We strongly support banning the unsolicited selling of financial products, including insurance and superannuation. Unsolicited selling is an outdated and abusive practice with a significant risk of mis-selling people products they don’t want, need or understand. We do not see unsolicited sales delivering benefits to consumers. Generally, the products sold are expensive and poor value, and cheaper products are often available through direct sales channels.
RG38 is generally well drafted and gives clear guidance and useful examples, save for our comments in this submission.
Our main concern is that RG38 effectively gives add-on travel insurance an entirely unwarranted exemption from the hawking ban. This would be an appalling outcome, contrary to the letter and spirit of the reforms recommended by the Financial Services Royal Commission. Unless RG38 is amended, it will give the green light to travel insurers and their retailing partners to continue business as usual with all of the attendant harm that entails
