NZ financial providers fall short on fee clarity
24 July 2017
New Zealand financial providers often fail to adequately explain fees charged or why a product is appropriate for a client, a survey for the Financial Markets Authority has found…
Life Insurance
ANZ holds APEX webinars
24 July 2017
ANZ Wealth has announced its third series of APEX Lunch and Learn webinars to help advisers stay abreast of industry and regulatory change…
Deadline looms for AFA award nominations
24 July 2017
Nominations for the Association of Financial Advisers annual awards program close this Friday…
FPA ‘strongly opposes’ last-resort compo scheme
17 July 2017
There is no merit in having a compensation scheme of last resort and a past redress forum unless corresponding action is taken to improve the regulatory and compensation framework, the Financial Planning Association says…
Group cover faces commission scrutiny
17 July 2017
The Productivity Commission will examine group insurance arrangements, costs and fees, and default fund members as part of its inquiry into the $2 million-plus superannuation system’s efficiency and competitiveness…
AFA to overhaul adviser education framework
17 July 2017
The Association of Financial Advisers is aiming to drive improved industry education with the development of a new competency framework that identifies key skills and requirements…
Dishonest NZ adviser sentenced
17 July 2017
A former financial adviser from New Zealand who forged clients’ initials and falsely amended insurance applications has been sentenced to 150 hours’ community work and six months’ community detention…
Financial planners seek platform technology gains
17 July 2017
Technology providers are struggling to keep pace with financial planners’ evolving needs, according to Investment Trends’ annual Planner Technology Report…
BT names new product chief
17 July 2017
BT has appointed Kim Cohen as Head of Product for the life insurance business…
Industry IT chiefs target process improvements
17 July 2017
Process optimisation is the biggest influence on IT plans among life insurance chief information officers in the Asia-Pacific region this year, according to a survey by research house Celent…
ANZ conjures up real-time pre-assessment tool
17 July 2017
ANZ Wealth has introduced a tool designed to take up to two days off pre-assessment times, by identifying loadings and exclusions for pre-existing medical conditions in real time…
TurksLegal Scholarship applications open
17 July 2017
Applications for this year’s Australasian Life Underwriting and Claims Association TurksLegal Scholarship are now open…
Premium growth slows but outlook robust, Swiss Re says
10 July 2017
Growth in global life insurance premium income is expected to be “robust” in the next few years, despite a decline last year, according to Swiss Re’s latest Sigma industry report…
ASIC flags concerns on group life disclosure
10 July 2017
Superannuation fund information sheets on group life insurance often do not match the cover offered, an Australian Securities and Investments Commission report says…
MLC fires up underwriting engine
10 July 2017
MLC Life Insurance has struck a deal to offer Pacific Life Re’s underwriting rules engine – UnderwriteMe – in Australia…
Ex-AMP adviser’s ban upheld
10 July 2017
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has upheld the permanent ban on a former AMP adviser…
Cbus secures 25% premium cut
10 July 2017
Construction industry superannuation fund Cbus has negotiated a 25% premium reduction on its group life insurance policy provided by TAL…
Planners ready to make change on education: FPA
10 July 2017
Financial Planning Association members are ready to begin implementing forthcoming legislative changes, CEO Dante De Gori says…
Study reveals scale of skin cancer costs
10 July 2017
Skin cancer treatments cost Victorian hospitals more than $122 million a year, according to research from Deakin University and Cancer Council Victoria…
TAL names psychologist to mental health role
10 July 2017
TAL has appointed psychologist Glenn Baird to the new role of Head of Mental Health, based in Sydney…