New CoP

Conduct standards for us and our Employees and Distributors

23. We will have policies and procedures for our Employees and Distributors that require them to conduct sales appropriately and to prevent unacceptable sales practices.
24. We will only allow our Employees and Distributors to provide services that match their expertise.
25. When our Distributors are providing a service to you, they must tell you the service we have authorised them to provide and that they are acting on our behalf.
26. If you make a Complaint to one of our Distributors, about either us or their conduct, then the Distributor must tell us about the Complaint within 2 Business Days. If your Complaint is about a Retail Insurance product, then your Complaint will be handled under the Code’s Complaints process.
27. Our Distributors must notify us within 2 Business Days of any Code breaches by them when acting on our behalf.

Education and training for our Employees and Distributors

28. We will require our Employees and Distributors to receive appropriate education and training:
    1. to provide their services competently;
    2. to deal with you professionally; and
    3. about the Code.
29. Our Employees’ education and training records will be kept for at least 7 years. We will make those records available to the Code Governance Committee at its request. We will require our Distributors to do the same.

Dealing with concerns about our Employees or Distributors

30. We will have policies and procedures in place to monitor the performance of our Employees and/or Distributors.
31. We will investigate any concerns about the conduct of our Employees or Distributors that you raise with us, or that we are aware of. Where appropriate, we will address these concerns by — for example:
    1. requiring them to go through further training; or
    2. disciplinary action.
32. If we identify that any of our Employees or Distributors have engaged in poor conduct in breach of our policies or procedures that has caused you material harm, then we will contact you to discuss an appropriate remedy. The remedy will depend on the circumstances and on what you agree to. For example, a remedy may include:
    1. us refunding any premiums paid;
    2. us paying interest on the refunded premium;
    3. us adjusting the cover the product provides;
    4. us correcting information provided to you; or
    5. us paying a claim.
33. If you are not satisfied with our proposed remedy, then we will tell you how to make a Complaint.

Concerns about other Australian Financial Service Licensees who sell our products

34. If you have a concern about a person or organisation selling our product who is not one of our Distributors, you can contact us and we will let you know how you can have the matter addressed. You can also contact the Code Governance Committee.

21. We, our Distributors and our Service Suppliers will be honest, efficient, fair, transparent and timely in our dealings with you.
22. The Code sets out how we will meet this obligation to you.

3. Words and phrases that have a special meaning in the Code are listed with their meaning in part 16.

What the Code means for you

4. We acknowledge that our customers, and our relationships with our customers, are the foundations of our business.
5. If you have a concern about us, or about any aspect of your relationship with us, then you may:
   1. ask us to address the concern
   2. make a Complaint to us through our Complaints process; and/or
   3. report your concerns to the Code Governance Committee.

Who the Code applies to

6. The Code applies to all insurers who have adopted it. An organisation may adopt the Code if the organisation is a member of the Insurance Council of Australia; a general insurer; or approved by the Insurance Council of Australia. A list of Code subscribers is available at www.insurancecouncil.com.au.

Code commencement

7. The Code takes effect on 5 October 2021.
8. Once we have adopted the Code, then:
   1. all new policies and renewed policies we enter into are covered by the Code;
   2. all new claims we receive are covered by the relevant parts of the Code; and
   3. all new Complaints we receive are covered by the Code.
9. If this Code applies, then any earlier version of the Code does not apply.

Products the Code applies to

10. The Code covers general insurance products with the exception of:
    1. Workers Compensation Insurance;
    2. Marine Insurance;
    3. Medical Indemnity Insurance;
    4. Motor Vehicle Injury Insurance; and
    5. Domestic Builders Insurance or Domestic Builders Warranty/Indemnity Insurance.

11. Also, the Code does not cover:
    1. reinsurance;
    2. life insurance products issued by a life insurer; and
    3. health insurance products issued by a registered health insurer.

12. The Code applies differently to Retail Insurance and Wholesale Insurance. The whole Code applies to Retail Insurance. The following parts of the Code do not apply to Wholesale Insurance:
    1. part 5 — Standards for our Service Suppliers
    2. part 6 — Buying insurance
    3. part 7 — Cancelling an insurance policy
    4. part 8 — Making a claim
    5. part 9 — Supporting customers experiencing vulnerability
    6. part 11 — Complaints (except in limited circumstances).

13. If more than one insurer has insured a portion of the same risk under the same insurance policy (that is, under a co- insurance arrangement), then:
    1. if all of those insurers have adopted the Code, then the Code applies to that insurance policy; and
    2. if any of those insurers has not adopted the Code, then the Code does not apply to that insurance policy.

Complying with the Code

14. By adopting the Code, we enter voluntarily into a contract with the Insurance Council of Australia to comply with the Code.
15. The Code does not create legal or other rights between us and any person or entity other than the Insurance Council of Australia.
16. If we breach our obligations under the Code, the Code Governance Committee may impose sanctions on us as set out in part 13.
17. We are in breach of the Code if our Employees, Distributors or Service Suppliers do not comply with the Code when they are acting on our behalf. Although our Distributors and Service Suppliers are not subscribers to this Code, they are accountable to us for complying with the relevant standards in the Code.

The Code and the law

18. The Code is designed to work with the many laws that cover our conduct and to deal with issues not dealt with in legislation. The Code does not limit your rights under law against us.
19. Where there is an obligation under the Code in addition to a legal requirement, we will also comply with the Code, unless doing so would be in breach of the law.
20. If there is any conflict or inconsistency between the Code and any Commonwealth, State or Territory law, then that law prevails

1. The objectives of the Code are:
   1. to commit us to high standards of service;
   2. to promote better, more informed relations between us and you;
   3. to maintain and promote trust and confidence in the general insurance industry;
   4. to provide fair and effective mechanisms for resolving Complaints you make about us; and
   5. to promote continuous improvement of the general insurance industry through education and training.
2. We will pursue the above objectives of the Code with regard to the law and acknowledging that every contract of insurance is a contract based on the utmost good faith.