Financial Services Guide
THE PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDE
This Financial Services Guide (FSG) is designed to assist you in deciding whether to use any of our services and contains important information about:
- The services we offer you
- How we and our associates are paid
- Any potential conflicts of interest we may have
- What to do in the event of a complaint
RESPONSIBILITY FOR SERVICES PROVIDED
We hold a current Australian Financial Services Licence and are authorised to advise and deal in the full spectrum of general insurance, life insurance and superannuation products.
We are responsible for the financial services provided to you, or through you to your family members, including the distribution of this FSG.
In order to be granted and then retain our Licence we are required to meet stringent guidelines in areas such as: staff training, organisational competence, management expertise, financial control and compliance disciplines.
We have an ongoing requirement to maintain and enhance our professionalism to ensure that you receive fair and honest Financial Services from us.
WHO DO WE ACT FOR?
We usually act on your behalf and in your interests in all matters. Sometimes, it may be more appropriate for us to access insurance or manage claims where we act as an agent of the insurer. If and when this situation arises we will explain and highlight this to you.
OUR SERVICES
We offer a range of services to assist you to protect your income, assets and guard against unexpected liabilities including:
- Reviewing and advising on your insurance needs
- Identifying risk factors to avoid claims
- Seeking competitive premium quotations
OUR PRODUCTS
We can advise and arrange a broad range of insurances on your behalf including:
Home Building and Contents, Landlords, Travel, Boat, Private and Commercial Motor, Transit, Farm, Liability, Business Packages, Construction, Industrial and Professional covers, Life, Trauma, Total & Permanent Disablement (TPD), Income Replacement, Superannuation, Group Life and Salary Continuance.
RETAIL CLIENTS
Under the Corporation Act 2001 (The Act) Retail Clients are provided with additional protection from other clients. The Act defines Retail Clients as:
Individuals or a manufacturing business employing less than 100 people or any other business employing less than 20 people and that are purchasing the following types of insurance covers:
Motor vehicle, home building, contents, personal and domestic, sickness/accident/travel, consumer credit and other classes as prescribed by regulations.
Some of the information in this FSG only applies to Retail Clients and it is important that you understand if you are covered by the additional protection provided.
RETAIL CLIENT ISSUES
Typically we only provide General Advice to our Retail Clients for General Insurance. General Advice does not take into account your particular needs and requirements and you should consider the appropriateness of this advice to your circumstances prior to acting upon it.
If you are a new Retail Client and obtain Personal Advice, that is advice that takes into account your particular circumstances, we will usually give you a Statement of Advice (SOA), that sets out the advice provided and the basis on which the advice is made and our remuneration should you purchase the product.
For existing Retail Clients we may not provide an SOA but rather provide the advice to you orally. In such cases you may request us to provide you with a Record of Advice (via phone or in writing) which we will provide to you within 28 days of such request.
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 polices we have not compared those policies to other policies available, other than from those insurers we deal with regularly.
If our Personal Advice recommends the purchase of a particular financial product, we will also give you a Product Disclosure Statement at that time, which sets out details specific to that product and the key benefits and risks in purchasing the product.
WHAT WE CAN EXPECT FROM YOU
To enable us to provide the right advice we need you to provide us with complete information about the risk(s) that you face and those that you want to be insured for.
You should also tell us about any relevant changes as they occur so that we can review your insurance needs accordingly. Of course we also ask you to pay our invoices on time and complete all proposal forms honestly, accurately and return them to us by the required date.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
The Federal Privacy Act 2000 sets out standards for the collection and management of personal information. With your consent, we will only use your personal information for insurance services. Our Privacy policy can be viewed here.
COOLING OFF PROVISIONS
All retail products are subject to a 14 day 'cooling off period'. This means that if you are not happy with the product, you have 14 days to withdraw from the contract at no cost to you.
COMPENSATION
For your added protection we also hold a Professional Indemnity Policy. This policy is designed to pay claims by Third Parties (including our clients) arising out of our Professional Negligence. The policy has a minimum cover of $2m for any one claim with the additional protection of providing for a further two claims (again with a minimum cover of $2m each) in the same policy year.
The policy extends to covers us for work done for us by representatives / employees after they cease to work for us and satisfies the requirements for compensation arrangements under Section 912B of The Act.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
As a business we have relationships with and receive income from various third parties as detailed in this FSG. For Retail Clients details of relationships that impact the advice that we provide will be included in any SOA we send you. We will give you further information regarding relationships and remuneration that may impact any General Advice provided by us or our representatives upon request.
CONTACT AGREEMENT
To ensure that we provide you with appropriate products and services, you agree to us calling you at our discretion to discuss any new products and services. If you do not wish to receive such calls please advise us and we will place you on our Do Not Call Register.
OUR SOURCES OF INCOME
When placing your insurance we usually receive a commission from the insurer. For General Insurance the amount varies between 0% and 27.5% of the base premium you pay. Where a policy is cancelled before the period of insurance has ended we will usually retain the commission on any return premium involved. For Life Insurance we receive between 0% and 125% of the initial year's premium with ongoing commissions between 0% and 30% (depending on initial commission). For Superannuation we receive from 0% to 4% upfront and up to 1% ongoing service fees.
When we give you Personal Advice, full commission details (including the dollar amounts) will be provided in any SOA or, where an SOA is not required to be provided, included on any relevant invoices. When we give you General Advice, full commission information (including dollar amounts) will provided on request.
We have a set of standard non refundable Broker Fees that we charge you for the cost of services which include:
- Market research on products available
- Assessing the claims paying ability of insurers
- Sourcing alternative quotations and coverage
- Risk analysis and portfolio co-ordination
All fees payable for our services will be advised to you at the time of providing the advice or service.
We retain the interest on premiums paid by you that are held in our trust account before paying the insurer.
We are a shareholder of Steadfast Group Limited (Steadfast). Steadfast have exclusive arrangements with some insurers under which Steadfast will receive between 0.5% - 1% commission for each product arranged by us with those insurers. These payments are used to operate Steadfast. Depending on the operating costs of Steadfast (including the costs of member services provided by Steadfast to us and other Steadfast shareholders) and the amount of total business we place with the participating insurers in any financial year, we may receive a proportion of that commission at the end of each financial year.
As a shareholder of Steadfast we have access to member services including 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 member services are either funded by Steadfast, subsidised by Steadfast or available exclusively to shareholders for a fee.
Steadfast is a shareholder of Miramar Underwriting Agency Pty Limited (Miramar). As a shareholder, Steadfast may receive dividends from Miramar. These amounts will indirectly contribute towards the benefits we receive from Steadfast. We may also qualify for reward points under the Miramar rewards program for insurance we arrange with Miramar. The number of points we earn will depend on the premium paid to Miramar for the insurance products we arrange with them, subject to a minimum threshold. The points may be redeemed for certain goods or flights.
Steadfast has a shareholding in Macquarie Premium Funding (Macquarie). If we arrange premium funding with Macquarie for you, under its agreement with Macquarie, Steadfast will receive 0.5% of your insurance premium (including government fees or charges). As an equity shareholder of Macquarie, Steadfast may also receive dividends from profits of Macquarie. The amount of the Steadfast dividend is based on the share of profit attributable to funding arranged by Steadfast shareholders. The payments (commission and dividends) that Steadfast receives from Macquarie are used to operate Steadfast. Depending on the operating costs of Steadfast and the amount of total business we place with Macquarie in any financial year, we may receive a portion of those amounts at the end of each financial year.
You can view a copy of Steadfast's FSG here
Premium funding products enable you to pay your premiums by installments. Premium funders do charge interest. We can arrange premium funding 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 if you ask us. In the event of a mid term cancellation the funder will withhold the full interest applicable and there will be no refund of our commission.
If you pay by credit card we may charge you a credit card (incl. arrangement & handling) fee, which is disclosed and shown separately on our invoices. This fee covers the cost of bank charges etc. associated with such facilities and are non refundable.
HOW OUR REPRESENTATIVES ARE PAID
Atlantic's employees do not receive any benefit directly from the sale of a product to you. They may receive bonuses payable based on the overall performance of our business. If a person has referred you to us, we may pay them a part of any fees or commission received. Atlantic's Authorised Representatives receive between 10% and 70% of income earned for Life Insurance and Superannuation products. This will be disclosed in any SOA you receive.
COMPLAINTS
Clients who are not fully satisfied with our services should contact our Complaints Officer. We are also members of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), a free consumer service. Further information is available from our office, or contact FOS directly on 1300 780 808 or visit Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) website. We also adopt the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice.
HOW TO CONTACT US
You are able to contact us by phone, in writing, by fax, email or in person.
This FSG Applies from the 1st January, 2009
