Banks Fiduciary Duty

B

blowtorch

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When Banks sell add-ons such as Loan Protection or Serious Illness as conditions of personal loans, do they have a fiduciary duty to get the best
quotation available for the client? What if they are a tied-agent? Do they still have a duty to tell the client that he can go to another insurance company for coverage? Do Banks have to disclose the amount of commission they receive by selling these add-ons?
 
Banks or any tied agent etc. do not have a 'best advice' obligation to a client.

They can be prosecuted/fined for misselling, but misselling is more about appropriateness of products as opposed to cost.

Life policies and pension must dislcose commission payable, but I'm not sure about general (non-life) insurance.
 
The particular bank I dealt with did not supply the information on commissions. When I asked them, they originally replied (on two seperate occasions and two seperate offices) that no commissions were payable as the Bank was a 'tied agent' of the parent company. I pushed them asking if anyone got commissions, and they eventually succumbed and admitted (after almost 6 months) that the Bank Branch got the bulk of the commission, and the Bank itself as an entity got commission also, even though the product was an 'in-house' one.

A bit underhand of them I'd think.
 
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