General insurers had the second highest number of complaints lodged against them in the last financial year, while travel insurance topped the list of COVID-19 disputes by financial product type, data released today shows.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) received 15,665 cases involving general insurers in the year to June 30. Banks have the most complaints, at 28,176 while credit providers came third (9720), followed by superannuation fund trustee/adviser (6135) and debt collector/buyer (2563).

The yearly figures are contained in the latest edition of the AFCA Datacube, which was launched last year to provide details about financial firms with four or more complaints in a given period. Information given includes service and products involved, naming firms and how they have been resolved.

AFCA received a total of 76,880 complaints and awarded $246.1 million in compensation to complainants.

Home building cover topped the list of general insurance products with the most complaints, at 2789. Motor vehicle insurance was a close second on 2602, followed by travel insurance on 1220, uninsured third party motor vehicle on 797 and home contents on 614.

IAG had about 3158 complaints, with the business ordered by AFCA to pay out some $13.1 million in compensation to complainants. Suncorp, the other major personal lines insurer, had 3471 disputes and coughed out some $12.1 million in compensation payments.

There were 1189 complaints against Allianz, 1156 against QBE and 655 against the Hollard Insurance Company.

For COVID-related disputes, travel insurance was the most complained about financial product with 2610 disputes covering the period from March 3 to August 31. Credit cards came a distant second on 910 and superannuation accounts placed third on 817.

General insurance accounted for 41% of overall disputes related to the pandemic, trailed by credit, which had a share of 35%.

“The early impact of COVID-19 can be seen in the spikes in complaints relating to travel insurance,” AFCA CEO and Chief Ombudsman David Locke said. “With so many travel plans impacted, it was inevitable that there would be a big increase in travel insurance claims.”

Consumer Action Law Centre Senior Policy Officer Cat Newton says the latest figures reinforce the urgent need to implement the Hayne royal commission’s reform proposals in areas such as claims handling.

“The complaint figures show that thousands of people continue to have problems with their insurance company,” Ms Newton told insuranceNEWS.com.au today. “That’s why we need Commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s reforms to claims handling, junk insurance and sales practices implemented by the Federal Government immediately.”

Click here to access the Datacube.