The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) will form a Business Advisory Council as part of responses to a report delivered by John Trowbridge on availability and affordability issues.

The council, to be chaired by National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) outgoing CEO Dallas Booth, will bring together representatives from the insurance and business sectors to work through practical solutions in areas such as professional indemnity, public liability and business interruption.

“We are pleased this high-calibre group will be chaired by Dallas Booth, whose extensive experience in insurance and broking brings to the table the vital intermediary skill needed,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said today.

“The advisory council will look at how to address market gaps in various lines of cover and to evaluate what the risks and solutions could be for sectors such as carnivals, caravan parks, adventure parks, financial advisers, and building professionals.”

Membership of the new Business Advisory Council will include representatives from the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman and the Office of the NSW Small Business Commissioner.

NIBA and the Underwriting Agencies Council will participate as required and separately work with ICA around increasing understanding and dialogue on underwriting decisions.

Mr Hall says a key theme of the Trowbridge review is that solutions, where they exist, will require a concerted effort between the insurance sector, small business and government.

ICA has supported all 13 recommendations in the review, which it announced in February after numerous external inquiries in recent years highlighted insurance problems.

ICA will create a board committee to consider proposals by the advisory council to intervene where no single provider of cover exists. It will examine simplification of commercial policy definitions and documentation, support work to improve broker fees transparency and consider industry-wide protocols where significant increases occur on already high-cost premiums.

The report says an ICA and NIBA working group should examine business interruption products currently on the market and, in undertaking its work, consider issues associated with insuring pandemics.

Mr Trowbridge says the scope of his recommendations is substantial and will take some time to take shape and become effective, and as a result ICA should undertake a review of progress in the second half of next year.

Submissions point to a favourable response to ICA’s initiative in setting up a consultation process, he says.

“Indeed, the enthusiasm with which several organisations have embraced the potential to interact directly with the Insurance Council and the insurance industry suggests that this initiative by the Insurance Council may herald a much-needed circuit breaker,” he says in the report.

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