Insurance provider Asteron Life believes proposed new professional standards will negatively affect advisers linked to accounting firms.
This makes it the latest company to reject the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board's (APESB's) draft measures.
Asteron Life said the board's APES 230 proposal will have a disproportionate effect on advisers who partner with accountants.
"Clients will essentially end up paying more for their insurance advice if they go through an adviser linked with an accounting firm, as they'll be charged a fee for service from 1 July 2013," Asteron executive manager Mark Vilo said.
"The standard treats advisers who partner with accountants more harshly than advisers in the open market when it comes to remuneration for insurance advice."
With the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms operational from July 1 next year, Asteron has said the additional standard is unnecessary as well as costly for consumers.
Of particular concern is the banning of risk commissions and all third party payments, which the life insurer has said is more severe than the provisions set in the FOFA reforms.
"This will exacerbate the underinsurance problem," Mr Vilo said. "Currently, only five per cent of Australians have adequate life insurance cover."
Asteron is the latest to be involved in a spate of criticism over the new standards since the APESB issued the exposure draft for APES 230 in June 2010.
In October, Chan & Naylor's director of financial planning David Hasib said the blanket ban on commissions in insurance might cause members of the major Australian professional accounting bodies to reconsider their membership.
Mr Hasib said the standard would result in insurance becoming an expensive exercise for clients - one that would increase their overall business costs.
In September, the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) also refused to support the proposal, stating FOFA reforms will make the changes unnecessary.
Despite criticism, the APESB announced on November 16 they believed APES 230 should be "issued without delay".
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