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Version 11
Financial Services Guide
This Guide contains information about our services and charges, your rights as a client and other things you need to know in relation to insurance matters including how any complaints you may have will be dealt with.
If you ask us to act as your general insurance broker, we will do so on the terms set out in this Guide. Unless you tell us otherwise in writing, we assume that you agree with these terms. Any terms which are specific to our relationship with you, may be contained in a Letter of Engagement.
Retail clients may also receive some other documents after, or at the time we advise you about your insurance needs including:
· Disclosure Statement - will contain information about the ($) amount and/or description of fees, commission, other benefits and any associations that may have influenced the giving of this advice. Your statement will be incorporated into your Tax Invoice;
· Product Disclosure Statements – these will contain information about the products we recommend to you; and
· Confirmation notices – these will confirm the details of transactions we have arranged on your behalf.
When you ask us to recommend an insurance policy for you, we will usually only consider the policies offered by the insurers or insurance providers that we deal with regularly. In giving you advice about the costs and terms of recommended policies we have not compared those policies to other policies available, other than from those insurers we deal with regularly.
If you need more information, or have any queries, please feel free to telephone us.
ABOUT US
Brokernet Australia Pty Ltd T/As Austgroup Insurance Brokers holds an Australian Financial Services Licence No 239958 under the Corporations Act 2001. We are authorised to provide advice and deal in general insurance products (corporate, commercial and retail] to wholesale & retail clients. We do this for you as a broker unless we tell you otherwise.
Austgroup Insurance Brokers are a member of IBNA and we subscribe to the General Insurance Brokers’ Code of Practice. As the financial services licensee, we authorise the distribution of this Financial Services Guide.
OUR SERVICES
Austgroup Insurance Brokers is a Western Australian owned Company and committed to providing sound advice based upon your needs and our comprehensive market knowledge.
We offer a range of services to assist you to protect your assets. These include:
· Reviewing and advising on your insurance needs
· Arranging and renewing insurance contracts on your behalf
· Arranging premium funding, if required
· Assisting with insurance claims to enable us to provide advice which is appropriate to your circumstances, we will need you to provide us with complete information about the risk(s) to be insured, your past claims history and your needs and objectives. You should also tell us about any relevant changes as they occur.
If you are unable or choose not to provide some information to us, we will be unable to comprehensively review your circumstances. This may limit our ability to make appropriate recommendations. You will then need to assess the appropriateness of our advice, to your needs, before acting on it.
IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS
We are also a Shareholder of IBNA Limited. IBNA is a national marketing group that provides us with access to a range of resources and develops products and services for our clients. This assists us when we provide services to you by giving:
· Access to insurance products underwritten by a wide range of Insurers
· Access to insurance products that provide wide insurance cover.
· Access to consultants with specialised skills in certain risk products and services
How can you instruct us
You can provide us with instructions in person, by telephone, email or in writing.
New Business - If you need immediate cover, we can usually obtain an interim contract of insurance (which is generally valid for a month or less). To arrange this, we will need details of the property or risk and all other information which you need to disclose to the insurer.
We will then send you a proposal for completion. This must be returned to us before the interim cover expires.
We will send the original insurance contract documents as soon as they are issued correctly by your insurer. As these are legal documents, you should keep them in a safe place.
Renewals - We will give you at least 14 days notice of expiry of any insurance contract which we arranged or last renewed for you.
At that time we will send you an invoice which will automatically renew the insurance contract. If you want to change the details of the cover, contact us as soon as you receive the renewal offer. If you wish us to continue the contract on your behalf, you must pay the premium and other charges before the commencement date shown on the invoice or within 14 days of the commencement date.
If you have arranged or renewed insurance directly with an insurer or through another broker we will not be responsible for notifying you of expiry or arranging renewal unless you ask us to do so.
Variations to your Insurance Cover - You should carefully monitor and review that your insurance contract is adequate to cover your assets or business activities.
If you want to vary any cover, eg by increasing the sum insured or adding other property, please provide us with details of the changes you require and any other information you need to disclose to the insurer.
We will arrange the variation with the insurer and provide you with written confirmation.
Claims - We will receive your claims notifications, assist and advise you regarding the scope of cover and pass the information to the insurer.
If a loss adjustor is appointed we shall, with your permission, pass on your contact details and co-ordinate meetings. In the case of a major loss, we can attend the meetings with the loss adjustor if you wish us to.
We will promptly forward to you all claims documentation, insurance company settlement cheques and other information. If any claims are outstanding when you terminate our appointment as your insurance broker, we will do either of the following, whichever is preferable to you:
· Negotiate settlement on your behalf subject to a claim service fee (to be agreed) OR
· Provide details of the claim(s) to your new insurance broker so that they may continue to negotiate settlement on your behalf
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.
REMUNERATION FOR OUR SERVICES
At the time of issuing this FSG we are unable to provide you with the exact dollar amount of remuneration and/or benefits we may receive in relation to your policies, however we will, either when the advice is given, or as soon as practicable after, provide retail clients with information disclosing the exact dollar amount of any remunerations and/or benefits we will receive. This information will be included on your Tax Invoice. You have a right to request for further information in relation to the remuneration, the range of amounts or rates of remuneration, and soft dollar benefits received by us.
Commissions - Your insurer pays us commission when arranging your new policy, renewal of your policy and on some variations to your policy. Our commission will be calculated based on the following formula: X=Y%-P
X=our commission, Y%=percentage commission paid to us by the insurer. Our commissions vary between 0-25%. P=the amount you pay for any insurance policy (less any government fees or charges included in that amount).
For IBNA sourced insurance products we are paid up to 0.60% of the base premium as additional commission from the insurer.
Fee for service - When we finalise your cover we may also charge you an Administration and/or Broker Fee, which will appear separately on your Tax Invoice based on the product and the time we spend placing the insurance.
Profit Share - We may also receive a profit share commission from insurers and or premium funders in the future if a particular portfolio of business reaches a certain level of profitability.
Interest earned - Any interest earned on monies held in trust is for the sole benefit of Austgroup Insurance Brokers.
Advisers Remuneration - Our advisers receive an annual salary and may receive a bonus and/or incentive which are based on a number of factors including achievement of company goals. Directors may also get profit share.
Referrer Payments - If you have been referred to us, we may pay the person who referred you a referral fee. Referral fees will range from between 25% - 30% of the commission earned and will not increase the amount you pay us. Full details of any referral fees payable will be disclosed in the schedule of your Tax Invoice.
Sunrise– Where we have used electronic data interface (Sunrise) to process your policy, we may, as a result, receive an additional commission amount of up to 2.5% for utilising this system. This amount will be included in the commission declared on the front of your Tax Invoice.
Premium Funding - If we arrange premium funding for you, we may 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 charges). If you instruct us to arrange or place a product, this is when we become entitled to the commission.
Our commission rates for premium funding are in the range of 1% - 4% of funded premium. When we arrange premium funding for you, you can ask us what commission rate we are paid for that funding arrangement compared to other arrangements that were available to you.
Other Benefits -From time to time we may receive certain ‘hospitality benefits’, such as tickets to sporting events, movies, meals, bottles of wine, hampers etc. The receipt of these benefits may be based upon the volume of business placed with the provider but may also be more of an ad hoc reward. The maximum value of these during the year is unable to be determined. However, the details of such benefits so far received are able to be viewed on a specially maintained Register upon your request.
CANCELLATION OR POLICY REFUND
In the event of a refund for the cancellation or adjustment of a policy we reserve the right to retain our remuneration for arranging the insurance according to the clients needs and we may also charge a cancellation fee on all policies.
Term of payment
We will invoice you for the premium, statutory charges (eg. stamp duty, GST, fire services levy if applicable etc) and any fees we charge for arranging your insurances. You must pay us within 14 days of the policy inception date, or in the case of a renewal, before the expiry date of the contract of insurance. If you do not pay the premium on time, the insurer may cancel the contract of insurance and you will not be insured. The insurer may also charge a short term penalty premium for the time on risk.
Credit Card – if you pay by credit card, we may charge you a credit card (including arrangement and handling) fee which is disclosed on our tax invoice. This fee is non refundable and reimburses us for bank interest, extra charges/costs and internal time generated from credit card use.
PRIVACY
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, SoA/Statement, PDS or short-form PDS that we give or pass on to you for the period required by law.
We are committed to implementing and promotion a privacy policy, which will ensure the privacy and security of your personal information. A copy of our privacy policy is available on request. If you wish to look at your file, please ask us and we will make arrangements for you to do so.
COMPENSATION ARRANGEMENTS
We have arrangements in place to ensure we maintain Professional Indemnity insurance in accordance with legislative requirements. In particular our Professional Indemnity insurance, subject to its terms and conditions, provides indemnity for Austgroup Insurance Brokers and our authorised representatives and employees in respect of our authorisations and obligations under our licence. This insurance will continue to provide such coverage for any authorised representative and employee who has ceased work with us for work done whilst engaged with us.
COMPLAINTS AND DISPUTES
We are committed to providing quality service to our clients. This commitment extends to providing accessible mechanisms for our clients. If you have any complaint about the service provided to you, you should take the following steps:
1. Contact your adviser and tell your adviser about your complaint.
2. If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved within 7 days please contact Frank Starvaggi Austgroup Insurance Brokers on 08 9227 9473 or put your complaint in writing and send it to PO Box 522 Northbridge WA 6865. We will try and resolve your complaint quickly and fairly.
3. If we cannot reach a satisfactory resolution, you can raise your concerns with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) on 300 780 808. Austgroup Insurance Brokers is a member of this complaints resolution service. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) also has a free call Info line on 1300 300 630 which you can make use to make a complaint or obtain information about your rights.
Please retain this document for your reference and any future dealings with us.
21 January 2012
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