ClearView is calling on the Treasury to avoid tinkering with commission rates to ensure accessibility and affordability.
The regulatory environment needs to allow advisers to use their professional judgement and give simple advice without fear of falling foul of the law, according to Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) chair David Sharpe.
Westpac has entered into an agreement to sell its Advance Asset Management business (Advance) to Mercer Australia.
Insurer MetLife Australia believes that consumers should have a choice of how to pay for life insurance advice; either fee-for-service or via commission. The removal of commissions on life insurance in Australia would be a global first, it says in its "2021 Value of Life Insurance Report".
Australia's life insurance industry has announced the development of an industry-wide Professional Standards Framework, as part of a shared commitment to unifying professional standards and further enhancing industry trust and confidence within the community.
Almost half of Australians in a survey said that they would need more than A$1m ($762,000) for a comfortable retirement, but experts say that in reality, they might not actually need that much.
Six of Australia's largest banking and financial services institutions have paid or offered a total of A$1.24 billion (US$961.5 million) in compensation, as at 31 December 2020, to customers who suffered loss or detriment because of fees for no service misconduct or non-compliant advice, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Exits from the financial advice industry have resulted in a significant advice gap, with many Australians unable to access advice in an economical manner, according to global management consultancy Oliver Wyman.
Australia's insurers are at risk of declining profitability as squeezed margins undermine their ability to pay claims in the long term, and consumers are being turned off by climbing premium costs, according to "Affordability Ails Australia's Health Insurers", a report published by S&P Global Ratings.
In Australia, an increasing number of young people are cancelling their private health insurance even though the world is still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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