ASIC strikes blow for advisers in online war

[~james~]

An interesting article for those who operate in the online insurance and loan comparison space:

http://www.wealthprofessional.com.a...s-blow-for-advisers-in-online-war-147084.aspx

 

[kappa]

i read this yesterday, they are going to basically make it in insurance that you have to operate under an afsl license or be qualified under an afls as a authorized Representative of a dealer group.

i think the days of just a lead gen for a insurance space will be limited.
The costs of being authorized is not cheap either with the high PI costs in the insurance space.

 

[Billy01]

Asic

They are a bit like an ashtray on a motorbike.

Just ask a few Storm Financial clients

 

[goldnugget]

Its a funny line in the sand with online marketing of financials I think....I'm looking into what is/is not allowed and whether an AFSL is required or not for certain marketing/lead gen situations online through ASIC.

Using carsales as a comparison...are they required to be a licenced motordealer to connect buyers and sellers? Yet they profit from the car sales industry (both private and dealers) though their income from dealers vs private is a diferent structure (or was, last time I checked how they work).

 

[Shane]

i read this yesterday, they are going to basically make it in insurance that you have to operate under an afsl license or be qualified under an afls as a authorized Representative of a dealer group.

i think the days of just a lead gen for a insurance space will be limited.
The costs of being authorized is not cheap either with the high PI costs in the insurance space.

It's only in relation to comparison websites. Lead gen is not affected, provided that you do it properly. ASIC have a referrer exemption that lead gen sites can operate under without the need for an AFSL.

You can have a website which talks about the benefits of insurance, but as soon as you start comparing products you are crossing the advice line.

They are a bit like an ashtray on a motorbike.

Just ask a few Storm Financial clients

You can't taint an entire industry because of a few bad apples. It's like saying that all domainers are cyber squatters and should be stripped of their domains...

Its a funny line in the sand with online marketing of financials I think....I'm looking into what is/is not allowed and whether an AFSL is required or not for certain marketing/lead gen situations online through ASIC.

See my comment above. You can provide a lead gen service without an AFSL. Google 'asic referrer exemption' for more info.

 

[goldnugget]

So if one was to look at setting up a database style site not unlike realestate.com, or hotel resort booking sites where users can go through a process of selecting what they want and dont want incorporated in their insurance coverage, or price range etc and then your site produces results based on their queries/selections....then I am thinking this would be classed as a comparison site?

I think the issue is that a few of them (online comparison sites) arent clearly disclosing which insurers are available in the database to begin with and claim to be comprehensive (wide range of insurers, or all of them) when in fact they are only dealing with a select few...Surely frontpage disclosure showing which insurers and their products are represented would keep ASIC happy on this, it shouldnt need to get complicated.

 

[goldnugget]

Too late to edit....actually I was on the ASIC website and tried to use their search function about this and all I got was 404 errors (which I reported)...I'll follow up with google