The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) and major insurers have rejected criticism of the industry’s performance following a 32% rise in code breaches last financial year.

They say the increase has more to do with improved compliance frameworks than a lax attitude, as had been flagged by Code Governance Committee Chairman Lynelle Briggs.

“As we continue to improve our monitoring and supervision of the code, we continue to experience increased numbers of reportable breaches,” a Suncorp spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“The increase in reported breaches represents improved identification and capture, not necessarily an increase in the number of breaches occurring.”

Suncorp takes the General Insurance Code of Practice “very seriously”, having taken significant steps since 2017 to increase its quality assurance program.

“We see the code as a mechanism to continue to improve our business and how we serve our customers,” the spokesman said.

IAG has noted a small increase in reportable breaches, which it says is due to its handling of compliance-related matters.

“Where an issue is identified, our priority is to contact the customer and take all the necessary steps to rectify the issue, while doing everything we can to prevent it happening again,” a spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“As part of meeting the objectives of the code, we remain focused on ensuring we have the best systems in place to identify any reportable breaches… and to continue to raise them appropriately. We believe this is also an important way the wider industry can improve outcomes for customers.”

ICA plans to discuss with members the “significant issues” raised in the governance committee’s report, spokesman Campbell Fuller says.

“The code has been focused on rectification and remedy of breaches, which has delivered improvements to processes and better outcomes for customers,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“The industry is committed to improving the reporting of code compliance breaches.”