Virgin fined for misleading life insurance advertising
Virgin Money has been fined more than $30,000 by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for misleading advertising related to its promotion of a life insurance product.
ASIC stated that Virgin Money (Australia) Pty Limited was issued with three infringement notices, each worth $10,200, for misleading representations regarding the promotion of Virgin Money's ‘Quick & Easy' life insurance product.
ASIC said the promotion, which ran on television until May 2013 and online until March 2014, contained misleading representations about the application process for the life insurance product and the type of cover provided.
ASIC said the promotion claimed that ‘No health or lifestyle questions' would be asked by Virgin Money, but the application form did ask these questions and used them to calculate premiums.
The promotion also claimed that weight would not be a factor in the provision of insurance cover. However ASIC found this was not the case and that "weight could be a relevant factor in determining coverage offered under ‘Quick & Easy'".
While Virgin Money has paid the penalties, ASIC said "the payment of an infringement notice is not an admission of a contravention of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 consumer protection provisions".
It also stated that as a regulator it could issue infringement notices if it had reasonable grounds to believe consumer protection laws had been contravened.
The action is the sixth taken by ASIC for misleading advertising in 2014. Wealth Within, SuperHelp Australia and Media Super have also paid infringements related to their advertising.
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