A new consumer survey on embedded insurance has surfaced a finding that sits at the centre of the broker value proposition: the majority of Australian consumers are confused about the protection they already carry, and the channels growing fastest to fill that gap are not the ones structured to explain coverage in plain terms. The research, published August 26, 2026, by embedded insurance infrastructure provider Cover Genius found that only 30% of Australian respondents had ever successfully used a card-based protection feature. Twenty-seven percent said they did not know what their primary card covered at all, and 46% said they were unaware of, did not trust, or did not consider their card’s included benefits. The survey drew on 225 Australian respondents as part of a broader 1,392-person study conducted with research firm Gather between March 30 and April 17, 2026. Cover Genius noted the Australian sample is modest, and findings should be read as directional.
Those figures describe a segment of the insured population that holds coverage it cannot navigate – a problem that falls squarely within the scope of professional advice. The National Insurance Brokers Association’s (NIBA) February 2026 consumer research report, Complexity to Clarity: The Broker Advantage, found that 84% of broker clients trust their broker to act in their best interests, while 91% say broker involvement helped them achieve better outcomes. When asked what would make bank-provided protection more appealing, 54% of Australian respondents in the Cover Genius survey cited a clear explanation of what is covered – ahead of a seamless banking app experience (48%) and competitive pricing (44%). For Australian consumers, clarity about coverage outranks cost and convenience. That ordering maps directly to what brokers do.
NIBA CEO Richard Klipin has noted that rising complexity can draw time and focus away from the advisory and advocacy functions where brokers deliver the most value. As Klipin wrote in the 2026 Insurance Outlook Report, “When something goes wrong, the first person you call is your broker.” The card benefits comprehension data from Cover Genius illustrates precisely the kind of confusion that makes that call necessary.
The scale of the distribution shift underway sharpens the stakes. According to PwC Australia, embedded insurance is forecast to account for $35 billion – approximately 18% of the total Australian insurance market worth $201 billion in gross written premium – by 2033, driven by an estimated compound annual growth rate of 34% between 2024 and 2033, far exceeding the 4% projected for traditional insurance channels over the same period.
The Cover Genius survey found that 75% of Australian respondents would switch to a travel booking platform if protection were automatically included at checkout, and 76% said they would be more likely to buy protection if claims were paid out without a formal filing process. Consumer appetite for embedded products is demonstrably high – but so is the comprehension problem those products leave behind. “Australian consumers are highly risk-conscious, but their buying habits are still catching up to modern channels. While uptake in marketplace apps and AI tools is still in its early stages in Australia compared to markets like the US, the appetite for embedded coverage is undeniable,” said Angus McDonald, CEO and co-founder of Cover Genius.
NIBA’s 2025 report Ready or Reacting? Shaping the Future of the Insurance Broking Profession identified technology and automation as the top disruptive force facing the profession over the coming decade, with 83% of brokers expecting significant impact by 2035 but only 61% feeling prepared. Embedded distribution is one of the most visible expressions of that disruption now arriving in market.
The survey found that 39% of Australian respondents would feel most comfortable obtaining embedded protection from their bank or credit card provider, with the booking platform (24%) and dedicated insurance brands (24%) following. Only 4% said they trusted an AI assistant. Just 8% of Australians had purchased protection through a marketplace app, compared with 21% in the US and 12% in the UK – reflecting a more conservative posture toward non-traditional distribution channels.
That concentration of trust in banks carries a compliance dimension. PwC Australia has noted that design and distribution obligations apply directly to embedded insurance arrangements, with insurers responsible for defining an appropriate target market, ensuring it remains appropriate over time, and monitoring the distribution practices of their embedded insurance partners. Between October 2023 and August 2024, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) monitored 19 issuers of high-risk investment, insurance, and credit products, finding that many had limited due diligence arrangements to assess and monitor third-party distributors. The finding that 46% of Australian cardholders do not engage with cover they already hold sits uneasily alongside those obligations. “Automation and native integration are the single largest levers for growth in embedded protection. When cover is integrated seamlessly at checkout and claims are resolved quickly, protection stops being a reluctant add-on. It becomes a standout benefit and a primary reason customers stay loyal to your platform,” McDonald added.
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On product priorities, 80% of Australian respondents rated emergency medical coverage while travelling as highly relevant – above the UK at 77% and the US at 66%. The second-ranked category carries a specific signal for commercial lines practitioners: 72% of respondents rated cyber and identity theft protection as highly relevant, ahead of trip cancellation (70%) and device theft or damage (70%). The Australian Signals Directorate’s (ASD) Annual Cyber Threat Report 2024-25 recorded over 84,700 cybercrime reports – averaging one every six minutes – with the average self-reported cost of cybercrime per report for businesses rising 50% to $80,850. Consumer awareness of cyber risk is rising alongside those numbers. Embedded distribution platforms are now positioning cyber protection as a personal lines product at the checkout – a category that has historically been placed by brokers as a specialist commercial product requiring structured advice. The consumer appetite now evident in the Cover Genius data points to a category shifting toward the mass market and a client conversation that brokers may benefit from initiating earlier and more broadly than the commercial lines context alone has traditionally prompted.
For brokers, the survey’s two central findings point in opposing directions simultaneously: a distribution channel is expanding that captures consumers who value convenience and automation above advice; but the comprehension gap those channels leave behind – consumers who do not know what they hold, cannot use it, and would switch platforms for clarity – remains exactly the problem that professional advice exists to solve.
