Industry moves away from upfront commissions

Strange title for the article, really. We have not moved away from upfronts, we have simply lowered them and increase renewal commission. We have also had it suggested we have a 3 year responsibility period.

This will decimate quality advisers and not stop the churners of other adviser's clients. I am sick to death and to my stomach after 30 years hearing about how the life companies support advisers. If so, take a knife to these churners, remove them from the industry and pay well the good advisers. If that was done you could triple upfronts and still see no churning problem. But what do I know, what do any advisers know? We've only been at the coal face looking after clients best interests for decades. These 'flavour of the day' new pollies obviously know better. They'll be gone next election and the Australian people will have less quality advisers to look out for them thanks to self interested parties. We are given lip service by the life companies and nothing changes. SICK to the stomach.

Get out of our way politicians and reprehensible 'do-gooders' and let us service our clients. What right have you to interfere? Go fix the crooked cops, lawyers, real estate agents and POLITICIANS who are at the gravy train and will continue as they make the rules. Risk writers - the real fabric of consumer protection - and we are going through this ridiculous waste of time and energy caused by self-interested pollies, life companies and lobby groups - nothing to do with clients best interests - makes me sick they are getting away with this crime against common sense.

I don't remember agreeing to this. It was forced on me!! How can they make a statement that life insurance advisers and providers have agreed?

This was a set up by Life companies all along. They lobbied politicians to do their bidding. They won. Their mistakes of the past such as providing blanket coverage to platforms resulted in a disaster with losses and lower results for these companies. The people that run the show are still in jobs, while we the adviser that looks after the clients best interest are kicked in the guts yet again.

The AFA did well to assist. The Financial Services Council however with their members being the very insurers that caused the problem.

Advisers on the other hand face a pay cut of 40% by 2018, more compliance, compromised businesses, fewer clients as advisers try to recoup fees by charging clients and wait, if the adviser tried to sell their businesses from 2018, they will have a contingent liability on their books reducing or delaying their sale proceeds. Government also will face higher Centerlink payments for those disabled who could not afford insurance and advice on same.

I wish those making these changes were required at law to act in the best interest of those they represent. They would fail and fail by a country mile. Just look at our economy and all the evidence of the hardships families face. That's their record. But that's okay also.

As for the people in the insurance industry running companies with profit only in mind, they are continuing the same practices by going direct to the consumer marketing [what I believe are] flawed products. Nothing has been gained......nothing.