The general insurance industry of Australia now has a professional standards framework supporting general insurance claims handling and settling services.
The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) led the industry-wide collaboration to create the framework, covering all claims handling roles of licensed claims handlers and providing standards for unlicensed insurance fulfilment providers, as first revealed by Prue Willsford at the Insurance Industry Awards.
ANZIIF worked with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and other industry organisations to craft the framework, which ANZIIF said, promises benefits.
The framework provides flexibility on an “if not, why not” approach to cover wholesale, retail, and other business models.
Under the framework, organisations are not required to pay any annual or other licensing feels, and are not required to get independent certifications.
ANZIIF also noted that the framework improves the professionalism of claims handling and the attraction and retention of employees.
The framework also provides consistency that will benefit the entire industry and is flexible enough to align to existing role structures, it stated.
The framework has three clusters:
“All competencies have been linked to the Australian Qualifications Framework for transparency, robustness and mapped to ASIC Information Statement 253 requirements,” ANZIIF said.
ANZIIF president Ben Bessell commented on the release of the framework, saying the institute is an “important part” of the Australian insurance industry landscape.
“As the leading professional membership associate serving all parts of our industry, it is the only association to develop such a framework on behalf of the industry, Bessell said.
Download the General Insurance Claims Handling Framework here.
