We think responsible selling starts with clear, open and honest advice. In France, Aviva's “Le Bon Conseil” is a new customer advice process that combines IT platforms, back-office and customer-facing processes to ensure that customers are offered seamless, consistent and regular advice in all businesses. In addition, the life business, Aviva Vie, launched a new website to help customers keep track of their investments and contracts online. In the Netherlands, Delta Lloyd now explains its more complex financial products in a short, clear leaflet, while in the Czech Republic, Aviva puts its product and service fees on the website and trains agents in how to explain them.

In Aviva Canada's product literature, policy documentation and website, it ensures that the wording is clear, customer-focused and, most importantly, accurate. All documentation is carefully reviewed by our legal counsel to ensure that, at all times, we clearly disclose all relevant information.

Our strong commitment to responsible selling is demonstrated in the steps that we have taken to improve our agent sales. In Poland, our agents must now fill in a needs folder and do a financial analysis, which managers must check before policies are approved. “Mystery shopping” programmes keep an eye on this and agents' pay is based primarily on customer service. In the Czech Republic, Aviva's new sales system now stresses responsible selling rather than quick sales. Agents have to meet customers twice, first to explain products and analyse needs, then to answer questions and check that products really do meet customers' needs. In Spain, a new Act is helping Aviva to avoid agent mis-selling by making sure that agents are not only better trained, but more open with customers and assessing and justifying their needs in writing. In Hungary, meanwhile, additional training courses for Aviva's sales agents helped to reinforce our focus on sales quality. In Asia, each business unit ensures responsible selling through the certification and approval of each agent and adviser in accordance with the country's regulatory requirements, association standards and also with Aviva's standards of best practice.