The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will divulge the names of life insurance firms that reject claims to an excessive degree, but only in camera and only to politicians.

Gregory Metcalf, the regulator's CEO, told the Australian House of Representatives' economics committee that it would provide its members with the names of insurers that have the highest rejection rates but only in camera. He did so after parliamentary questioning about the reluctance of his regulatory outfit to publicise the names, declining to inform the public directly because of 'commercial confidentiality.' This followed revelations on Wednesday that ASIC had found much to criticise in the life insurance sector. The committee heard that one unnamed insurer had a knock-back rate of 37%.

Metcalf, in a reluctant tone of voice, said: "I believe that if we went into camera, we could reveal those names to you."

He was then asked: "The names of the insurers with disproportionate claims, or the names of the insurers that have asked for the information not to be released?"

His verbatim reply was: "We could reveal the names that...those are the names we can't disclose publicly because that is information that is commercial in confidence. But clearly, the parliament is entitled to have that information in camera."

Nobody has been sacked so far over the CommInsure scandal, in which the insurance arm of Commonwealth Bank was caught rejecting claims despite evidence that they were valid. ASIC embarked on an investigation in March when it was revealed that CommInsure was relying on a moribund definition of the phrase 'heart attack' that was buried in the small print of its documents. One victim told the ABC news service: "I couldn't believe it! It just simply states that your Troponin levels were not at the right level so you don't get it. Goodbye, have another heart attack, better luck next time."

The parliamentary committee has already questioned Ian Narev, the bank's CEO, this month. In his own testimony, Metcalf described the Australian bancassurance system as an 'oligopoly.'