Life insurer wants power to pay for medical treatments
Life insurers should have the same powers as general insurers when it comes to dealing out benefits like riders, according to TAL.
In a submission to the Financial System Inquiry, the insurer said regulations around life insurance were partly to blame for Australia's underinsurance problem.
It proposed relaxing regulations that currently prevent life insurers from providing the same anxillery benefits to consumers, such as medical treatments.
"While the FSI Interim Report noted that the Inquiry would investigate further Australia's life-underinsurance problem, what TAL is seeking are changes to help address underinsurance so that people can have the right amount of financial protection they need," TAL Group CEO Jim Minto said.
TAL's other proposals included higher educational standards for advisers and increased powers for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission over the classification of products.
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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.
