A consultation paper, produced by former insurance executive and regulator John Trowbridge in collaboration with economist Michael Blythe, has outlined 16 options for consideration.

The paper focuses on commercial lines, particularly SMEs, identifying issues with public liability, professional indemnity, directors’ and officers’, business interruption cover and some property risks.

ICA says it engaged Mr Trowbridge to undertake an independent review to provide a summary of potential solutions that have been challenging sectors of the economy for some time.

“While some small businesses are facing challenges in accessing the insurance they need to operate, in many of these categories, insurers are under pressure to provide a profitable product so solutions are often difficult to determine,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said.

“The Trowbridge review shows that insurers are serious about engaging with these issues for the benefit of individual commercial policyholders and the economy as a whole.”

Submissions on the discussion paper, which sets out a number of questions, are due by Friday June 18. A report with proposals and recommendations for the industry, governments and other parties will then be finalised.

“The aim is to see how much traction each of the propositions attracts and to seek any other options or ideas to add to these propositions or to suggest variations to them that are worthy of consideration,” Mr Trowbridge says.

See ANALYSIS.