The new benchmark for catastrophe preparedness in Australia

PRESS RELEASE

QBE welcomes the report by Deloitte, The new benchmark for catastrophe preparedness in Australia – a review of the insurance industry’s response to the 2022 floods in South East Queensland and New South Wales.(Cat 221).  

Chief Executive Officer, Australia Pacific, Sue Houghton said:

“QBE is very supportive of the Deloitte review. We believe it is an important opportunity for both the insurance industry, and QBE, to identify and understand lessons learned and opportunities for improvement, in preparation of future extreme weather events. 

The report appropriately acknowledges the scale and complexity of the 2022 floods, and the particularly difficult economic environment at the time which impacted the response of insurers.  Against this background, the insurance industry has worked hard to help the people and communities impacted by these devastating floods, restoring and rebuilding what was lost.

However, it’s important for us and the industry to recognise, accept and take actions where improvements are needed to better prepare and respond to catastrophes.  We want our customers to have a better experience when devastating circumstances like a catastrophe occur. I’m proud of the efforts of our claims teams who worked tirelessly through this event to help our customers but we understand there is a need to reflect and improve our response to meet customer expectations. 

While there is more to do, QBE has taken actions to identify and implement improvements following the 2022 floods.  We will consider the report thoroughly and thoughtfully, particularly any of the report’s recommendations that are most relevant to QBE.”