The industry has been reminded to contact customers through multiple channels after a life insurer failed to notify applicants of its decisions not to offer cover.

“By relying exclusively on attempts to contact applicants by phone, the insurer did not ensure these applicants were informed about the outcome of their application,” the Life Code Compliance Committee said.

“Due to these deficiencies, hundreds of applicants were not notified of the insurer’s decision not to offer insurance. We found this to be a significant breach of the code.”

The committee has not named the insurer but says the case “highlights how communication processes can fall short when they do not adequately account for whether customers have received and understood important information about their insurance.

“Insurers should take all reasonable steps to contact applicants to provide this information. The code does not require the use of specific communication channels, but insurers are encouraged to use multiple channels to ensure this information is reliably received.”

The committee says the offending insurer has strengthened its processes by using multiple and “reliable” communication channels.