Allianz Australia insurance giant received a multimillion -dollar fine for criminally deceiving the public about the maximum benefits of the travel policy available for customers.
Allianz and the expert in travel insurance AWP Australia declared themselves guilty in June 2022 of charges linked to misrepresenting the nature of travel insurance for customers between 2016 and 2018.
The ASIC corporate regulator sent the case to prosecutors after he was surveyed in the Royal Commission of Banking and Financial Services 2018.
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Allianz appointed AWP as his agent and authorized him to develop travel insurance products and related services in 2010.
On Friday, Allianz received a fine of $ 13.5 million and AWP penalized $ 3.3 million for infractions, which are related to online descriptions that did not reveal some limits on certain travel insurance products.
Allianz faced a possible maximum fine of $ 437 million for each of the six contraventions, while AWP had faced a maximum fine of $ 16 million for a crime.
The Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW, Stephen Rothman, said that companies had fully cooperated with ASIC and the police in their investigations, and had declared themselves guilty of the charges.
“Allianz’s behavior was to disseminate information that was incorrect, that he should reasonably know that it was false,” he said, adding that the incorrect information would probably induce people to buy the products.
Allianz and AWP were ordered in 2021 to pay fines of $ 1.5 million for the deceptive sale of travel insurance policies through Expedia websites.
Allianz did not respond immediately to a request for comments on Friday.
(Tagstotranslate) Australia business
