Consumers could be losing money because of insurance companies putting their own interests ahead of clients

The Financial Markets Authority says it IS happening .... and could mean thousands of people are millions dollars out of pocket.

It's found people trying to renew or change policies were sometimes not being told about the risks or increased costs involved.

Financial Market's Authority director of regulation Liam Mason says all the 11 firms they looked at needed to improve in some way.

He says they had some that didn't identify changes that made a big difference to risks and lost benefits.