ASIC probing direct life call centres
Insurance company call centre staff involved in selling direct life insurance are being closely scrutinised by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to determine whether their activities is extending beyond the provision of general advice.
The regulator as told a public hearing of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services that ASIC is closely examining direct life insurance sales in the context of whether those involved are over-stepping the boundary between general advice and the delivery of personal advice.
ASIC senior executive, Michael Sadaat revealed the dimensions of the ASIC scrutiny when he said the regulator was “reviewing several hundred call recordings that involve the sale of direct life insurance to consumers”.
“We're looking at a number of things as part of those call recordings, but one of them is also to understand whether call centre staff that are engaged in the sale of direct life insurance might be going beyond the limits of general advice and straying into personal advice as part of those conversations,” Sadaat said.
He said the exercise was currently underway and would be part of what ASIC reported on when it brought down its findings next year.
The Parliamentary Committee had earlier been told by ASIC deputy chair, Peter Kell told the committee that ASIC wanted to make sure that it was not witnessing the emergence of models involving quite complex products being offered under the heading of general advice to “almost avoid the personal advice obligations and protections”.
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