Soft commission under scrutiny

Michael Naylor

The paper said restricting or banning commission was not a preferred option for the review of the legislation, but asked the industry for its views.

There was little support for major change to commissions. Submitters said commission was one of the only ways to compensate advisers for providing advice to clients who did not want to pay themselves.

But there was more debate about the issue of soft commissions and volume-based incentives given to advisers.

Most insurers offer overseas conferences and trips as an incentive to high-performing advisers.