Thank you very much.
Division 2 deals with annuity-like products. As the committee members may know, there is currently a prohibition in the legislation that clarifies that banks are prohibited from engaging in the business of insurance, and this includes the issuance of life annuities. Primarily this is because a life annuity is based on an expectation of death—or an expectation of life, I suppose—and that risk is most appropriately addressed and dealt with by the regulatory regime applying to insurance companies.
In December 2011 the minister announced that the government would propose an amendment to prevent banks from offering annuity-like products, to ensure that the risks associated with these products are appropriately addressed by the insurance regime.
The amendment that you see in division 2 is to clarify the prohibition against banks offering annuity or annuity-like products.