Suncorp is “well advanced” in adopting many recommendations from the parliamentary floods inquiry, CEO Steve Johnston told this morning’s annual general meeting, where insurance affordability challenges weighed heavily.

He said the insurer backs many of the inquiry’s findings, in his first direct comments on the report released last Friday.

At the meeting, Suncorp faced questions from shareholders about a recent Australian Financial Complaints Authority dispute ruling stating the insurer wrongly raised a policyholder’s home premiums by 60%, and was asked whether a national levy to help those who cannot afford insurance is a good idea.

On the AFCA ruling, Mr Johnston said: “In our assessment of it ... [it] was an increase that had been properly calculated. In our view, it reflected the inherent risk in that particular property. And again, it sort of falls into that category of people who built and bought in areas they should never have been able to.”

Mr Johnston said the insurer has “to price those risks according to the perils”.

“So we believe it was properly calculated. We felt it was properly disclosed. AFCA took a different view. We respect their view, and we will implement their view relative to that premium.”

The AFCA ruling ordered Suncorp to adjust the premium in line with the average increase since 2020. 

Mr Johnston said the insurer continues to “engage with [AFCA] constructively around how we do calculate premium. It is very complex and is ... sometimes very difficult for customers to understand, and we seek to work with AFCA constructively around how that works.

“None of us around the board or in the management team really like having to put premiums up to the extent that we’ve had to over the past two to three years.”

He said Suncorp has, since the 2022 floods, expanded its permanent home claims team by more than 150 employees and established an on-call lodgement response team to quickly scale up for major weather events.

The insurer has also increased its dedicated focus and support services for vulnerable customers.

“In this context, we welcome the majority of the findings of the [federal] inquiry and can report we are well advanced in implementing many of them,” Mr Johnston said.

On the outstanding flood claims, he said: “It’s inevitable that it’s in the unresolved claims where the real complexity sits, and this is where we have spent a considerable amount of time improving our processes and communications.”

Mr Johnston said greater investment in disaster mitigation and insurance tax reforms are the long-term solutions to addressing premium affordability issues.

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