The RC has released further information on the Round 4 hearings on experiences with financial services entities in regional and remote communities, which will be held from 25 June – 29 June 2018 and 2 July – 6 July 2018.
The Round 4 hearings will focus on issues affecting Australians who live in remote and regional communities, which relate to farming finance, natural disaster insurance, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians’ interactions with financial services entities. The following topics/case studies will be examined
Module 1: Farming finance
- CBA (Bankwest)
- Rabobank
- NAB
- CBA
- Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (Rural Bank)
- ANZ (Landmark)
Module 2: Natural Disaster Insurance
- Youi
- Suncorp
- The case studies will consider issues arising from:
- Tropical Cyclone Debbie in March 2017;
- the hail storm in Broken Hill in November 2016;
- the bushfires near Wye River in December 2015; and
- the floods in the Hunter Valley in April 2015.
Module 3: Interactions between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and financial services entities
- Select AFSL, trading as Let’s Insure
- ACBF Funeral Plans
- ANZ
Module 2 and Module 3 will hold particular relevance to insurance.
Background Paper 14: General Insurance has been released, which provides useful information on categories of general insurance, retail products and clients, the regulatory framework applicable to general insurance, the Insurance Contracts Act (ie. the section 13 duty of utmost good faith and section 54) and the IDR/EDR framework. Additionally, the concepts of causation and claims are also discussed.
Background Paper 15: Catastrophes and Natural Disasters has been released, which provides background on the role of insurance in community recovery from catastrophes and natural disasters. The inconsistent definition of ‘flood’ is discussed, as well as New Zealand’s legislative model in relation to catastrophes. The Ramsay Review Final Report’s proposals for an improved dispute resolution scheme in this area are also discussed.
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