A guidance note from the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), the Financial Services Council, the Industry Funds Forum (IFF) and Industry Super Australia aims to improve the quality and availability of group life insurance data.

Better membership and claims data would be used in the tendering process, renewal pricing and ongoing reserving.

“The key benefits of this are more accurate and fairer pricing, improved industry sustainability and increased regulator confidence in the industry,” the guidance note says.

The note aims to encourage superannuation funds and insurers that are not members of industry associations to adopt the proposals.

It was developed to comply with the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority’s prudential standard SPS 250 – Insurance in Superannuation.

AIST EM Policy and Research David Haynes says the note “recognises improving the quality of data is a key step towards ensuring best practice in complaints handling”.

IFF Chairman Sandy Grant says group life has been successful for Australia.

“This has resulted in better risk protection for Australians from all walks of life and providing a safety net to millions of people who would have otherwise not had life and disability insurance individually,” he said. “This guidance note will only strengthen the system further.”