A 2016 exposé by Fairfax Media journalist Adele Ferguson and the ABC’s Four Corners
program exposed a disturbing culture within CommInsure that, according to the insurer’s
ex-Chief Medical Officer, Dr Benjamin Koh, betrayed a drive for profit above people, the
antithesis of the message given by Commonwealth Bank CEO, Ian Narev.
Narev conceded on ABC radio the bank had let customers down and he would contact the
affected customers individually. "I am very saddened and very disappointed by the
experience of those customers," Mr Narev said on Tuesday.
CommInsure accounts for a small share of CBA's total profits, but analysts highlighted that it
could point to wider cultural problems. Analyst Brian Johnson contrasted the revelations
with the pledge by CBA chairman David Turner last year to be "the ethical bank" as its point
of competitive advantage.
There is an inherent conflict of interest in insurance. The more promises (insurance policies)
an insurance company makes, the more profit it makes. The more promises (claims) it
keeps, the less profit it makes. There is an inbuilt inclination, then, for an insurance
company to make lots of promises, and to keep as few of them as it possibly can.
When buying life insurance people often do so content in the knowledge that, if the worst
were to happen, the insurance company would step in to protect them. But the reality can
be very different.
In one case highlighted by Ferguson, the CommInsure claims management department
admitted a claimant had indeed suffered the serious heart attack he had claimed, but was
not covered under the Total Permanent Disability (TPD) policy he been paying for much of
his adult life. CommInsure claimed it was just the “wrong sort” of heart attack. Instead of
A$1 million, he got A$25,000.
In another example, an employee of the Commonwealth Bank suffered a debilitating posttraumatic stress disorder after a violent attack. The bank’s own medical officer
recommended the employee be retired from the bank and the general workforce due to illhealth. As a valued employee, the person assumed he would be covered by the firm’s TPDpolicy, which was issued by CommInsure. But CommInsure interpreted it differently and
argued the ex-employee might be cured if he underwent treatment by a specialist.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s subsequent investigation into the
scandal cleared CommInsure from claims of wrongdoing. CommInsure managing director
Helen Troup said “there were some extremely serious allegations made against
CommInsure on the Four Corners program and they were found to be unsubstantiated, and
that was a very good outcome for CommInsure”. She added the key allegations went to the
heart of a life insurance company, given accusations it was denying claims and mistreating
customers, and “out of all of the allegations, that’s the one that caused me the most
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