Lane closures in Sydney’s Harbour Tunnel delayed the arrival of Financial Services Council chief executive John Brogden but the FSC Life Insurance Conference carried on regardless.
Substituted in to present Brogden’s introductory comments, Martin Codina, the FSC’s director of policy, committed the council to self-regulation.
“Like most of you, we are disappointed that the Life Insurance Framework will not proceed,” he said. “I have noted in the past, that the catalyst for industry action to address churning was a media release issued by Minister Shorten in 2011 warning on churning.”
Yesterday the minister’s office restated the government’s position.
“The minister’s expectation is that the industry will follow through on its commitment to develop a workable solution,” said a spokesperson.
In his speech, Brogden added that industries should always take the opportunity to self-regulate when it arises.
“Where an industry fails to self-regulate, the government regulator is always in the wings,” he said. “Regardless of whether there is new legislation, ASIC will use the powers it already has to address churning.”
For the FSC, being proactive in this area is crucial to the broader relationship between both risk adviser and client and the trust of the broader community.
“The sustainability of the industry is central to the affordability and accessibility of insurance, which is the major focus of this year’s conference,” said Brogden.
“For the first time we have a conference theme – Reinventing the Future. The program and speakers today will focus our energy on the future and on growing our industry through building the trust and confidence of consumers.
The fourth Financial Services Council’s Life Insurance Conference attracted over 320 delegates, although some, like Brogden, were absent from the early sessions due to traffic chaos.
The inaugural Financial Services Council Life Insurance Awards winners are:
• Phil Hay, head of life insurance at BT Financial Group won the Williams Roberts Lawyers Life Insurance Industry Pioneer award;
• Maria Crocker, national product manager of group risk at OnePath Life earned the FSC Young Achiever Award; and
• Winner of the FSC award for excellence in consumer innovation was Macquarie Life for its insurance products Active and Active Body.
