Upfront bonuses being offered by insurance companies to financial advisers to entice them to leave their current employer and join the competition were prohibited by the former Financial Services Board (FSB), which is now the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), in 2014.
Section 3A of the General Code of Conduct currently decrees that “… No person may offer or provide a sign-on bonus to any person, other than a new entrant, as an incentive to become a Category I provider that is authorised or appointed to give advice”.
Two transgressions linked to one product provider came to light in introducing the enforcement action. One
