Superannuation and insurance law firm Berrill and Watson has welcomed the Parliamentary Joint Committee into Superannuation’s report, with the caveat that it should have better addressed lifting the exemption of life insurance from standard cover.
The firm said that the report, released earlier this week, “makes many recommendations which the consumer movement have sought for many years”.
In particular, it welcomed the Committee’s approach to solving long-standing problems of conflicted remuneration and vertical integration.
To this end, the report called for the life insurance industry to:
Berrill and Watson said that they would have liked to see the exemption of life insurance from standard cover lifted, but said this could still be achieved through the Committee’s recommendations in a roundabout way.
“The recommendations for standard definitions across the life insurance industry assists in achieving the same goal of ensuring that products sold to consumers are not junk insurance and provide reasonable insurance cover,” the firm said.
The insurance company has joined this year’s awards as a principal partner.
The $135 billion fund has transitioned away from TAL Life Insurance following an “extensive tender process”.
The $80 billion fund is facing legal action over allegedly signing up new members to income protection insurance by default without active member consent.
In a Senate submission, the Financial Services Council has once again called for further clarification that the government will assess the consumer outcomes of group insurance against the enshrined objective of superannuation.