From October 1, the insurer will no longer offer a volume criteria for bonus commission.
Current bonus levels will be underpinned for six months.
Partners Life is working on an alternative set of criteria for bonus commissions, which may include factors such as persistency and policy activity. That is yet to be finalised.
Managing director Naomi Ballanytne said the insurer had offered a volume-based commission since it launched but it was clear that the regulator did not view as appropriate any sales incentives that were tied to volumes sold.
“It’s clearly not in keeping with what the regulator wants.”
AIA and Asteron Life have made similar changes.
Ballantyne said while other insurers had locked in volume commissions as a total commission rate, Partners Life had decided that was not the best thing to do because it removed its ability to incentivise other behaviours.
“We felt it was important that people who do good get more.”
In a statement, Partners said: "For the majority of advisers who provide excellent advice and ongoing service to their clients, this change in bonus commission criteria should mean their current bonus commission rates are likely to remain unchanged, but market and regulator criticism of volume-based incentives will no longer be applicable to Partners Life advisers."
Ballantyne said the change would not affect what was paid to dealer groups, which are, at present, one step removed from the advice process.
But the move to licensing would bring significant change for them, she said, and could necessitate a conversation about how they were paid.
She said if there was a push to lower total upfront commission that could leave the groups needing to find another way.
Ballantyne said it was not yet clear what the future would look like for dealer groups. “A lot are trying to figure it out themselves.”
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