HIH report calls for market overhaul

Australia’s insurers and insurance regulators have been braced for upheaval in the wake of the demise of local insurer HIH, and the report of Royal Commissioner Justice Neville Owen has not disappointed. The Royal Commissioner makes no fewer than 61 recommendations for change covering corporate governance, financial reporting and assurance, regulation of general insurance, state and territorial regulation, taxation and general insurance, and policyholder protection. His recommendations include making the Australia Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) the sole regulator for insurance, and removing the prudential regulation function from the states and territories.