ASIC has charged The Colonial Mutual Life Insurance Society Ltd, trading as CommInsure, with 87 counts of offering to sell insurance products in the course of non-compliant unsolicited telephone calls.
The regulator has alleged that between October and December 2014, CommInsure, through its agent, telemarketing firm Aegon Insights Australia Pty Ltd (Aegon), “…unlawfully sold life insurance policies known as Simple Life over the phone. CommInsure provided customer contact details to Aegon from CBA’s existing customer database.”
ASIC alleges that the calls to CBA customers were unsolicited, and that CommInsure did not comply with all of the hawking exceptions in section 992A(3) of the Corporations Act.
In its release, ASIC states the maximum penalty for each of the charges is 125 penalty units ($21,250) and that the matter has been listed for the first mention on 19 November 2019 at the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.
ASIC also advised the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting this matter and that because it is a criminal matter before the Court, the regulator will not be making further comment.
Q 1- were the recipients of the calls CBA customers, OR in any way Comminsure customers. If the latter, weak case – insurers are able to ring policyholders
Q2 Was the offence committed by Aegon, not Comminsure
Q3 Will ASIC be prosecuting ALL of the other offenders – Freedom, credit card providers, the banks themselves ?
Q4 This looks like the sort of rubbish idea that comes from placing a short-term thinking bankie into an insurer to create a bit of havoc.Will the genius middle-ranking CBA manager who came up with this idea during a compulsory rotation be prosecuted ?
“Oh what a tangled web we weave ……………………………” Scott 1808
God only knows?? When this sort of thing happens its like the fastest game in Ireland “PASS THE PARCEL IN A Belfast PUB ” THEY WILL ALL BLAME EACH OTHER AS QUICKLY AS THEY ARE CHARGED
Yes this is a classic example of gouging the customer base. No thought was given to providing these leads to Bank financial advisers or tied advisers. Gotta gouge the customers to generated income to support my case for my bonus.
Now that the CBA is headquartered in Bangalore in India – the international centre for home loans for the CBA – no Australians involved as they are far to expensive to pay, you might start getting calls from Gupta who is selling life insurance outside Australia and not subject to any local controls. Would not be surprised, as someone wants a bonus
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