Life/risk code of practice slated for July

7 March 2016
| By Mike |
image
image
expand image

The Financial Services Council (FSC) has declared a Code of Practice between life insurers and consumers will be implemented in July as it has sought to describe changes to the life/risk sector as a work in progress.

FSC chief executive, Sally Loane on Sunday went to the trouble of issue issuing a formal statement pointing out the important role of the Australian life insurance industry and the fact that it had paid out approximately $5 billion in claims across trauma, total and permanent disability, income protection and life insurance in 2014, taking the total amount paid out in claims in the past eight years to $27 billion.

Her statement came in the face of media reports pointing out problems within the Commonwealth Bank's insurance arm, Comminsure, which appeared to mostly relate to insurance within superannuation, rather than advised insurance products.

In seeking to put the performance of the life insurance sector in perspective, Loane said: "The entire life insurance sector is currently undergoing significant change and reform which is resulting in increasing protection for consumers. Overwhelmingly, the industry plays a positive role in protecting livelihoods of millions of Australians".

Her statement also pointed to recent research conducted by KPMG for the FSC showing that, for 2008-2010, there were a total of 630,000 Trauma policies in force across the industry. Over this period heart attack claims made up eight per cent of trauma claims, with 455 industry claims for heart attack from a total of 5,862 Trauma claims.

Loane also pointed to the changes being implemented to the sector via the Life Insurance Framework (LIF) and the consequent development of the Code of Practice.

"The Code, which is still under development, has involved working closely with regulators, consumer advocates and the industry to set standards for selling insurance, claims handling and assisting vulnerable customers," she said.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

GG

So shareholders lose a dividend plus have seen the erosion of value. Qantas decides to clawback remuneration from Alan ...

2 months 1 week ago
Denise Baker

This is why I left my last position. There was no interest in giving the client quality time, it was all about bumping ...

2 months 2 weeks ago
gonski

So the Hayne Royal Commission has left us with this. What a sad day for the financial planning industry. Clearly most ...

2 months 2 weeks ago

A Sydney-based financial adviser has been banned from providing financial services in the interest of consumer protection after failing to act on conduct concerns. ...

3 weeks 6 days ago

Insignia Financial has made four appointments, including three who have joined from TAL, to lead strategy and innovation in its retirement solutions for the MLC brand....

1 day 7 hours ago

ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a $250 million Sydney fund manager, one of two AFSL cancellations announced by the corporate regulator....

3 weeks 4 days ago