FSG
FINANCIAL SERVICES GUIDE
Licensee : VeriSure Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd (VeriSure)
Licence No 330521
This Financial Services Guide (FSG) contains information about VeriSure Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd’s services and charges, the rights you have as a client of VeriSure and other important information you need to know in relation to insurance matters, including how any complaints you may have, will be dealt with.
We trust this FSG will confirm and reinforce your decision for using the services provided by VeriSure.
If you appoint VeriSure to act as your Risk Advisor, we will do so, only on the terms set out in this Guide. Unless you tell us otherwise in writing, we confirm you agree with these terms. We will also provide you with our Terms of Engagement which, together with this Guide, will record the basis of our relationship.
You might also receive some other documents after or at the time we advise you about your insurance needs including :
Statements of Advice – these will be summaries of our advice and recommendations including the basis upon which it was provided;
Product Disclosure Statements – these will contain information about the products we recommend to you; and
Cover Confirmation Advice (Tax Invoice) – these will confirm the details, in summary form, of transactions we have been instructed and/or requested to arrange on your behalf.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT US
Our web site contains comprehensive details about our Company and we would refer you to www.verisure.com.au.
Our Commitment to Our Clients :
VeriSure’s commitment to clients is :
“To provide excellence in customer service, professional program packaging, competitive cover structure, progressive participation in management of Insurance needs, effective on-going support, prompt attention to claims and sound professional advice.”
Our Philosophy
As a fully Licensed Australian Financial Services provider VeriSure adopt the attitude that the Clients interests must come first. Our policy is to provide clients with the right advice for their particular situation.
This includes advice which may be helpful to you but may not result in VeriSure being appointed as your General Insurance Broker.
Who Do Licensee’s Act for when providing Financial Service or Advice ???
As a fully Licensed Australian Financial Services provider VeriSure represent their clients’ interests first and foremost and not those of the insurers, i.e. We assist you, the client, with claims settlements, policy wordings and general advice that you might need.
Conflict of Interest
VeriSure is a fully Licensed Australian Financial Services provider and we declare that we have no cross shareholding or shared shareholding with any Underwriter, Underwriting Agency, Lloyd’s Representative and/or any affiliation with any Broker or Broker Group owned and/or sponsored by any Underwriter.
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 HPR SureGuard Program)
Risk Advice and Consultancy (Including or Excluding Second Opinions)
Workers’ Compensation Statutory Insurance and 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 Program
Evaluation of Contractual Agreements.
Disaster and Crisis Planning
Interstate Site Visits
How we are remunerated for our services
You are entitled to know how and what we will charge for our services and what other benefits we receive.
Australian Financial Services providers are remunerated in a number of ways. These include :
Commission
Underwriters, Insurance Companies and Underwriting Agencies, either Australian and/or Overseas, compensate the Licensee’s with whom they deal on the basis of a percentage of the premium applicable for the Risk. This percentage varies depending upon the Class and Nature of the Policy.
Fee for Service
We will charge you a fee 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.
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 25% of the Base Premium and is entirely dependent upon the Class of Policy and Underwriter Terms negotiated. Our expectation is to earn 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 $300 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.
Our charges exclude GST (this will be charged and shown separately). Some of our charges may be tax deductible.
When we act on your behalf and you cancel a policy and obtain a refund of premium you agree that we can keep our fees &/or commission. This will apply even where you exercise a cooling off right. If we didn’t do this we would not be properly reimbursed for the services provided by us to you.
If we hold money in trust pending payment to the insurer or refund to you, we also receive the interest earned.
Authorised Representatives
Where one of VeriSure’s Senior Risk Advisors is appointed to specifically provide, to you, the Service’s on behalf of VeriSure 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.
Notification
Unless you notify us in writing, you agree to the Information, Terms and Conditions of this Financial Service Guide (FSG).
How are our Advisers Paid
Our advisers are paid by a combination of salary, bonus’, and back office payments. If our advisor has referred you to us, we may pay them part of any fees or commission received. This will not increase the amount you pay us.
If any person has referred you to us, we may pay them a part of any fees or commission received. This will not increase the amount you pay us.
TERMS OF PAYMENT
Cover Confirmation / Invoices :
We will invoice you for the premium, GST, statutory charges and any fees we charge for arranging your insurances. You must pay us within 14 days of the date of the invoice 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.
Premium funding
Premium funding products enable you to pay your premiums by instalments. Although they do not usually require any security, premium funders do charge interest.
We can arrange premium funding on your behalf if you require it. We may receive a commission based on a percentage of the premium from the premium funder for doing so. We will tell you the basis and amount of any such payment before or at the time the premium funding is arranged.
Cancellation
We cannot cancel a contract of insurance without written instructions from a person(s) who is authorised to represent each of the parties who are named as insureds in the contract of insurance. We cannot cancel any contract of insurance which is subject to the Marine Insurance Act 1909.
If a contract of insurance is cancelled before expiry of the period of insurance, we will refund the net premium we receive from your insurer. We will not refund our fees or commission for arranging the insurance.
If a contract of insurance has been written on a minimum and deposit basis insurers may not allow a refund when effecting cancellation.
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 cancel 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 any one 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.
Waiver of Rights
Some insurance contracts seek to limit or exclude claims where the insured person has limited their rights to recover a loss from the person who was responsible for it, e.g. by signing an agreement which disclaims or limits the liability of the other party.
Please tell us about any contracts of this type which you have or propose to enter into.
Standard Covers
The Regulations to the Insurance Contracts Act set out standard terms for the cover which is provided by motor vehicle, home buildings, home contents, sickness and accident, consumer credit and travel insurance (including a minimum amount of insurance).
If an insurer wants to alter these terms or offer less than the minimum amount of insurance they must clearly inform you in writing that they have done so. They can do this by providing you with a Product Disclosure Statement or a copy of the insurance contract.
Unusual Terms
If an insurer wants to rely on a term in a contract of insurance which is not usually included in contracts that provide similar cover, they must clearly inform you in writing of that term. Again, they may do so by providing you with a copy of the insurance contract.
COMPLAINTS AND DISPUTES
If you are not fully satisfied with our services, please telephone our Disputes Officer, David McAllister on 1300 85 35 88.
We will acknowledge your complaint in writing and endeavour to resolve your problem within 20 days.
If you are still not satisfied, we subscribe to the Financial Ombudsman Service Australia (FOS) which handles complaints against brokers involving amounts up to $150,000 and relating to a variety of small business and domestic processes.
You can refer your complaint to the FOS Consumer Relations Manager for who will conciliate with a view to seeking a solution that is acceptable to both parties.
If the dispute remains unresolved after a further 20 days, it will be referred to the FOS Referee whose decision is binding on us (but not on you). Further information about the FOS is available from our office or they can be contacted on 1800 367 287.