Ann-Marie Coleman

Following the release of its report into direct life insurance (see our blog entry on that here), ASIC has also released a report on the provision of insurance cover through superannuation (Report 591). Generally, superannuation funds offer their members one or more types of life insurance (such as life cover, TPD cover and income protection …

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ASIC’s review of direct life insurance – the results are in

Categories:

General, Industry, Regulatory

3 September 2018

by Ann-Marie Coleman

Late last week, ASIC released Report 587 on the sale of direct life insurance, revealing that its has found that sales practices and product design are leading to poor consumer outcomes. Direct life insurance products are sold within a general advice or no advice model. Throughout 2017-18 ASIC has conducted a multi-stage review of the …

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New EDR scheme established for financial services complaints

Categories:

General, Industry, Regulatory

21 February 2018

by Ann-Marie Coleman

The Government has passed legislation which introduces a new external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme, known as the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), to resolve disputes relating to financial services complaints. The establishment of AFCA means there will be a single scheme for all financial services and superannuation complaints. Currently there are three separate schemes: the …

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Draft legislation proposes design and distribution obligations for financial products

Categories:

General, Industry, Regulatory

20 February 2018

by Ann-Marie Coleman

Late last year, the Government released an exposure draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Powers) Bill 2017 (Bill). The Bill seeks to introduce: design and distribution obligations for financial products to ensure such products are targeted at the right people; and a temporary product intervention power for ASIC …

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ASIC review into direct life insurance results in customer refunds

Categories:

General, Industry, Regulatory

7 February 2018

by Ann-Marie Coleman

ASIC has announced that ClearView Life Assurance Limited (Clearview) will refund 16,000 customers a total of approximately $1.5 million. This follows an ASIC review of Clearview’s life insurance sales practices. The review focused on sales to consumers residing in high Indigenous populated areas who were unlikely to have English as their first language. The sales …

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ASIC seeks further powers to provide directions to licensees

Categories:

General, Industry

14 November 2017

by Ann-Marie Coleman

The ASIC Enforcement Review Taskforce (Taskforce) is seeking to expand ASIC’s powers to give directions to financial services and credit licensees (licensees). This follows on from the Taskforce’s earlier recommendation that ASIC’s banning powers be enhanced (see our previous update for more information – available here). The key recommendations from the Taskforce are as follows: …

Tags: ASIC

ASIC seeking to enhance banning power

Categories:

General, Industry

13 September 2017

by Ann-Marie Coleman

The ASIC Enforcement Review Taskforce (Taskforce) is seeking to enhance ASIC’s banning powers, to ensure ASIC can take action to ban senior managers from managing financial services business. The Taskforce has made two key recommendations to increase the banning powers. 1. Whilst ASIC currently has the power to ban a person from providing financial services, …

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ASIC consults on add-on insurance reforms

Categories:

General, Industry, Regulatory

30 August 2017

by Ann-Marie Coleman

ASIC is seeking feedback on proposals to reform the sale of add-on insurance through car dealerships. Consultation Paper 294 sets out ASIC’s approach and proposed reforms in detail. The reforms would see the introduction of: A deferred sales model ASIC proposes to introduce a deferred sales model which would insert a pause in the sales …

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Enforcement report confirms ASIC’s focus for remainder of 2017

Categories:

General, Industry

23 August 2017

by Ann-Marie Coleman

On 22 August 2017, ASIC released a report regarding its enforcement outcomes from the first half of 2017. The report also flags what the focus of ASIC’s enforcement activity will be over the next six months (1 July to 31 December 2017). Consumer credit continues to be a key focus for ASIC, as do obligations …

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