ASIC has commenced court proceedings alleging QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited (QBE) misled customers about the value of discounts offered on certain general insurance products.

Between July 2017 and September 2022, QBE made statements and sent renewal notices promising discounts on premiums for a range of general insurance products, including home, contents and car insurance.

ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said, ‘ASIC alleges QBE’s pricing model potentially eroded the discounts received by over half a million customers, in some cases to nil.

‘Some customers were promised discounts for their loyalty when renewing their policies, which they didn’t receive.

‘The failure by insurers to deliver on pricing promises is a key priority for ASIC and we will continue to take action to hold insurers to account. Where insurers make discount promises to renewing customers, they need to have robust systems and controls in place to make sure their customers receive the discounts they were promised.’

The discounts were offered through more than 500,000 renewal notices to retirees, loyalty customers, QBE shareholders, those holding multiple QBE policies, and those holding QBE policies and who had made no claims.

Statements offering pricing discounts were also made in various product disclosure statements published on QBE’s website.

The court proceedings have been filed in the Federal Court. ASIC is seeking civil penalties, declarations and adverse publicity orders.

Today’s announcement follows ASIC’s action against IAG-subsidiaries, Insurance Australia Limited (IAL) and Insurance Manufacturers of Australia Pty Limited (IMA) in August 2023 (23-228MR), alleging IAL and IMA misled customers about the loyalty discounts available for certain types of home insurance.

ASIC also brought action against IAL (21-270MR) in October 2021 alleging it misled customers regarding loyalty discounts available for certain types of home insurance including NRMA branded insurance, resulting in IAL being penalised $40 million over pricing discount failures in June 2023 (23-179MR). Separately, ASIC also initiated proceedings against RACQ for pricing discount failures resulting in a $10 million penalty (23-323MR).