PEAK Financial Group says it is pleased to see that a growing list of insurers are putting an end to their sales-based travel incentive conferences, as reported in the April edition of The Insurance and Investment Journal. PEAK calls these incentives unethical and against the best interest of clients.

In a statement, Robert Frances, PEAK CEO and Chairman reiterated the importance of independent advisors. “We have always found these types of programs to be unethical and contrary to the best interest of clients. This change is long overdue in the insurance industry. Back in the ‘90s, when IFIC published its rules of ethics that put an end to sales contests in the fund industry, we followed the file very closely and were behind IFIC’s decision 100 per cent,” Frances said.

A perception of a conflict of interest

PEAK’s support comes after Great-West/Canada Life, Manulife, RBC Insurance and Desjardins Insurance all confirmed an end to their sales-based conferences.

Frances said numerous studies have unanimously shown that sales incentives and in-house products raise some major ethical concerns. The concern about travel incentives was raised by the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association’s recent insurance distribution report which said sales-based incentives could contribute to a perception of a conflict of interest.

PEAK Financial Group is a full service dealer that works with a network of 1,500 independent advisors in the investment and insurance sectors.