Phoenix exec strips to protest insurance reforms
El-On was attempting to illustrate the predicament of insurance brokers in the wake of the treasury's decision last month to reduce management fees on pension savings plans from 2% to a maximum of 1.1% by January 2013, and 1.05% by January 2014.
The move is expected to cost financial firms hundreds of millions of shekels and force them to streamline and carry out mergers. One such merger was announced at the beginning of this week, with two investment houses, Dash Apex and Meitav, expected to merge into one company, which would manage assets worth NIS 104 billion.
Regulars at the conference recounted that El-On pulled another stunt at a previous conference, cutting his hair with an electric hair clipper to make a similar point.
The Phoenix said: "Oren El-On tried to express his profound identification with the complicated situation in which insurance agents find themselves, in light of the new regulatory instructions that damage the profit structure of the agents. There was, of course, no intent to offend anyone."
