New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority has released a report this morning into the conduct and culture of fire and general insurers operating in the country and found “the level of conduct maturity was low, with some insurers demonstrating that they did not see conduct and culture as relevant to their organisation”.

The FMA says product and policy-holder review processes need to be improved, with many insurers not actively monitoring product suitability, still selling poor value or legacy products, and over-charging some customers.

Only two insurers, IAG and the Medical Assurance Society, satisfied the FMA queries. Ten were marked as “deficient” and 30 as “inadequate”.

“Several insurers now have large-scale remediation activity underway as a result of our reviews,” the report said. “Issues requiring remediation include pricing and multi- policy discounts not being applied, over-charging on the agreed premium amount, no-claims bonuses not being applied, late payment fees being charged without appropriate cause, customer data (eg date of birth) not being accurate, and out-of-date product features and benefits that are unlikely to ever be claimed.”