Insurance companies which are members of the Financial Services Council (FSC) will need to adhere to a new code of conduct developed in the wake of the Trowbridge recommendations.
FSC chairman, Greg Cooper told the opening plenary of the FSC annual conference on the Gold Coast that some long awaited reforms had been made to the life/risk sectors.
“This has mainly focused on developing a new remuneration model, improved statements of advice and approved product lists which aim to build a more sustainable advised insurance industry and to develop better outcomes for consumers,” he said.
Cooper said that since the Assistant Treasurer’s (Josh Frydenberg’s) 26 June policy announcement, the FSC had been developing a code of conduct for the life insurance industry which would become an FSC standard for its members.
The FSC chairman also pointed to his organisation’s support for creating a structure to turn the advice industry into a profession.
“Now that the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) legislation has settled, the FSC had been taking proactive steps to pave a way forward through working with the advice industry and broader stakeholders to develop educational requirements, competency standards and a structure for an entity to oversee the requirements for the advice industry as a profession,” he said. “The FSC is continuing to consult on this process with policy makers and other stakeholders.”
