The final revamped General Insurance Code of Practice is set to be presented for Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) board approval at the end of next month following a lengthy review that ran into the Hayne royal commission.

ICA board final ratification and sign-off would then pave the way for a one-year transition period, starting January, CEO Rob Whelan told the Claims Convention in Sydney.

“It has been a long journey and a complicated one,” he said.

“It is like trying to pitch a tent in the middle of a hurricane, trying to redo your code right in the middle of the Hayne royal commission, but we are now at a point where we have a near-final draft of the revised code.”

Commissioner Kenneth Hayne recommended that industry codes should identify enforceable code provisions, where breaches are punishable by law, but he gave ICA until June 30 2021 to finalise its selections, given the current code review timeframe.

Mr Whelan says that process will come down to looking at what is not already enforced through a raft of new legislation triggered by the royal commission, product design and distribution reforms and other changes.

The existing code took effect on July 1 2014, with a 12-month transition period and ICA began work on an update in 2017. A review last year made 30 recommendations for the final version.

Major changes in the final version include increased protections for vulnerable consumers affected by financial distress, family violence and other problems. Companies will need to have family violence policies in place within six months of the code starting.

Mr Whelan says it is important the industry recognises its responsibilities in the area, even as it requires training and time to ensure improvements are effective.

“We are seeing more and more vulnerability in our communities through all sorts of reasons,” he said. “It is increasing, and it is an issue that we have to be able to respond to and deal with effectively, so that is why it is such a centrepiece of the code.”

Mr Whelan has been critical of the adversarial nature of the royal commission and, in its wake, the lack of thought to inter-related impacts from the rapid introduction of multiple changes.

“What disappoints me is not just the list, the number of reforms that are expected to be undertaken, but the speed with which they are expected to be undertaken,” he told the convention.

“When we have been talking to politicians, regulators and so on about the unintended consequences they don’t want to hear about them.”

Unfair contract term reforms and related changes could encourage insurers to more rapidly handle claims to move them off the books, encouraging greater use of technology and potentially more cash settlements.

“Despite the fact that cash settlements are kind of frowned on at the moment, I think you will see a move toward just cash settling,” Mr Whelan said.

“Whether that is a good outcome for the customer, this is the question I think no-one is really asking enough.”