Australian court orders Allianz to pay $ 1.1 million fine for travel insurance sales

September 7 (Reuters) – Australian court fined local units of Allianz SE (ALVG.DE) for selling travel insurance to ineligible customers and failing to properly disclose how it calculates premiums on Expedia’s websites (EXPE.O), the country’s business watchdog said. Tuesday.

Two units of German insurer Allianz were fined a total of 1.5 million Australian dollars ($ 1.12 million) in a civil case brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in September of Last year.

The units, Allianz Australia and AWP Australia, pledged A $ 10 million in October last year to compensate around 31,500 customers who were sold potentially incorrect travel insurance through the Allianz website and Expedia, ASIC said.

Allianz Australia issued travel insurance while AWP handled its sale.

ASIC said the court took the early admission of the Allianz companies into consideration when deciding on the sanction.

Allianz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The insurance industry needs to be transparent and accurate when selling and promoting its products,” ASIC Vice President Sarah Court said in a statement.

The two units also face separate criminal charges for allegedly misrepresenting between 2016 and 2018 when selling domestic and international travel insurance.

($ 1 = AU $ 1.3444)

Report by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler

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