New Zealand’s industry regulator has flagged six areas it expects insurers to work on after reviewing responses to the 2023 Auckland anniversary weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.

The areas for improvement are communications; project management and oversight; identifying and treatment of vulnerable customers; resourcing; complaints handling; and business continuity.

“While we acknowledge all the work done by insurers to improve the consumer experience since the Canterbury earthquakes … we still see areas where improvements can be made,” Financial Markets Authority head of insurance Jane Brown said.

“The next significant insurance event is a matter of ‘when’, rather than ‘if’. It is important that insurers take the time to review and tailor their claims processes to ensure that consumers’ expectations and needs are being met.”

On communication, the FMA says consumers need clear, effective and consistent engagement throughout claims.

“Insurers should proactively inform consumers of what to expect at all stages of the claim life cycle … It is important that consumers can easily access this type of information when they need it, to reduce frustration and confusion.”

The FMA review is based on responses from seven fire and general insurers, plus feedback from brokers and dispute resolution schemes.

An Insurance Council of New Zealand spokesperson says the FMA findings reflect those from the industry’s own review earlier this year.

“Given the unprecedented volume of claims, it is inevitable that some customers may have experienced issues,” they said. “Our industry review outlined several actions already taken, or under way, to improve outcomes for customers.

“We also made several recommendations aimed at improving the overall response to future large-scale events, including closer co-ordination with emergency management and local councils to better deploy staff and resources where they are needed most.”

See the report here.