TL;DR — The direct answer The Insurance Council of Australia’s draft 2026 General Insurance Code of Practice (GICOP) gives wholesale insurance customers more protections — full access to complaints handling, investigation standards, and contractually enforceable Code rights — but dramatically narrows what counts as Wholesale Insurance. Instead of “everything that isn’t retail”, wholesale will only cover a defined list of small-business property-style products. Business interruption, public liability, professional indemnity, cyber and ISR are excluded — and large-business insurance drops out of the Code entirely. The consultation closes 21 July 2026. |
What is GICOP and why is it being rewritten?
The General Insurance Code of Practice (GICOP) is the Australian general insurance industry’s self-regulatory standard, owned by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) and independently monitored by the Code Governance Committee (CGC). The current version dates from 2020 (updated 2023).
Following the 2023–24 Independent Code Review and the Parliamentary Flood Inquiry, the ICA released a full redraft for public consultation in June 2026. The headline change is that most of the new Code will be contractually enforceable — Code obligations will form part of the insurance contract itself, giving customers direct legal recourse for breaches.
But one of the most consequential — and least discussed — changes sits in the fine print: how the Code divides the world into Retail and Wholesale Insurance, and what each category actually gets.
Definitions: Retail vs Wholesale Insurance in GICOP
What is Retail Insurance under GICOP?
Retail Insurance means general insurance products bought by individuals (or small businesses, for some product types) that are “retail products” in the familiar consumer sense. The draft Code lists them expressly, including:
• Motor vehicle insurance
• Home building and home contents insurance — now expressly including residential strata (where 50% or more of floor space is residential)
• Sickness and accident insurance
• Consumer credit insurance
• Travel insurance
• Personal and domestic property insurance — now expressly including pet insurance
The whole Code applies to Retail Insurance. That is true today and remains true in the draft.
What is Wholesale Insurance under the current (2020/2023) Code?
Under the current Code, Wholesale Insurance is a catch-all: any general insurance product covered by the Code that is not Retail Insurance. A sole trader’s public liability policy, a mid-market ISR program, a listed company’s D&O tower — all technically “Wholesale Insurance”, all receiving the same residual slice of Code protections.
What is Wholesale Insurance under the 2026 draft?
The draft replaces the catch-all with a closed, positive list. Wholesale Insurance will mean a non-retail product for use in connection with a Small Business, limited to these cover types:
• Computer and electronic breakdown
• Fire or accidental damage (including commercial strata that is less than 50% residential)
• General property
• Glass
• Land transit
• Machinery breakdown
• Money
• Theft
Expressly excluded — even for small businesses:
• Business interruption (BI)
• Contractors all risks
• Fidelity guarantee
• Legal liability, including public and products liability
• Professional indemnity (including management liability, D&O and tax audit)
• Cyber insurance
• Industrial special risks (ISR)
A Small Business is one with fewer than 100 employees (if manufacturing) or fewer than 20 employees (otherwise) — consistent with the Corporations Act retail client test.
Anything outside these two definitions — including all large-business commercial insurance — is simply not covered by the Code at all.
How the Corporations Act defines retail vs wholesale — and why it’s not the same thing
A common source of confusion: “retail” and “wholesale” mean different things under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) than they do under GICOP. The two frameworks overlap but do not mirror each other — and the 2026 draft widens the gap.
The Corporations Act test (s 761G)
The Corporations Act classifies the client, not the product. Every client is either a retail client or a wholesale client, and this determines statutory protections such as Product Disclosure Statements, Financial Services Guides, design and distribution obligations (DDO), and baseline access to internal and external dispute resolution.
For general insurance specifically, section 761G(5) sets a two-limb test. A person is a retail client if:
1. Who they are: the person is an individual, or the product is (or would be) for use in connection with a small business — defined in s 761G(12) as a business employing fewer than 100 people (if it manufactures goods) or fewer than 20 people (otherwise); and
2. What they’re buying: the product is one of the kinds prescribed by the Act and Corporations Regulations (regs 7.1.11–7.1.17): motor vehicle, home building, home contents, sickness and accident, consumer credit, travel, personal and domestic property, and medical indemnity insurance.
If either limb fails, the client is a wholesale client — full stop. Notably, the wealth-based wholesale tests used elsewhere in financial services (the $500,000 product-value threshold, the $2.5 million net assets / $250,000 gross income “sophisticated investor” certificate, the professional investor category) do not apply to general insurance; the classification turns purely on the two limbs above.
So under the Corporations Act:
• A small business buying motor vehicle insurance → retail client (both limbs satisfied)
• The same small business buying public liability → wholesale client (product not on the prescribed list)
• A 200-employee manufacturer buying anything → wholesale client (fails the first limb)
The explicit distinction: Corporations Act vs GICOP
Dimension | Corporations Act 2001 | GICOP (current 2020/2023) | GICOP (2026 draft) |
What is classified | The client (retail client vs wholesale client) | The product (Retail vs Wholesale Insurance) | The product (Retail vs Wholesale Insurance) |
Structure | Binary — every client is one or the other | Binary within Code scope — retail list + catch-all wholesale | Effectively three tiers — Retail (full Code), Wholesale (partial Code), out of scope (no Code) |
Retail test | Individual or small business + prescribed product list (s 761G(5)) | Mirrors the Corporations Act prescribed products | Same, with express additions (pet insurance, residential strata ≥50%) |
Wholesale test | Everyone who isn’t a retail client | Every Code-covered product that isn’t Retail Insurance (catch-all) | Small business + closed list of property-style covers only |
Large businesses | Wholesale clients — reduced statutory protections, but still regulated | Covered as Wholesale — residual Code protections | Outside the Code entirely |
Small business liability / BI / PI / cyber | Wholesale client | Covered as Wholesale — residual Code protections | Outside the Code entirely |
Consequence | Statutory disclosure, DDO, licensing conduct, AFCA access | Which Code parts apply | Which Code sections apply and which become contractually enforceable |
Three distinctions worth internalising:
3. Client vs product. The Corporations Act asks who is buying (with a product filter); GICOP asks what product is this. A single customer can hold a mix of classifications across their program.
4. Binary vs three-tier. Under the Corporations Act there is no “unclassified” client — a wholesale client still gets the general licensing and conduct protections of the Act. Under the 2026 GICOP draft, “not Retail and not Wholesale” means no Code protections at all. The draft’s Wholesale category is a subset of Corporations Act wholesale clients, not its equivalent.
5. Alignment at the retail end, divergence at the wholesale end. GICOP Retail Insurance has always tracked the Corporations Act retail client product list (which is why a small business’s motor policy is “retail” in both regimes). But GICOP-Wholesale and Corporations Act-wholesale now diverge sharply: most Corporations Act wholesale clients — every large business, and every small business buying liability, BI, PI, cyber or ISR — would have no GICOP status under the draft.
One customer, three regimes: a worked example
Take a 12-employee café with a typical business package plus liability. Under the 2026 draft:
• Commercial motor policy → retail client under the Corporations Act and Retail Insurance under GICOP → full Code, contractually enforceable
• General property / theft / glass covers → wholesale client under the Corporations Act, but Wholesale Insurance under GICOP → complaints, investigations, financial hardship and distributor standards apply
• Public liability policy → wholesale client under the Corporations Act and outside GICOP entirely → statutory protections only, no Code rights
Same customer, same broker, one renewal conversation — three different protection regimes. That’s the practical complexity insurers, brokers and MGAs will need to operationalise (and explain to customers).
As definitions shift, insurers, brokers and MGAs need a practical way to map obligations, monitor change and keep compliance workflows aligned across products, teams and customer segments.
The big structural shift: from carve-out to positive list
The two Codes take opposite drafting approaches, and that’s the key to understanding what changed:
• Current Code: the whole Code applies to Retail, and specific parts are carved out for Wholesale.
• 2026 draft: the Code applies to Retail, and specific sections are positively applied to Wholesale.
Side-by-side: what applies to Wholesale Insurance — current Code vs 2026 draft
Protection area | Current Code (2020/2023) — Wholesale | 2026 Draft — Wholesale |
General obligations (honest, efficient, fair) | Applies | Applies (elevated into the Principles) |
Standards for Employees & Distributors | Applies (Part 4) | Applies (Section 9, Employees & Distributors only) |
Standards for Service Suppliers | Excluded (Part 5) | Not separately applied (roles absorbed into representative standards; retail-facing) |
Buying insurance / sales practices | Excluded (Part 6) | Not applied |
Cancelling a policy | Excluded (Part 7) | Not applied |
Claims handling (timeframes, cash settlements, updates) | Excluded (Part 8) | Not applied |
Claims investigation standards | Effectively retail-only (Part 15 operated via Part 8) | Applies directly (Section 5) — EXPANSION |
Supporting customers experiencing vulnerability | Excluded (Part 9) | Not applied (retail only) |
Financial hardship | Applies (Part 10) | Applies (Section 8) |
Complaints | Excluded except limited hardship-related circumstances (Part 11) | Applies in full (Section 6, RG 271-aligned) — EXPANSION |
Access to information | Applies (Part 12) | Within applicable sections |
Enforcement, sanctions, Code governance | Applies | Applies (Section 10) |
Contractual enforceability of Code rights | Not contractually enforceable | Applicable sections form part of the policy contract — EXPANSION |
Side-by-side: who is covered at all?
Customer / product scenario | Current Code | 2026 Draft |
Individual — home, motor, travel, pet | Retail — full Code | Retail — full Code (pet & residential strata now express) |
Small business — general property, theft, glass, machinery breakdown | Wholesale — residual protections | Wholesale — expanded protections (complaints, investigations, enforceable) |
Small business — public liability | Wholesale — residual protections (incl. financial hardship) | Not covered by the Code |
Small business — business interruption, PI, cyber, ISR | Wholesale — residual protections | Not covered by the Code |
Mid-market / large corporate — any commercial line | Wholesale (catch-all) — residual protections | Not covered by the Code |
The pattern: deeper protections for a narrower group. The small-business customers who stay in scope get materially stronger rights. Everyone else exits the Code framework.
When Code scope changes, teams need more than a legal summary — they need a practical way to turn new obligations into action. See how Curium can help your team prepare for the new GICOP. Book a demo.
So has the wholesale scope been expanded or reduced?
Both — depending on which axis you measure.
Expanded (depth of protection)
6. Complaints. Wholesale customers currently sit largely outside the Code’s complaints regime. Under the draft, the full complaints section (aligned to ASIC RG 271) applies — giving small businesses a genuine internal dispute resolution pathway backed by Code sanctions.
7. Investigations. Claims investigation standards, which today only bite through the retail-only claims part, will apply directly to wholesale claims — including interview limits and investigator conduct standards.
8. Enforceability. The wholesale-applicable sections become terms of the insurance contract. A Code breach is no longer just a matter for the CGC; it is a potential breach of contract.
Reduced (breadth of coverage)
9. The small-business gate. Wholesale is now confined to Small Business customers. Large-business commercial insurance leaves the Code entirely.
10. The product list. Even for small businesses, only the enumerated property-style covers qualify. The most complained-about and highest-stakes small business lines — liability, BI, PI, cyber, ISR — are expressly excluded. A café’s public liability policy, which today attracts financial hardship and distributor-conduct protections as “wholesale”, would fall outside the Code altogether.
This runs counter to what AFCA and the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman argued during the 2024 review — both pushed for more small-business coverage, not a narrower product list. Expect this to be one of the most contested issues in the consultation.
What should insurers, brokers and MGAs do now?
11. Map your portfolio against the new definitions. Which products move from “wholesale” to “not covered”? Which small-business products gain full complaints and investigation obligations?
Curium’s Compliance Platform helps teams maintain a single source of truth for obligations, incidents, complaints, breach tracking and reporting as regulatory requirements change.
12. Reassess complaints capacity. If you write small-business package products, RG 271-grade IDR obligations will now be Code-enforced (and contract-enforced) for those customers.
13. Review investigation arrangements. Investigation standards will apply to in-scope wholesale claims — check your external investigator agreements and monitoring.
14. Prepare for contractual enforceability. The draft anticipates a ~24-month transition to embed Code terms into PDSs and policy wordings. Breach registers, incident flagging and root-cause analysis take on contract-law significance.
15. Consider a submission. Consultation closes 21 July 2026. If the liability/BI/cyber exclusions or the small-business gate affect your customers, this is the window to say so.
Frequently asked questions
Is the GICOP retail/wholesale distinction the same as the Corporations Act retail client/wholesale client test?
No. The Corporations Act (s 761G) classifies the client — retail client or wholesale client — which determines statutory protections like PDS disclosure and DDO. GICOP classifies the product. GICOP’s Retail Insurance list tracks the Corporations Act prescribed products, but the draft’s Wholesale Insurance category covers only a subset of Corporations Act wholesale clients (small businesses buying listed property-style covers). Most Corporations Act wholesale clients would sit outside the Code entirely.
Does the whole GICOP apply to retail insurance?
Yes. Under both the current Code and the 2026 draft, the entire Code applies to Retail Insurance. The draft also makes Sections 1–9 contractually enforceable as part of the retail policy.
Which sections of the draft 2026 GICOP apply to wholesale insurance?
Five: Investigations (Section 5), Complaints (Section 6), Financial Hardship (Section 8), Standards for representatives — Employees and Distributors only (Section 9), and Enforcement/Code governance (Section 10).
Is public liability insurance covered by the new GICOP?
No. Legal liability — including public and products liability — is expressly excluded from the draft’s Wholesale Insurance definition, even for small businesses. It is also not Retail Insurance, so it would sit outside the Code.
Is cyber insurance covered by the draft GICOP?
No. Cyber insurance is expressly excluded from the Wholesale Insurance definition.
Does the draft GICOP cover large businesses?
No. Wholesale Insurance is limited to products used in connection with a Small Business (fewer than 100 employees for manufacturers, fewer than 20 otherwise). Large-business commercial insurance falls outside the Code.
Do vulnerability protections apply to wholesale customers?
No. The vulnerability and “Extra Care” provisions apply to Retail Insurance only — unchanged in substance from the current Code, where Part 9 was retail-only.
Is pet insurance retail or wholesale under GICOP 2026?
Retail. The draft expressly includes pet insurance as a personal and domestic property product, so the full Code applies.
When does the new GICOP take effect?
It’s a consultation draft — feedback closes 21 July 2026. The ICA anticipates a transition period of around 24 months after finalisation to embed contractual enforceability into product documents and systems. From commencement, the new Code is expected to apply to all policies and claims.
Are Code breaches legally enforceable under the new GICOP?
Yes, for applicable sections. Sections 1–9 (as they apply to the policy) will form part of the insurance contract, enforceable through IDR, the CGC, AFCA, or court action — subject to carve-outs (Code terms aren’t conditions or warranties, policy terms prevail on conflict, and liability for indirect loss is excluded).
Sources
• ICA, GICOP Draft Public Consultation — Consultation Paper (June 2026)
• ICA, GICOP Draft Public Consultation — Redrafted GICOP (June 2026)
• General Insurance Code of Practice (2020, updated October 2023)
• Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) s 761G; Corporations Regulations 2001 regs 7.1.11–7.1.17
Author:
Tetiana George, CEO of Curium, Co-Chair of Insurtech Australia and member of ASIC Digital Finance Advisory Committee. LinkedIn Profile.