Freedom Insurance Group, under fire at the Hayne royal commission for its sales tactics, has dumped direct telephone calling for several products and appointed Deloitte to conduct a review of its strategy and operations.

COO Craig Orton says the company will cease outbound sales calls for term life (death and terminal illness) and trauma insurance later this month. Freedom stopped making telephone calls on accidental death and accidental injury cover on August 6.

The products represent about 13% of Freedom’s sales for last financial year, but the company says the impact of the changes is uncertain ahead of an expected overhaul under the scrutiny of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The company came under considerable media and community criticism for the high-pressure sales tactics examined by the royal commission. These included selling cover to a 26-year-old man with Down’s syndrome who failed to understand the products he was persuaded to buy during a phone call. The man and his father endured a lengthy process in cancelling the cover.

Freedom customers were often questioned at length when they tried to cancel policies, with staff reluctant to “take no for an answer”, the royal commission heard last week.

Mr Orton says Freedom’s retention approach was “too strong” and the company is looking “very closely at what the regulator expects of us and how we can improve processes”.

“We’re trying to work and move to the situation where we’ve got customers understanding and being happy with the products that they have, and when they need to leave them or they don’t want them any more, the cancellation process is not onerous,” he said.

Products sold by the company include life insurance and accidental death cover offered by Swiss Re Life & Health Australia.

A Swiss Re spokeswoman told insuranceNEWS.com.au the company does not comment on individual client and partner relationships.