Overseas insurance schemes to deal with natural disasters including flood will be examined by the Federal Government’s new Natural Disasters Insurance Review.

Panel Chairman John Trowbridge told an Institute of Actuaries conference in Sydney last week that insurance schemes from the UK, New Zealand, the US, France and Spain will be assessed.

“We are interested in what is going to be done or initiated by the Federal Government that will address and prevent problems for the next set of disasters that come about,” he said.

Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten announced the review last month following community criticism of most insurers’ reactions to the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi.

Mr Trowbridge says the panel – made up of himself, lawyer Jim Berrill and Tower Australia CEO Jim Minto – will consider the extent and reasons for non-insurance and underinsurance for flood and other natural disasters.

The panel is already working on an issues paper to be released next month which will be open to public submissions.

Meanwhile, confusion over the official name of Mr Trowbridge’s panel has finally been explained as a mistake from within Treasury.

The group has been called the National Disasters Insurance Review since a media release on March 4 from Mr Shorten’s office announced its formation.

While statements since then have called it “natural” rather than “national”, media reports have faithfully stuck with the “national” title.

Enquiries by insuranceNEWS.com.au this morning revealed that the use of “national” was a mistake committed somewhere within Treasury, and from here on in it’s definitely – and officially – “natural”.