Financial Services Council Code of Practice

• ‘Efficiently, honestly and fairly’ – the requirement to update medical definitions in insurance policies

  8th Jun 2023

  'One problem with using a medically described condition in an insurance policy is that it will capture a definition appropriate for when it is described but likely no longer useful a few decades later – which is the length of time a life insurance policy is designed for.' Dr Benjamin Koh discusses the importance of keeping such definitions up to date and the ramifications of Australian Securities and Investments Commission v MLC Limited [2023] FCA 539, in which the defendant was fined a penalty of $10 million for not doing so, among other things.