Suncorp Commercial Insurance CEO Anthony Day has attacked three commonly believed public attitudes that he says are damaging the insurance industry’s reputation.

In a speech in Brisbane last week, he said several myths about insurance are “having a serious negative impact” on stakeholders’ views of insurance and the contribution the industry makes to the wider economy.

He says commentators, looking to place blame for rising premiums, have latched on to one such myth – that reinsurance is a villain.

Mr Day defended reinsurance, describing it as an “enabler”.

He says that without reinsurance, Australian general insurers would find it difficult to operate, and that reinsurance actually lowers the cost of insurance for the end purchaser.

“The cost of meeting claims would be impossible without reinsurance. The spate of major disasters heavily impacted on insurers’ costs, but without the support of reinsurance the increase in costs could have been even steeper.”

Mr Day says the myth that insurers do not pay claims is, in part, perpetuated by the industry failing to demonstrate its worth.

“We are often reactive rather than proactively educating the public, governments and other stakeholders of the benefits the insurance industry brings to the community and the economic sustainability of insurance,” he said.

He says the level of denied claims within Suncorp’s commercial division is so low that the company doesn’t even bother tracking them because “the effort required to monitor them is counter-productive”.

He says tracking complaints and dispute resolutions is a more instructive indicator of insurer performance.

The final damaging myth Mr Day identified is that people working in insurance are not seen as professionals.

He says insurance professionals are highly skilled and required a range of proficiencies in areas as diverse as legal, financial, actuarial, risk assessment, management, project management and communications.

“We are a profession that requires vast intellectual capital and experience,” he said. “Yet we have something of an image problem, and it’s vital we demonstrate the depth and breadth of people and skills the insurance profession needs.”

Mr Day concedes that while insurance will always be a grudge purchase, “it is up to the industry to demonstrate that is a necessary purchase”.

His comments follow a similar presentation by Suncorp Commercial EGM Distribution Andrew Mair to the Insight Conference in Adelaide earlier this month. Mr Mair called on the industry to get on the front foot and lead debate rather than behave like a victim.