Life insurance will be an area of particular focus for ASIC over the next 18 months with direct sales, TPD claims and the investigation practices of life insurers to be reviewed by the regulator.
Releasing its Corporate Plan for the next five years, ASIC outlined the key areas of focus over that longer time period, and during 2017 and 2018, with life insurance being a core issue in its work in the financial services sector.
ASIC stated it was preparing to collect data for a future review of the Life Insurance Framework reforms but would also examine the investigation and surveillance practices of insurers when assessing potentially fraudulent claims, and addressing unfair and unreasonable practices.
Ongoing projects that would continue include looking into the culture and conduct of life insurance direct sales and distribution, the practices around TPD claims, and the incidence of declined or withdrawn claims following the release last year of Report 498 which examined life insurance claims.
Advisers with a higher likelihood of providing non-compliant advice would also come under scrutiny and be identifed through life insurers’ exception reports available to ASIC through its data gathering processes introduced under the LIF reforms.
ASIC would also be continuing its compliance monitoring of financial advisers and advice within larger, institutionally aligned advice groups which has been ongoing since 2015. This work would include targeted surveillance of advisers identified from previous reviews as having a high risk of non-compliance and monitoring programs for remediating consumers who received non-compliant advice.
This organisation has no integrity or professionalism and is very clearly conflicted in its duties. This is an organisation that’s very purpose is finding (or fabricating) fault to ensure its very existence for God sake so they deliberately ignore the truth when it’s presented to them and only focus on what the minority of advisers do.
Name me one industry in the world ASIC, just ONE where there’s not a small minority of people in it that have done the wrong thing by the very people they’re meant to serve!!!
There isn’t one yet this regulator, in its totally conflicted actions is single handedly destroying the reputations of many, many advisers who have worked tirelessly for their clients.
We all know what this reform has been about for years !! remuneration of advisers and how can we get some back or reduce it to keep our bottom line looking good for our shareholders and excessive management bonuses!
It’s never been about the consumer ! When the most important issue in an SOA appears to be the remuneration above the advice and has to be “plastered” on the front page “blind Freddy ” could see through this “”farse”
All these “efforts” to weed out the baddies is predominantly smoke and mirrors The insurers know who there are but say nothing ASIC don’t ask because they don’t know what to ask for . Legislation has been passed to “prevent churning” but the word churning or twisting in the old language is still being discussed and an actual diagnosis for it being sort
It’s like cutting your leg off in case you get gangrene
I just paid my AFA membership ? Yes I know ! Why ! I’m still living in hope that someone on the board will say enough is enough and stand up for the advisers who have spent a life time looking after clients many I personally have seen grow from young children to adults with families of their own and still come to me for guidance
Come on AFA do what we pay you for show these clowns the right direction before there is no industry only banks and their shareholders
Get them to investigate the real theives !
Comments are closed.