Commission for advisers ‘unsustainable’: FPA
04 May 2009
The Financial Planning Association has recommended to the Federal Government that financial planners be paid entirely through fees rather than commissions from 2012...
Life Insurance
Financial services industry awaits super review
04 May 2009
Australia’s $1.1 trillion superannuation industry is waiting with interest to see what shape the Federal Government review of the superannuation system will take...
AIG Life poaches senior executive from Tower
04 May 2009
Tower Australia’s Head of Group Sales Craig Extrem will move to AIG Life after being appointed National Manager of Client Markets for the company’s insurance division...
Life underinsurance hurts families, says IFSA
04 May 2009
Australian families are receiving an average life insurance payout of just $91,000 on the death of a partner as underinsurance booms...
Aviva silent on plan to quit Australia
27 April 2009
Life insurer Aviva Australia has refused to comment on speculation that it may withdraw from the local market...
Axa outflow reflects market ‘rebalancing’
27 April 2009
Axa Asia Pacific wrote 24% more new financial protection business in Australia in the three months to March 31 this year compared with 12 months earlier...
Job done for retiring IFSA boss
20 April 2009
Investment and Financial Services Association CEO Richard Gilbert is confident he will leave the life insurance industry in good shape when he retires from the top job in September...
Aviva offers 12-month life premium waiver
20 April 2009
Tapping into community concerns about the economy, Aviva is offering to waive premiums for up to 12 months cumulatively on lump sum life policies held by clients who lose their jobs...
Macquarie slashes executive bonuses
06 April 2009
QBE CEO Frank O’Halloran’s changed retirement arrangements aren’t the only ones coming under scrutiny as governments and shareholders get toey...
Zurich tackles life underinsurance
06 April 2009
Zurich Financial Services Australia has enhanced its life risk policies to encourage financial advisers to recommend products to customers and help overcome problems of underinsurance...
ANZ sheds financial planners
06 April 2009
ANZ will get rid of 58 staff in its financial planning division, saying current market conditions have lowered the demand for investment advice...
Aussie optimism cruels life sales trends
06 April 2009
ING Australia’s life insurance sales were up 25% in the first quarter of 2009 compared with a year earlier, but the company says underinsurance remains a cyclical long-term problem for Australia...
Financial planners to develop beyond compliance
30 March 2009
The Financial Planning Association of Australia expects members to embrace higher-level training and professional development standards from July 1 when its new...
Storm goes into liquidation
30 March 2009
Storm Financial will be wound down after the Federal Court in Brisbane ordered the investment company be placed into liquidation...
Life industry tackles underinsurance
30 March 2009
As reported in this week’s LOCAL news section, the life insurance industry is tackling underinsurance head-on with an industry-funded awareness campaign that aims to boost life cover take-up rates...
Pearce maintains his faith in twin-peak regulation
30 March 2009
Shadow Corporate Law Minister Chris Pearce has suggested a parliamentary inquiry is unlikely to find the local financial services sector is in need of reform and has credited...
ASIC spells end of Storm
23 March 2009
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has applied to put collapsed financial planning group Storm Financial into liquidation...
Australia on brink of recession
23 March 2009
Australia is well on the way to a recession, with a leading index of economic activity falling to its lowest level in almost 20 years...
Axa Asia Pacific raises $660 million
23 March 2009
Axa Asia Pacific plans to raise up to $660 million in capital following the trend of fellow insurers AMP, Suncorp and IAG...
Tower wins battle over NZ insurance sales
16 March 2009
NZ insurer Tower has won the right to continue insuring ANZ National bank customers following a High Court decision...