Mr Martin was taken through the number of breaches by counsel assisting the royal commission Rowena Orr,QC,at Monday’s hearing.

"So Clearview breached the anti-hawking provision,which as we discussed is a criminal offence ... 303,000 times in a period of just over three years?"Ms Orr asked Mr Martin as the numbers added up.

Mr Martin agreed with Ms Orr.

At the time we didn’t understand that we were breaching the anti-hawking laws. We just got it wrong.

Clearview's Greg Martin

Mr Martin said that Clearview made a mistake in the way it operated its call centres.

"At the time we didn’t understand that we were breaching the anti-hawking laws. We just got it wrong. We made a mistake. Clearview did not understand the way that it worked,"Mr Martin said.

Mr Martin then said an understanding of anti-hawking provisions was critical to running a call centre selling insurance products,to which a frustrated Ms Orr said:"A critical thing to ensure Clearview did not commit a criminal offence?"

The royal commission also heard ASIC had raised concerns about Clearview’s alleged"unfair or manipulative"calls from its call centres in Parramatta and Melbourne.

These included one customer being pressured by a call centre operator to take out a life insurance policy despite explaining that they were on a disability pension and had literacy and understanding issues.

Clearview also put the hard word on another customer even though they said they were in serious financial strife and could not afford such a policy.

The commission heard a call whereby another potential customer was pressured by call centre staff after clearly saying to the operators that they wanted to think about their purchase or talk to a family member before taking up the policy.

Mr Martin said life insurance products were a type of product that was often referred to as a"grudge purchase"– meaning a purchase that people didn’t usually want to buy but would if they were pressured by their family.

The royal commission also heard that Clearview targeted consumers in lower socio-economic areas with policies that cost more and covered fewer conditions than policies sold in more affluent areas.

Mr Martin said that the demographics targeted by Clearview were"lower rather than lowest"socio-economically.

Ms Orr later added:"I would say poor,you would say poorer people."

These policies included"accidental death"and"injury cash"insurance,which was offered to people who had been refused life insurance for health problems.

Both policies only cover accidents or injuries rather than any health issues.