High upfront commissions likely to stay

Fidelity Life chairman Brian Blake says the government has missed an opportunity to force down commissions on life insurance policies.

Blake says: "The failure to address high upfront commissions in the Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Bill was a missed opportunity in our view.

"In a highly competitive market like ours, without regulatory intervention it’s unlikely anyone will significantly reduce upfront commission levels and risk losing market share," he says in the company's annual report.

He says Fidelity Life is confident it has adopted conduct and culture changes which meet the requirements of the Financial Markets Authority/Reserve Bank of New Zealand conduct and culture review.