The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has welcomed today’s passage of the Financial Sector Reform Bill 2020 through Parliament.

As previously reported by insuranceNEWS.com.au, the legislation covers Hayne royal commission recommendations for add-on sales, hawking and claims handling.

ICA says passage of the legislation gives insurers “the certainty needed to put in place new processes and systems to bring the benefits of these reforms to consumers”.

“The Insurance Council and its members now look forward to working with Commonwealth Treasury, ASIC, and other groups such as consumer advocates to bring these reforms to life,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said.

“There are practical implementation issues that we are keen to see resolved so the legislation can maximise consumer outcomes as effectively and quickly as possible.”

Restrictions on unsolicited sales of general insurance and stronger disciplines on compliance with the General Insurance Code of Practice “should improve consumer confidence in the value and utility of insurance”, ICA says.

Consumer group Financial Rights Legal Centre says the “important and long overdue reforms” will lift standards of practice and benefit insurance consumers.

“A significant percentage of complaints to Financial Rights Insurance Law Service concerns basic claims handling issues such as delays, unfair reliance on exclusions, refusal to supply copies of evidence relied on, and fishing expeditions seeking unreasonable and sometimes irrelevant evidence from their customers,” CEO Karen Cox said.

“These longstanding problems have festered because regulators have been unable to oversee these activities. We believe the royal commission reforms will lead to better practices and fewer complaints.”