Commonsense change to insurance reporting

The Government is bringing more common sense to mandatory climate reporting by removing health and life insurers from a regime they were never well suited to, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Cameron Brewer says.

"Unlike general insurers, health and life insurers aren't directly exposed to climate risks like extreme weather events, so there's little value in making them report on it. They've told us they don't belong in the climate reporting regime, as ultimately it adds cost to their clients,” Mr Brewer says.

"This is a commonsense fix. It's about making sure the right businesses are reporting, not tying up firms in paperwork that does nothing for anyone.

"Climate reporting was introduced by the previous Government, but it wasn't working as well as it should. We heard it was a barrier to listing on the NZX, and that in some cases the costs were disproportionately high.

"This Government backs business growth, so last year we made practical changes to fix the regime. We raised the climate reporting threshold to $1 billion in market capitalisation for listed issuers and removed managed investment schemes. Now we're taking health and life insurers out too."

Nine health and life insurers will be removed from the climate reporting regime, along with the 88 businesses removed through the previous decisions. Once the updates are in place, around 67 businesses will be required to report, compared to 164 originally.

"Our largest businesses, the ones with the greatest impact and the resources to comply properly, will still report. This is about cutting costs where they don't make sense, not lowering the bar for those who should be at the table," Mr Brewer says.

"That's all part of this Government's plan to fix the basics, build the future, and make sure Kiwi firms can get on with growing rather than drowning in red tape." ...