Insurance Council of Australia CEO Andrew Hall says transparency around broker commissions is “critically important” as community expectations evolve.

He says brokers carry out a “critical advisory and distribution role for a number of lines of insurance” and their remuneration arrangements are “a matter for them”.

However, he adds that “transparency is critically important at all times”.

“So whether that’s for a small business or for a strata arrangement, as long as the consumer has good transparency of the relationship and the commissions involved, I think that is the community expectation these days.”

He says cases are sometimes brought to ICA’s attention in which there is a “lack of understanding” around insurance arrangements put in place by strata managers or brokers.

“I think more Australians are going to be living in strata arrangements moving forward. We’re going to have to think about how we can better educate and inform the owners’ corporations, which are the customers in this regard, how to manage their insurance arrangements.

“Brokers have an important role in all of that because of their ability to seek out the right policies for the right types of buildings, but I think we’ve got to do it in a way that gives owners’ corporations confidence they’ve got the right deal.”