Southern Cross limits trail commission

Kerry Boielle

Chief sales officer Kerry Boielle said the upfront commission paid would increase a small amount – how much was commercially sensitive – in recognition of the increasing documentation and compliance effort required from advisers.

She said this reflected the fact that most of the adviser's work was done around the policy being issued.

But the bigger change was that, instead of a percentage of premiums paid as trail each year, Southern Cross would pay a set amount per life insured.

She said that amount was sensitive information, too, but that if an adviser were paid $50,000 this year from Southern Cross, they would be paid $50,000 next year, too. But it would be expressed as a set payment per client and would then only increase with the CPI.