 2014, narrowed its headline loss to $10 million from $15 million.