Speaking to ifa, former TAL executive turned mental health advocate Patrick O’Connor said the testimony provided to the royal commission in recent weeks has implications for the FSC and its codes of conduct.
Both AMP group executive (advice and New Zealand) Jack Regan and Commonwealth Private executive general manager Marianne Perkovic – who were called as witnesses before the second round of hearings – are directors of the FSC and admitted to acts of misconduct on behalf of their respective organisations.
Mr O’Connor said the influence of these two executives over FSC policy must be examined alongside an investigation into whether they have breached the council’s codes of conduct.
“They don’t just represent their employers,” he said. “They represent the industry body.”
While there is no evidence the FSC itself is responsible for misconduct, Mr O’Connor said the organisation – of which his former employer TAL is a full member – is implicated nonetheless.
“In the same way a failed drug test of its players affects a sporting team, the admissions of recent weeks affect the credibility of the FSC,” he said.
An FSC spokesperson told ifa that an investigation into whether any of its members have breached internal protocols is “in train”.
However, Mr O’Connor questioned the ability for the FSC to hold its members accountable.
“No financial penalty exists for any FSC member for reaching the code and no financial compensation is payable to consumers who have been proven to be unfairly treated,” he asserted.
The former TAL manager – who describes himself as a sufferer of a “severe mental health condition” – blew the lid on the insurance industry’s unsatisfactory approach to mental ill-health claims in an ABC TV report earlier this year.
Following a longstanding dispute with his former employer, Mr O’Connor took a break from the financial services industry and now works with mental health organisations Livin and Beyondblue.
Mental health assistance resources:
Lifeline: 13 11 14
www.lifeline.org.au
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au
beyondblue: 1300 22 4636
www.beyondblue.org.au
Meanwhile… this effects so many people. Some of which having had their lives shattered. Who knows if any of them have completed suicide… BECAUSE our Coroner and the ABS have refused to revamp the data management system used. There’s no way of knowing how many or where they came from as in – employed & trade, unemployment & dealing with this shit. No one cares about these people. There is no welfare check/calls made at any stage let alone after they have had this happened too. Won’t go to a lawyer, as most of them are corrupt and also colluding with the medical profession as well as the employer . It’s a bad joke and one everyone seems to know about yet NOTHING ever changes, no one is held accountable and the victims are not acknowledged. Mrs Anthony Johnson ⚔️
We need to keep remembering that the FSC is just a lobby group with the sole purpose of increasing the profits of its members. They are not and never will be a group with the interests of customers.
Take the LIF, we saw the corruption of the FSC in their misleading government and bribing and threatening the AFA and FPA to get the desired outcome. More profit through less commissions paid. Has this profit saving been passed onto the customer. No, they have all been increasing premiums instead.
Take their lobbying for early intervention to “help” customers return to work. This will be a direct method from the FSC members to force claimants off claim, specifically mental health claims. More profit.
Take board members of the FSC who’s companies have been ousted by the Royal Commission. They will not be penalised by the FSC – They are the FSC!
“Bribing and threatening” AFA is a stretch of the truth. AFA went into those meetings willinglly. should of known better
I don’t think a stretch at all. The bribery was through financial support and the agreement to compulsory membership (still the case) so neither the AFA or FPA can act impartially. The threatening was take this or we will push for level comms.
The cost of commission hasn’t reduced. Yes, the structure changed – but the overall cost did not go down.
Correct, JM. Those who weren’t short sighted have been writing hybrid or level for years now and actually building a sustainable business. Again, nobody to blame but themselves.
Um do the math. Reduced hybrid and doubled clawback period. Even with a reasonable lapse rate through no fault of your own you are losing
Is the RC going to investigate the dodgy FSC, the financial service minister and the links with Associations in screwing advisers with this LIF crap? They bloody well should. I hope someone is putting a submission in
Unfortunately Patrick, with the mood of the press and public, there is no chance for an open, honest and productive debate about anything. Why would a company stick their head up for an unfair trial by press?
I had been foolish enough to wonder why the many good people in the industry weren’t speaking up to the debate over the last few years. Alas, it has become very clear to me that the press have little interest in the truth. The truth is too complex, subtle and doesn’t make good headlines. Much prefer the headline and taking a free swing at the big companies (whether that’s award winning SMH journalists or IFA authors like Mr Vicovich).
More’s the pity: there are many things that need some constructive and positive debate. Mental health being one of them.
Spot on JM
You may well be correct – trial by media has become so commonplace that reputational damage is almost a bigger concern than actual liability for any large company. But, let’s consider how and why the media and the public started baying for blood in the first place…. it was because corporate greed led to poor culture and practices that directly impacted the average guy on the street. And it started a long, long time ago! My (now elderly) father was the victim of an unscrupulous adviser at AMP back in the early 80’s. He was a financially naïve man who went to get expert advice to do something for himself and his family and got stung. His views on the industry ever since have been pretty dim – so you can imagine how the conversation went down when I decided on my career choice…
One of the FSC board members mentioned actually helped broker a deal to buy Count in which they directly benefited as they had over $1 mil in shares in the entity being acquired. Obvious conflict of interest yet swept under the carpet. Nothing will happen about this either. This is obvious to all concerned advisers that the FSC was never about getting more advice to more Australians but about filling the coffers of the board members employers.
This absolutely true and the AFA and FPA need to show some courage and back the suggestion, the cozy little cabal of industry heavyweights have been exposed as nothing more than grubby little sycophants but behind the scenes have been taking their cut the same and flouting the laws. maximum jail penalties for executives involved is the only acceptable outcome and clean out the ranks of the gravy train within the big institutions.
the facts are facts whether from a disgruntled person or not. the directors of the FSC admitted negligence. lets see if they have the fortitude to act or be like other regulators- sterile and limp- and the guilty ones get off again scott free. just watch some innocent adviser cop the flak.
Surely the IFA can do better than reporting the comments of a disgruntled former industry employee… Anyone who watched that 7.30 report would know it was a complete hatch job presenting only one side of the facts.
Sceptical are you saying that the executives and senior managers in the banks didn’t do anything wrong and that AMP didn’t facilitate fee for no service? I think you need to lift your head from the ground mr ostrich!!!
To set the record straight. TAL were provided with numerous opportunities to be part of the story. In fact I wanted to have an open discussion about the mental health claims process, I still do. I provided a full waiver of my privacy rights to enable TAL to do so. I respect their position to not be part of the story, I don’t respect the view they did not get the opportunity. They admitted in the story that they had this opportunity.