CommInsure must give documents supporting its life cover claims decisions to the House of Representatives Economics Committee. 

“The committee will be seeking documents from the bank in relation to CommInsure and the steps you have taken on this matter,” committee chairman David Coleman said at a hearing in which Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev was questioned.

“Those documents will include issues related to internal investigations of the issue, relevant board papers and actions taken by the bank.”

Mr Coleman says CommInsure’s refusal of claims for terminally ill policyholders “is of great concern” to his constituents.

Mr Narev admitted some problems with claims, but says independent experts examined more than 5 million documents and found the problem was not as serious as has been portrayed.

“I would say that, although – again, focusing on the customers – the goal is to put things right, the evidence that the independent reviews have surfaced is significantly at odds with many respects of how the issue has been characterised,” he said.

“If I take just the definitions, one example that has been used is the definition of heart attacks.

“We have gone back to 2014 – the last time the whole product was updated – and you will see from the update… that we have now paid 17 customers who became eligible retrospectively under the new definition.”

Mr Narev says it is important to remember CommInsure pays 22,000 claims a year.

The committee did not question the CEOs of the other three leading banks – ANZ, NAB and Westpac – about their life insurance operations when they appeared before the inquiry last week.