The industry needs more time to comply with a proposal to collect data on reinsurance counterparties, according to the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).

ICA has also told the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) it will “strongly oppose” any move to make the information public.

“We wish to emphasise that reinsurance arrangements are highly commercially sensitive and details should not be made public without prior approval from insurers and reinsurers.

“The potential harm done to an insurer’s commercial interests would more than outweigh the small public benefit from the release of such information.”

APRA has issued a discussion paper considering ways it could collect data on reinsurers. It says general insurers face contagion risk from reinsurers being downgraded or failing.

ICA says two draft reporting forms on reinsurance counterparty data have general industry endorsement, but there will be extra costs of collecting the information.

It wants an extension to the proposed timeframe for annual data collection, suggesting June 30 next year for insurers whose balance dates end on December 31 this year.

ICA also wants APRA to reconsider the level of detail required.