Consumers can’t get the full benefits of the Financial Services Reform Act (FSRA) because it has been “captured by lawyers who are more interested in the legal safeguards”, according to Senator Stephen Conroy, the Federal Opposition’s Shadow Minister for Financial Services.

Promising to change the legislation if the ALP wins office after the federal election later this year, Senator Conroy says in an interview in Insurance & Risk Professional magazine that the way the FSRA has ended up has caused a lot of frustration.

The wide-ranging interview includes Senator Conroy’s comments on what he would do to make the FSRA effective (“No consumer is going to read a 60-page document”); commission disclosure (“There’s been three inquiries now”); more FSRA-style setups (“I wouldn’t support it again”); and state insurance taxes (“To unscramble the egg now is impossible”).

The interview, plus analyses on important industry issues, news and opinion, are all in the latest edition of Insurance & Risk Professional, due in subscribers’ mailboxes this week.