ATO finalises rule on deductibility of advice fees
30 September 2024
The Australian Taxation Office has released a final determination on the deductibility of financial advice fees...
Life Insurance
Asteron Life reveals adviser grant winners
30 September 2024
New Zealand insurer Asteron Life has announced the winners of its inaugural adviser financial grant support program...
Covid effects ‘far from over’, Swiss Re warns
23 September 2024
“Elevated deaths” are still being reported four years after the covid pandemic broke out in March 2020, according to a Swiss Re report on excess mortality...
Zurich launches women’s health benefit
23 September 2024
Zurich has introduced a corporate income protection benefit for women’s health conditions...
Comparator says ‘loyalty tax’ hits life policies
23 September 2024
Comparator Insurance Watch says life policyholders are paying a “loyalty tax” in the form of higher premiums for staying with their insurers...
Senators launch probe into Dixon collapse
23 September 2024
The Senate Economics References Committee is examining the collapse of Dixon Advisory and will report its findings next year...
US claims tech group joins CALI partner program
23 September 2024
The Council of Australian Life Insurers says US claims technology provider EvolutionIQ has joined its corporate partner program...
MetLife outlines claims handling improvements
23 September 2024
MetLife says it has strengthened its claims handling, focusing on areas such as communications to better support customers...
Ban on using genetic test results secures broad backing
16 September 2024
The federal government’s plan to ban the use of genetic test results in life underwriting has the support of the industry and other stakeholders...
AFCA seeks feedback on super complaints
16 September 2024
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority is seeking submissions on its handling of superannuation-related insurance disputes...
Super objective legislation faces last hurdle
16 September 2024
The federal government is a step closer to legislating the objective of superannuation, having secured passage of its bill in the House of Representatives earlier this year...
Peak body upgrades planner search tool
16 September 2024
Financial Advice Association Australia says its Find a Planner tool has been given an improved user interface and profile pages...
MLC appoints individual business, customer chiefs
16 September 2024
MLC Life Insurance has appointed Gerard Kerr as chief executive of individual business and Jane McGovern as chief customer and strategy officer...
Claimant loses row over $50,000 heart attack payment
09 September 2024
An insured has lost a claim dispute after seeking a bigger payout than the $50,000 he received from his insurer, insisting he met his trauma policy’s definition of a heart attack...
Adviser loses licence after ‘pressuring clients’ on fees
09 September 2024
Christchurch-based Integrity Advisers Insurance engaged in “serious misconduct” handling clients who wanted to cancel their life policies and its licence has been revoked, the Financial Markets Authority says...
System glitch left customers in dark on premium changes
09 September 2024
A life insurer failed to tell policyholders about premium changes, breaching its obligations under the industry’s code of practice...
Advisers warn of error in stats bureau’s occupation review
09 September 2024
Financial Advice Association Australia has flagged concerns over draft changes to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ occupation classifications...
AFCA backs insurer over rejected breast cancer claims
02 September 2024
A woman who was diagnosed with two separate breast cancers will not be covered because the discoveries came days before her life policy’s qualifying period expired...
APRA sets out life priorities in corporate plan
02 September 2024
Increasing the availability of life retirement products has been declared a strategic priority for the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority...
Insurer to compensate customers over time frame breaches
02 September 2024
An insurer has been ordered to compensate more than 900 policyholders after it failed to meet claims handling time frames under the Life Insurance Code of Practice...