{"id":51490,"date":"2020-08-10T11:44:04","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T01:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=51490"},"modified":"2024-10-30T08:45:23","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T22:45:23","slug":"super-trustees-compensate-those-wrongly-classified-as-smokers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2020\/08\/10\/super-trustees-compensate-those-wrongly-classified-as-smokers\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Trustees Compensate Those Wrongly Classified as Smokers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Seven superannuation businesses that were classifying new members as \u2018smokers\u2019 by default and charging them higher life insurance premiums have ceased this practice, and some trustees have remediated members for the extra premiums paid, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/asic.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ASIC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A statement from the commission says that between 2017 to 2020, it engaged with seven superannuation businesses, (comprising nine superannuation trustees) that had been, either at the time or historically, assigning \u2018smoker\u2019 status to members in specific products unless the member took active steps to opt out of the categorisation.<\/p>\n<p>They are AMP, Colonial First State, Equity Trustees, IOOF (including OnePath), Intrust, Netwealth, and Suncorp.<\/p>\n<p>ASIC says that following the engagement, it was able to confirm that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>All seven superannuation businesses stopped charging new members life insurance premiums at smoker rates by default<\/li>\n<li>All seven superannuation businesses moved, or are in the process of moving, existing members paying premiums at \u2018smoker\u2019 rates by default onto non-smoker or blended rates<\/li>\n<li>Four superannuation businesses refunded or agreed to refund members for the extra premiums paid because of the default \u2018smoker\u2019 classification.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_51492\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51492\" style=\"width: 158px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2020\/08\/daniel-press-e1597022204193.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-51492\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2020\/08\/daniel-press-e1597022204193.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"158\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2020\/08\/daniel-press-e1597022204193.jpeg 392w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2020\/08\/daniel-press-e1597022204193-264x300.jpeg 264w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2020\/08\/daniel-press-e1597022204193-370x420.jpeg 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 158px) 100vw, 158px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-51492\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Press &#8230;in light of the low smoking rate, merely providing disclosure and putting the onus on members to act is not enough to support good member outcomes&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>ASIC Commissioner <strong>Danielle Press<\/strong> says that generally, insurance premiums for smokers are substantially higher than for non-smokers. Given the low prevalence of smoking among Australian adults, classifying members as \u2018smokers\u2019 for insurance offered through superannuation unless the member takes active steps to confirm non-smoking status &#8220;&#8230; is contrary to community expectations&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInsurance in super is complex. Many Australians may not realise that default classifications can impact the price of their cover and therefore, reduce their retirement benefits. In light of the low smoking rate, merely providing disclosure and putting the onus on members to act is not enough to support good member outcomes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>Press adds that all \u00a0trustees ASIC raised these concerns with have ended this practice with new members. Many have decided to refund affected members, in part or in full, for the higher insurance costs.<\/p>\n<p>When planned remediation is complete, more than 5,000 members will have received more than $3.6 million in compensation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose trustees that have committed to remediation are heeding the lessons of the Financial Services Royal Commission \u2013 that trustees should seek to achieve outcomes for members in line with community standards and expectations,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven superannuation businesses that were classifying new members as \u2018smokers\u2019 by default and charging them higher life insurance premiums have ceased this practice, and some trustees have remediated members for the extra premiums paid, according to ASIC. A statement from the commission says that between 2017 to 2020, it engaged with seven superannuation businesses, (comprising [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":51494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,6994],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-company-news","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51490","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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}