CommInsure has been fined $700,000 in Australia for consumer protection failings

Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC)

The Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited, trading as CommInsure, was convicted this week of 87 counts of offering to sell insurance products in the course of unlawful, unsolicited telephone calls, contrary to
s 992A(3) of the Corporations Act. This conduct is known as 'hawking'.

CommInsure was fined $700,000.

The conviction and fine followed CommInsure’s guilty plea to the charges on 19 November 2019 (19-313MR).

The sentence takes into account CommInsure’s early guilty plea to the charges, which carried a maximum total penalty of $1,848,750. If the conduct were to occur under the new penalty regime, effective from March 2019, the maximum penalty would be $10,962,000.

In delivering the sentence, Her Honour Magistrate Atkinson of the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney said there is a ‘significant need for deterrence’, and that those who market and sell insurance products ‘must ensure that they comply with what is important consumer protection legislation.’

ASIC’s action against CommInsure falls within ASIC's Wealth Management Major Financial Institutions Portfolio. The Portfolio focuses on the financial services conduct of Australia's largest financial institutions (NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ, Macquarie and AMP) with respect to credit and retail lending, financial advice, fees for no service, superannuation trustees, insurance, unfair contract terms and other licensee obligations, and other conduct arising from the Financial Services Royal Commission.