Mandatory participation in an insurance comparison site will not solve the problem of high premiums in disaster-prone northern Queensland, according to Allianz GM Corporate Affairs Nicholas Scofield.

“If we were, for example, forced onto an aggregator, I can tell you our strategy would be to ensure we did not have the cheapest price,” he told an Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance forum in Sydney last week.

“Aggregators just drive people to focus on the price and virtually nothing else.”

Allianz is “happy with the amount of business we are getting and we don’t want to open up a new channel that sees a whole bunch more flooding through the door”.

In this way, aggregators can cause an upward price spiral, he says.

The forum was held to obtain feedback from insurers regarding the Productivity Commission’s interim report on natural disaster funding arrangements.

Mr Scofield says hundreds of thousands of properties are vulnerable to disasters, and it may be beyond government intervention, mitigation and planning to improve insurance affordability in all cases.

Allianz instead favours creation of a natural disaster reinsurance pool.

He says comparison websites work well for standardised commodities with a use-by date – such as hotels and flights – but not for insurers, which cover different perils in different geographies.

Coles may want to sell every household a loaf of bread, but insurers “don’t want every single house on the Brisbane River or the Blue Mountains or in Cairns”.

Mr Scofield was commenting during a panel discussion with executives from Suncorp, Swiss Re and the Insurance Council of Australia, plus Productivity Commissioner Karen Chester.

Swiss Re Head of Property Underwriting for Asia-Pacific Mike Mitchell says reinsurers could help government agencies with capital for mitigation work and support broader ways to provide funding.

At last month’s UN Climate Summit in New York, Swiss Re CEO Michel Liès pledged $US10 billion ($11.26 billion) in insurance capacity to help countries realise climate change strategies required by 2020.

Mr Mitchell says the commission’s report may prompt state governments to better manage their asset bases.

The report argues the current funding model creates a disincentive for state and territory governments to invest in mitigation and insurance. It recommends less federal funding for relief and recovery costs, but more for state and territory mitigation works.

The commission is conducting public hearings this month and will accept submissions until October 21. Its final report is due in December.