A report in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review on the implementation of FSRA has raised hackles in broking circles. The report, by Ben Seeder and Morgan Mellish, said the “high-pressure sales methods” of “Sydney-based insurance brokerage Combined Insurance Company of Australia… have been curtailed from today”.

NIBA CEO Noel Pettersen has pointed out to the newspaper that Combined Insurance is not a brokerage, and that the company’s activities in selling life and trauma cover to isolated aboriginal communities did not involve brokers. “It’s a shame that brokers have been linked with such activities on the day the FSRA came into effect, when brokers have been at the forefront supporting FSRA compliance.”