The Australian life insurance industry is continuing to face profitability challenges and remains a regulatory priority for the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
The regulator on Tuesday released its corporate plan spanning 2017 to 2021 and nominated “profitability challenges that continue in the life insurance industry” as topmost among its intended “key areas of focus”.
Looking at the domestic settings, it placed life insurance profitability challenges ahead of the need for ongoing improvements to prudent housing lending standards and enhancing governance and risk management practices in the superannuation industry.
It said that in Australia, the economic environment of low interest rates, low wages growth and high household debt persisted
“Public scrutiny of conduct across the financial sector is expected to remain heightened at a time when APRA has also increased its attention on risk culture and governance practices in APRA-regulated industries,” it said.
