Suncorp wants GI product advice exempted under FOFA
19 September 2011
Suncorp says meeting the best interests duty requirements in the draft Future of Financial Advice bill would mean higher costs when providing general insurance advice…
Regulatory & Government
APRA shrinks its prudential standards
19 September 2011
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has consolidated its 12 prudential standards for the general and life insurance industries into just four…
Victoria seeks input on disaster management
19 September 2011
The Victorian Government is seeking responses to a discussion paper on how to improve the state’s emergency response to disasters…
ASIC finds advisers thriving on commissions
19 September 2011
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has expressed concern advisers are directing most of their life insurance business into just three providers…
Victoria maps bushfire risk
19 September 2011
The Victorian Government has released maps identifying areas of risk in bushfire-prone areas, which will be used for issuing building permits…
ASIC set for disaster inquiry
19 September 2011
Representatives of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission have a Thursday booking to address the House of Representatives inquiry into the operation of the insurance…
Insurers ‘will survive Solvency II’
19 September 2011
The excess supply of capital will mean insurers will survive Solvency II, Aon Global Broking Centre CEO Lambros Lambrou says…
Government accepts all flood commission recommendations
19 September 2011
Attorney-General Robert McClelland says the Federal Government will accept all of the recommendations from the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry’s interim report into last…
NZ regulator outlines enforcement policy
19 September 2011
New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority says it will give priority to situations where large numbers of investors are at risk of loss, where there is evidence of intentional unlawful behaviour…
Victorian Government stands by vow to abolish FSL
12 September 2011
Victorian Deputy Premier and Emergency Services Minister Peter Ryan says the Government is committed to abolishing the state’s fire services levy…
NSW predicts insurance taxes to top $800 million
12 September 2011
The NSW Government expects to raise $754 million in stamp duty from insurance contracts in the current financial year…
Disaster inquiry to meet in northern Queensland
12 September 2011
The House of Representatives inquiry into the insurance industry’s response to disasters has expanded its public hearing schedule to the Queensland centres of Toowoomba and Innisfail…
States insurance and flood levy inquiry faces further delay
12 September 2011
The Senate Economics Committee’s report into state government insurance and the flood levy following this year’s Queensland floods has again been delayed…
EQC sells investments as costs rise
12 September 2011
The New Zealand Earthquake Commission is to sell $NZ3.1 billion ($2.4 billion) of NZ Government bonds to the Debt Management Office…
ASIC wants honest ads from insurers
05 September 2011
Both general and life insurers have been swept up in the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s new paper on financial services advertising…
Councils say insurers should have time limit for claims
05 September 2011
Delays and confusion over flood cover feature in submissions from Victorian shire councils to the parliamentary inquiry into the insurance industry’s response to natural disasters…
Insurers reject legislated timeframes for disaster claims
05 September 2011
Insurance industry submissions to the parliamentary inquiry into the insurance industry’s response to natural disasters have rejected the concept of legislated timeframes for handling disaster claims…
Governments told to step up disaster mitigation
05 September 2011
Attorney-General Robert McClelland told an emergency management conference last week that all levels of government need to “pull their socks up” when it comes to disaster mitigation, education…
Export Finance and Insurance Corp faces probe
05 September 2011
The Productivity Commission will hold an inquiry into the Government-owned Export Finance and Insurance Corporation…
No surprises in FOFA draft bill
29 August 2011
The draft Future of Financial Advice legislation announced this morning hasn’t thrown up too many surprises, with the two-year opt-in period included and commissions on group life insurance…