Strong support for open APLs on life insurance
There is strong support for financial advisers to be empowered to make their own choices on which particular insurer's product is right for their client, according to a key survey conducted by Money Management.
The survey, conducted through September and early October, has revealed overwhelming support for open approved product lists (APLs) where life insurance was concerned, with 98 per cent of respondents supporting the idea.
The survey findings would form at least some of the basis for a panel discussion at a Money Management policy breakfast in Sydney on Thursday with the panellists including ClearView Wealth managing director, Simon Swanson, who has been a vocal advocate of APLs.
Also under discussion would be the Financial Services Council's (FSC's) recently implemented insurer code of conduct in circumstances where nearly two-thirds of respondents to the Money Management survey expressed strong reservations about the FSC being the primary author of the code of conduct.
Asked whether the FSC was the appropriate body to deliver a code of conduct, a strong majority of the respondents describing themselves as advisers suggested the FSC was too conflicted to develop such a code.
With the survey taking place at the same time as the debate within the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) over the Life Insurance Framework (LIF), the common comment from advisers was that it represented only the interests the product manufacturers.
Many adviser respondents argued that the code should more specifically deal with group insurance offered through superannuation funds.
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Policy and advocacy specialist Benjamin Marshan has left the Council of Australian Life Insurers after less than a year, having joined in March from the Financial Planning Association of Australia.
The declining volume of risk advisers meant KPMG has found a rising lapse rate for insurance policies arranged by independent financial advisers, particularly in the TPD and death cover space.
The Life Insurance Code of Practice has transferred from the Financial Services Council to the Council of Australian Life Insurers.
The firm has announced it will no longer be writing new life insurance policies in the retail advised and corporate group insurance channels, citing a declining market and risk adviser numbers.
