The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is reviewing consumer credit insurance direct marketing operations following complaints about Citigroup products sold through telephone sales.

“ASIC reviewed randomly selected recordings of direct market calls which revealed instances of the institution selling one of its credit products to cardholders who had not agreed to purchase it and the use of ambiguous phrases by sales staff during the activation calls,” the regulator says in its annual report released last week.

During the six months ASIC investigated Citigroup, the regulator received complaints from 174 cardholders about the company’s selling practices and a larger number of cardholder cancelled their policies during that period.

ASIC says Citigroup “responded constructively” and resolved all complaints, but this triggered a wider investigation into insurers’ direct sales practices.

“ASIC is now looking at sales practices across the consumer credit insurance industry,” it said.