The Australian Securities and Investments Commission says it has secured $10 million in remediation from Allianz Australia and subsidiary AWP Australia for travel insurance that was “potentially mis-sold” to 31,500 customers.

The alleged mis-selling took place on Allianz’s own websites and those of its distributors including airlines and travel agents such as Expedia.

ASIC says the misconduct involved selling policies to consumers who were not eligible to make a claim, partially paid travel insurance claims, and selling policies on Expedia websites for higher premiums than on a standalone basis.

As insuranceNEWS.com.au reported last month, ASIC has already started civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court in relation to some aspects of the matter and alleged breaches of the Corporations Act and the ASIC Act.

However ASIC notes that “Allianz and AWP’s agreement to remediate their customers is not an admission by either Allianz or AWP that they have breached the law”.

“ASIC has taken steps to ensure customers are remediated in full for these conduct failings,” Acting Chairman Karen Chester said today.

“Insurers need to be careful to make sure that they don’t mislead consumers into thinking they have insurance cover for something when they don’t.

“ASIC has not only initiated civil proceedings concerning an aspect of the conduct, but ensured more than 31,000 consumers are fully remediated.”

ASIC says Allianz and AWP have:

• removed the potentially misleading or deceptive statements from their websites and those of their partners

• remediated travel insurance customers whose claims were partially paid

• refunded premiums, with interest, to customers who had purchased travel insurance from Allianz’s own website or those of its partners.

Allianz says that in 2018 it began a “detailed review” of the content on some websites selling travel insurance products.

“The review raised issues about some of the website content relating to the identification or description of the limits, sub-limits and exclusions that would apply to particular policies,” a spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

The website content has since been addressed and Allianz says it worked with ASIC to implement a “comprehensive” remediation program.

“This has resulted in the payment of $10.1 million to 31,482 customers, an average of $321 per customer,” the spokesman said.

“We have also made a charitable donation through a Community Benefit Payment of around $400,000.”

Consumers who have concerns about their travel insurance purchased from Allianz or its partners between June 2012 and November 2018, can click here for more information.