The Question of Life Product Shelf Space Fees

Our latest poll is based on ASIC’s assessment that life insurers may still be in a position to pay licensee shelf space fees following the implementation of the Life Insurance Framework reforms.

Writing to the current Parliamentary Joint Committee Inquiry into Life Insurance, the regulator noted one of the reasons it was not in a position to provide a view on whether life product shelf space fees represented conflicted remuneration was because it had not previously conducted reviews on these types of fees (see: Shelf Space Fees May Continue…).

Advisers, licensees and product providers will each have their own view on the merits of risk product shelf space fees and whether they represent a conflict of interest, either real or perceived.

Many licensees have advocated that life product shelf space fees serve as critical funding towards the cost of adviser training, education, compliance and other licensee business commitments. However, these fees are not universally supported within the sector. For example, ClearView’s Maganing Director, Simon Swanson, while addressing the same PJC Inquiry, said that in its quest for an ‘open architecture’ approach to approved product lists, his company did not pay shelf space fees (see: Limited APLs Impact Adviser Professionalism).

As usual, there’s much more we could add, but prefer to hand the conversation over to you. We hope you’ll add your vote and tell us why, and we’ll report back to you next week.