FSG
The Financial Service is provided by :
Name : VeriSure Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd ABN 48 132 604 249 AFSL : 303521
hereinafter referred to as VeriSure.
Address : Level 1 / 40 Flushcombe Road BLACKTOWN NSW 2148
Telephone : 1300 85 35 88 Facsmilie : 1300 85 39 33
Email : RiskAdvice@verisure.com.au
Web : www.verisure.com.au
This Financial Services Guide (FSG) contains information about VeriSure Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd’s services. It is designed to assist you in deciding whether to use any of those services and contains important information about:
• the services we offer you.
• how we and others are paid.
• any potential conflict of interest we may have.
• our internal and external dispute resolution procedures and how you can access them.
• arrangements we have in place to compensate clients for losses.
From when does this FSG apply?
This FSG applies from 1 October 2019 and remains valid unless a further FSG is issued to replace it. We may give you a supplementary FSG. It will not replace this FSG but will cover services not covered by this FSG.
Personal Advice
We will provide you with further information whenever we provide you with advice which takes into account your objectives, financial situation and needs. This information may include the advice that we have given you, the basis of the advice and other information on our remuneration and any relevant associations or interests. This information will be contained in a statement of advice (SOA) we will provide to you with each Policy.
Product Disclosure Statement
If we offer to arrange the issue of an insurance policy to you, we will also provide you with, or pass on to you, a product disclosure statement (PDS), unless you already have an up to date PDS. The PDS will contain information about the particular policy which will enable you to make an informed decision about purchasing that product.
Relationships or Associations
VeriSure is a Steadfast Group Limited (Steadfast) Network Broker. VeriSure choose to be a Member of the Network because of the additional Services and Benefits VeriSure receive. Some of these services assist VeriSure in the management of their business and your relationship with VeriSure. Some of these services VeriSure utilise to directly assist Clients.
These services include but are not limited to, model operating and compliance tools, procedures, manuals and training, legal, technical, banking and recruitment advice and assistance, group insurance arrangements, product comparison and placement support, claims support and group purchasing arrangements. These broker services are either funded by Steadfast, subsidised by Steadfast or available exclusively to Steadfast Network Brokers for a fee. VeriSure pay annual Fees for Network Membership.
Steadfast has exclusive arrangements with some insurers and premium funders (their Partners) under which Steadfast will receive between 0.5 – 1.5% commission for each product arranged by us with those Partners. Steadfast is also a shareholder of some Partners.
You can obtain a copy of Steadfast’s FSG at www.steadfast.com.au
How can I instruct you?
You can contact us to give us instructions by post, phone, fax or email on the contact number or details mentioned at the commencement of this FSG.
Who is responsible for the financial services provided?
VeriSure is responsible for the financial services that will be provided to you, or through you to your family members, including the distribution of this FSG.
What kinds of financial services are you authorised to provide to me and what kinds of financial product/s do those services relate to?
VeriSure is authorised to advise and deal in general insurance products to wholesale and/or retail clients. We will do this for you as your broker unless we tell you otherwise.
Appointing VeriSure
If you appoint VeriSure to act as your Risk and Insurance Advisors we will do so, only on the terms set out in this Guide. We will also provide you with our Terms of Engagement which, together with this Guide, will record the basis of our relationship.
Unless you tell us otherwise in writing, we confirm that you agree with these terms.
Our Philosophy
As a fully Licensed Australian Financial Services provider VeriSure adopt the attitude the Clients interests must come first. Our policy is to provide clients with the right advice for their particular situation. Our motto “Knowledge then Security” applies. This includes advice which may be helpful to you but may not result in VeriSure being appointed as your Risk Advisor.
Conflict of Interest
When you deal with VeriSure you can be certain there will be no conflicts of interest. We have no cross or shared shareholding with any Insurance Company, Underwriter, Underwriting Agency, and/or Lloyd’s Representative.
Will I receive Tailored Advice?
In most cases, yes, but maybe not in all cases. We will need information about your personal objectives, details of your current financial situation and any relevant information, so that we can arrange insurance policies for you, or to give you advice about your insurance needs. We will ask you for these details during our Risk Assessment process.
In some cases, we will not ask for any of this information. For example, refer to Retail Clients items (i) to (ix) below. If we do not ask, or if you do not give us all of the information we ask for, any advice you receive may not be appropriate to your needs, objectives and financial situation.
Retail Clients
The Corporations Act 2001 (The Act) provides Retail Clients with additional protection than other clients. Under the Act, a Retail Client is defined as:
Individuals, or
A manufacturing business employing fewer than 100 people; or
Any business employing fewer than 20 people; and
Who are purchasing the following types of insurance cover:
- i.Motor vehicle
- ii.Home building
- iii.Home contents
- iv.Sickness and accident
- v.Travel
- vi.Pleasure craft
- vii.Caravan
- viii.Personal property
- ix.Consumer credit.
It is important that you understand if this definition applies to you or your business, as some of the
information and additional protection in this FSG only applies to Retail Clients.
What is General Advice?
Where you have instructed VeriSure to effect insurance on your behalf in respect of items (i) to (ix) above we will do so only on a General Advice basis. Where VeriSure act on this basis we will provide you with a General Advice Warning for each and every Policy.
Our Service To You Can Include
VeriSure have an experienced, compliant and highly qualified staff to assist you in managing your Insurance needs. Additional Services provided by VeriSure include :
- Risk Management (Including or Excluding the SafeGuard Program)
- Advice and Consultancy (Including or Excluding Second Opinions)
- Insurance Claims Management
- Workers’ Compensation Claims Management
- Work Health and Safety
- Property Loss Control
- Business Interruption (Profit Maintenance) Reviews and Under-Insurance
- Liability Risk Management
- Liability Risk Evaluation and Control
- Environmental Risk Management
- Security Programs
- Evaluation of Contractual Agreements.
- Disaster and Crisis Planning
- Interstate Site Visits
Authorised Representatives
VeriSure may appoint Authorised Representatives (AR’s) to specifically provide to you, the Service’s on behalf of VeriSure. Where we elect to engage AR’s they are subject to and Operate on the same conditions as the Licensee. You can be assured they have met all requirements of the Licensee and we are happy to recommend them to you so that you can feel confident in your dealings with them and VeriSure.
How are our Authorised Representatives Paid?
Our advisers are paid by a combination of salary, bonuses, and back office payments. This will not increase the amount you pay us.
What information do you maintain in my file and can I examine my file?
We maintain a record of your personal profile, including details of insurance policies that we arrange for you. We may also maintain records of any recommendations or advice given to you. We will retain this FSG and any other FSG given to you as well as any SOA or PDS that we give or pass on to you for the period required by law.
We are committed to implementing and promoting a privacy policy, which will ensure the privacy and security of your personal information. A copy of our privacy policy is available on request. A copy is also available on our website, www.verisure.com.au
If you wish to look at your file, please ask us. We will make arrangements for you to do so.
How will I pay for the services provided?
For each insurance product the insurer will charge a premium that includes any relevant taxes, charges and levies. We often receive a payment based on a percentage of this premium (excluding relevant taxes, charges and levies) called commission, which is paid to us by the insurers. However, in some cases we will also charge you a fee for service which are based upon the nature of the service we provide to you. In addition, we also take into account other factors including but not limited to, how complex and difficult the work is, the skill, specialised knowledge or responsibility involved, its urgency or priority and the value we add through our market experience, qualifications and involvement. These will all be shown on the invoice that we send you. You can choose to pay by any of the payment methods set out in the invoice. You are required to pay us within the time set out in our Terms of Engagement attached.
If there is a refund or reduction of your premium as a result of a cancellation or alteration to a policy, or based on a term of your policy (such as a premium adjustment provision), we will retain any fee we have charged you. We will also retain commission depending on our arrangements with the insurer, or charge you a cancellation fee equal to the reduction in our commission.
When you pay us your premium it will be banked into our trust account. We retain the commission from the premium you pay us and remit the balance to the insurer in accordance with our arrangements with the insurer. We will earn interest on the premium while it is in our trust account or we may invest the premium and earn a return. We will retain any interest or return on investment earned on the premium.
How are any commissions, fees or other benefits calculated for providing the financial services?
Our commission will be calculated based on the following formula:
X = Y% x P
In this formula:
X = our commission
Y% = the percentage commission paid to us by the insurer. Our commission varies between 5% and 27.5%
P = the amount you pay for any insurance policy (less any government fees or charges included in that amount).
Premium Funding
When we arrange premium funding for you, we will be paid a commission by the premium funder. We may also charge you a fee (or both). The commission that we are paid by the premium funder is usually calculated as a percentage of your insurance premium (including government fees or changes). If you instruct us to arrange or issue a product, this is when we become entitled to the commission. Our commission rates for premium funding are in the range of 1% to 3% of funded premium. When we arrange premium funding for you, you can ask us what commission rates we are paid for that funding arrangement compared to the other arrangements that were available to you.
VeriSure’s Remuneration
We may elect to rebate all commissions that we receive from insurers to you. In lieu of receiving commissions from insurers we would charge you a fee based upon the nature of the service we provide to you.
We may accept a commission paid by the relevant insurers as full remuneration or we can do a combination of both fee and commission. The structure of our charges is based on the type of services we provide to you and the effective minimisation of government charges which directly benefits you.
Standard Industry Rates of Commission vary between 5% and 27.5% of the Base Premium and is entirely dependent upon the Class of Policy and Underwriter Terms negotiated. Our expectation is to earn a minimum 15% to 25% of the premium placed, however other costs apply for some specific services.
In addition, our practice is to Net Premiums. Please refer to your Statement of Advice for details of how we treat Net rating.
Where a Fee for Service is charged our minimum hourly rate is $500 however this is dependent upon other factors including but not limited to, how complex and difficult the work is, the skill, specialised knowledge or responsibility involved, its urgency or priority and the value we add through our market experience, qualifications and involvement. Any Fee, if charged, in relation to specific Policy requirements will be outlined in detail in our Statement of Advice.
Payment to Others
Our practice is not to pay any commissions, fees or benefits to others who refer you to us or refer us to an insurer. On occasion we may elect to do so but any commissions, fees or benefits paid will only be paid out of our commission or fees and not in addition to them. Our employees that will assist you with your insurance needs will be paid a market salary.
What should I do if I have a complaint?
- 1.Contact us and tell us about your complaint. We will do our best to resolve it quickly.
- 2.If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved within Seven (7) days, please contact David McAllister on 02 9831 7222 or put your complaint in writing and send it to David McAllister at the address or email address noted at the beginning of this FSG. We will try and resolve your complaint quickly and fairly.
- 3.VeriSure is a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). If your complaint cannot be resolved to your satisfaction by us, you have the right to refer the matter to the AFCA. AFCA provides fair and independent financial services complaint resolution that is free to customers. The AFCA can be contacted at:
Mailing address – Australian Financial Complaints Authority, GPO Box 3, Melbourne, VIC 3001
Ph – 1800 931 678
Email – info@afca.org.au
Website – www.afca.org.au
What arrangements do you have in place to compensate clients for losses?
VeriSure has a professional indemnity insurance policy (PI policy) in place. The PI policy covers us and our representatives (including our authorised representatives) for claims made against us and our representatives by clients as a result of the conduct of us, our employees or representatives in the provision of financial services. Our PI policy will not cover us for claims relating to the conduct of representatives who no longer work for us. This policy satisfies the requirements for compensation arrangements under section 912B of the Corporations Act.
Any questions?
If you have any further questions about the financial services VeriSure provides, please contact us. Please retain this document for your reference and any future dealings with VeriSure.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Duty of Disclosure
In order to make an informed assessment of the risk and calculate the appropriate premium, your insurer needs information about the risk you are asking it to insure.
For this reason, before you enter into a contract of insurance, you have a duty under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 to disclose to your insurer every matter that you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, is relevant to the insurer’s decision whether to accept the risk and, if so, on what terms.
The duty also applies when you renew, extend, vary or reinstate a contract of insurance.
You do not have to disclose anything that :
· Reduces the risk to be undertaken by the insurer;
· Is common knowledge;
· Your insurer knows, or in the ordinary course of its business, ought to know, or
· If the insurer has waived your obligation to disclose.
If you do not comply with your duty of disclosure, your insurer may be entitled to reduce its liability in respect of a claim or may cancel your contract of insurance. If the non-disclosure was fraudulent, the insurer may be able to avoid (or cancel) the contract of insurance from its beginning. This would have the effect that you were never insured.
One important matter to be disclosed is the history of losses suffered by the person seeking insurance or any closely associated person or entity. As you are responsible for checking that you have made complete disclosure, we suggest that you keep an up to date record of all such losses and claims. If you have any questions about whether information needs to be disclosed, please contact us.
Material Changes
You must also notify your insurer of any significant changes which occur during the period of insurance. If you do not, your insurances may be inadequate to fully cover you.
We can assist you to do this and to ensure that your contract of insurance is altered to reflect those changes.
Cooling Off Period – Retail insurance only
If you decide that you do not need a contract of retail insurance which has been arranged on your behalf, you have a minimum of 14 days from the earlier of the date you receive confirmation of the contract or the date 5 days from the date it was arranged to change your mind. If you want to cancel during the cooling off period you must tell us in writing during this period and we will notify the insurers.
The insurance contract will be terminated from the time we are notified. You may be entitled to a refund of the premium you paid, the amount of which will be determined by the insurer’s refund policy.
You cannot return the insurance contract if it has already expired or if you have made a claim under it.
Privacy
We are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information you provide to advise about and assist with your insurance needs. We only provide your information to the insurance companies with whom you choose to deal (and their representatives). We do not trade, rent or sell your information.
You can check the information we hold about you at any time. Our complete Privacy Policy may be viewed at www.verisure.com.au.
Sums Insured – Average and Co-Insurance
Some insurance contracts require you to bear a proportion of each loss or claim if the sum insured is inadequate to cover the amount of the loss. These provisions are called ‘average’ or ‘co-insurance’ clauses.
If you do not want to bear a proportion of any loss, when you arrange or renew your contract of insurance, you must ensure that the amount for which you insure is adequate to cover the full potential of any loss. If you insure on a new for old basis, the sum insured must be sufficient to cover the new replacement cost of the property.
Interests of other Parties
Some insurance contracts do not cover the interest in the insured property or risk of anyone other than the person named in the contract. Common examples are where property is jointly owned or subject to finance but the contract only names one owner or does not name the financier.
Please tell us about everyone who has an interest in the property insured so that we can ensure that they are noted on the contract of insurance.
Contractual Liability and your insurance cover
Many commercial or business contracts contain clauses dealing with your liability (including indemnities or hold harmless clauses). Such clauses may entitle your insurers to reduce cover, or in some cases, refuse to indemnify you at all. You should seek legal advice before signing and accepting contracts. You should inform us of any clauses of this nature before you enter into them.