Personal insolvencies up 0.1 per cent in March quarter
There were 7,910 new personal insolvencies in the March quarter 2018, up a slight 0.1 per cent on the same quarter in 2017, the Australian Financial Security Authority said.
By type of personal insolvency, bankruptcies fell by 1.8 per cent, debt agreements rose by 3.9 per cent, while personal insolvency agreements fell by 59.3 per cent, albeit from a relatively small base, the authority said.
Nationally, there were 3,725 debt agreements in the March quarter 2018. Debt agreements reached a record quarterly high of 1,219 in New South Wales in the March quarter 2018, it said.
Personal insolvency agreements fell to 37 in the March quarter 2018, the lowest quarterly level on record and following the first year-on-year fall since the March quarter 2016.
In the March quarter 2018, 16.1 per cent of debtors entered a business-related personal insolvency, the authority said.
Where the authority could identify a specific cause, economic conditions was the most common business-related cause, while excessive use of credit was the most common non-business-related cause.
Recommended for you
The Federal Court has dismissed a conflicted remuneration case brought by ASIC against the director of life insurance distributor Freedom Group, where Bali holidays and Vespa purchases were among sales incentives.
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.
