Page 198 - Be Reasonable – Do It My Way , Peter E. Daly AM, My Story

CHAPTER 19 - CONSUMER INTERESTS - THE 1990’S A PERIOD OF MASSIVE CHANGE
unique structure, but eventually everybody signed up. Peer pressure and competition then saw the outliers, who were not members of ICA (mainly the government insurance offices) also join.
The changes we brought about in the 1990s were not only ground- breaking for the general insurance industry but they became benchmarks for the regulators and financial services generally and were closely followed in other parts of the world.
At least 25 years have now passed and when I look back I don’t think that there has been as significant an industry or consumer- oriented change that has occurred since; with the possible exception of the outcome of the HIH Royal Commission. However most of those Royal Commission driven changes were in prudential regulation rather than consumer regulation.
My consumer friends are probably better placed than I to comment but to me it is disappointing that the same problems keep coming up in insurance, the dispute and complaints numbers keep rising and consumer trust in financial services is I believe at an all-time low.
At the time when I was CEO of ICA the insurance industry was far more fragmented. In 1992 we had 108 members and the companies were in the main run by chief executives who, almost without exception, were people who had grown up in the industry; who knew their business first-hand and were not shy to adopt positions of industry leadership
It is hard to see where the future leadership of the industry will come from as concentration in the industry has largely meant that the major companies look after their own interests and the ICA no longer occupies the prime leadership role; nor indeed do any of the financial services industry bodies.
IEC and ICA both benefited by having directors on their boards who were the ultimate Controlling Officers of the company or
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