Jeffrey Scott<\/strong> said risk-focused advisers must be vigilant in observing the Best Interests requirements introduced under the FoFA reforms in 2013, but that in doing so, this could also deliver significant opportunities.<\/p>\nMr Scott explained to delegates that part of FoFA’s Best Interests statute now formally requires advisers to investigate any existing life insurance products the client holds, regardless of whether that product resides on the adviser\u2019s Approved Products List. \u201cIf a client walks into your office and they have an existing direct policy, retail policy, or have life insurance via an industry super fund, even though these products may not be on your APL, you now have an obligation to your client under the Best Interests Duty to investigate these products and compare them against products you are going to recommend,\u201d said Mr Scott, who heads up CommInsure’s InsuranceTech division.<\/p>\n
It is worthwhile for an adviser and their client to compare the pair<\/h6>\n
In emphasising his point, however, Mr Scott highlighted what a ‘tremendous opportunity’ this statutory requirement can represent.\u00a0 He told delegates there exist significant differences between the various life insurance policy types available in today’s market, which include direct and retail life insurance products as well as life insurance policies inside industry funds. \u201cRisk advisers have the ability to demonstrate they have acted in the best interests of the client by comparing: premiums, underwriting terms, conditions of release, exclusions, ancillary benefits, preclusions periods, ability to remove benefits and features, and cessation of benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
His message was that only by way of a thorough analysis can the client ensure that their life insurance policy represents value for money. Using the well-known industry superannuation phrase to make his point, Mr Scott told delegates that \u201cThe most expensive policy is not always the best policy, nor is the cheapest policy always the best value for the client. It is worthwhile for an adviser and their client to compare the pair,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A well-known industry expert believes the client Best Interests Duty, introduced under the FoFA reforms, will have an impact on risk advisers ‘… in a big way.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,241,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-compliance-regulation","category-conferences-and-events","category-dealer-groups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"CommInsure's](\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2014\/05\/Jeffrey-Scott.jpg\")
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