Financial Services Guide
The
Financial Services covered by this Financial Services Guide (FSG) are provided
by:
Bruce
Park Pty Ltd T/as Fergusons Financial Services
39B
Frankston 3199
VIC
Our ABN number is 95 096 954 406, and our
Financial Services License No. is 240819.
This
guide is designed to assist you in deciding whether to use the services offered
by us. It contains important information
about:-
·
The services we
can offer you
·
How we and our
associates are remunerated
·
How we manage
conflicts of interest
·
Our internal and
external dispute resolution procedures and how you can access them.
It
is an important document. Please read it
carefully and keep in a safe place.
We
subscribe to the National Insurance Broker (NIB) Code of Practice administered
by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
If
you are a retail client and we agree to give you personal advice we will
provide you with a Statement of Advice or other information required by
law. Any Statement of Advice we provide
will set out our advice, the basis of our advice and information on any
remuneration, associations or other interests, which might reasonably have
influenced us in giving our advice.
If
you are a retail client and we arrange an insurance policy for you, or if we
recommend you buy a particular insurance policy, we will give you a Product
Disclosure Statement when required. It is prepared by the Insurer and is
designed to give you important information on the features, benefits and risks
of the policy to assist you in making an informed decision about whether to buy
the product or not. It may be more than
one document.
A GUIDE TO OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU AND
OTHERS
What services can we provide?
Our various roles
We
are an Australian Financial Services Licensee and are licensed under the
Corporations Act to advise and deal in relation to all general insurance
products.
We
can act in a number of roles in providing our services. We usually act on your behalf. However in
some cases, we may act on behalf of an Insurer or their representative or on
our own behalf (e.g. as a referrer to another service provider). We tell you if
this is the case as this means we do not act for you when we provide the
service.
Our Services
Arranging
insurance for you
This
is where we arrange for the application, acquisition, variation, renewal or
cancellation of an insurance policy for you.
The process differs depending on the type of insurance and we explain it
to you when you apply for the insurance.
Providing
advice to you
There
are two types of advice/service we provide and it is important to understand
the difference:
·
personal advice
– this is advice provided by us to you on the suitability of general insurance
policies to meet your particular needs. We will agree with you when this
service is to be provided and what the scope of our personal advice will be.
For example, in some cases we may only provide personal advice on which of a
selected list of products is appropriate for you. Before we provide any
personal advice we will need to undertake a needs analysis so we can provide
you with appropriate advice.
Where we provide you with personal advice on Sickness
and Accident products we will give you a Statement of Advice except in limited
circumstance where we are giving you further advice and your relevant personal
circumstances or the basis of the advice are not significantly different from
those set out in the previous advice.
In such cases you can ask us to give you a record of
the further advice for up to seven years after the advice is provided by
contacting us using any method set out in this FSG.
For all other general insurance products, we will
provide you with a document setting out our advice, the details of our
remuneration (including commission) and information on any associations or
other interests which might reasonably have influenced us in giving our advice.
·
general advice
– this is where we provide a general recommendation or opinion to you on a
general insurance product which is not based on our consideration of your
personal needs. We tell you when this is the case because if general advice is
given you need to consider if the general advice and any relevant product is
right for your circumstances as we have not done this for you.
In
some cases where we arrange more than one policy for you we may provide
personal advice for one policy and general for another. We tell you when this
is the case.
Acting for
Insurers
In
some circumstances we may have an agreement with an Insurer or their
representative to arrange insurance policies on their behalf and not on your
behalf. This means that we act for and in the interest of the Insurer as our
principal in providing the services, not yours.
If
we are given a "binding authority" from the Insurer, this means we can
enter into insurance policies and/or handle or settle claims on their behalf
without reference to them, provided it is within the authority they have given
us. We will tell you when we act for the
Insurer and not for you.
Claims
Assistance
We
can also assist you when you need to make a claim. If a claim occurs contact us
and we can help you decide what to do. We do not do anything without your
consent. We provide this assistance as part of our overall service for no
separate charge unless we tell you otherwise. We don't provide this service if
we no longer act for you.
Any
claims documentation, insurance company settlement cheques and other
information received by us on your behalf will be provided to you as soon as
reasonable practicable.
We may provide
a variety of services and act in different roles
It
is important to note that given the wide variety of general insurance products
available and the need to remain competitive we may provide a variety of the
above services to you and act in a variety of roles.
For
example, where you require a number of different covers we may provide personal
advice for some products you need and act on your behalf in relation to them.
For others we may only provide you with general advice and for others only act as
agent of the insurer not you. We can provide a further explanation of why this
is the case and we make sure we tell you what the service is and our role
before or at the time we provide the service.
Ask
us if you need more detailed information or do not understand our explanation.
How can you
give us instructions ?
You
need to give us instructions in writing by letter, fax, email or by another
method agreed by us. We will tell you
what is possible when you contact us.
What
information do we maintain about you and how can you access it ?
We
maintain a record of your personal profile. That record contains information
about insurance policies that we have arranged for you. The record may also
contain details of your objectives, financial situation and needs collected for
the purpose of giving you personal advice. We also maintain records of any
recommendations made to you.
We
are committed to implementing and promoting a Privacy policy, which will ensure
the privacy and security of your personal information. Our Privacy policy is included as the last
Section of this Financial Services Guide.
If
you wish to access your file please ask us.
How are we
remunerated for our services ?
When we act for you in advising on and/or
arranging insurance
When
we act on your behalf in advising on or arranging insurance we can be
remunerated in a number of ways. They can vary according to the service you
require and/or our arrangements with the relevant Insurer or their
representative.
We
are remunerated by:
·
commission from
the Insurer;
·
fees we charge
you;
·
in limited cases
only, remuneration from an Insurer based on the profitability or volume of the
business we place with them; or
·
a combination of
the above.
Details
are provided below on each.
Commission
paid by the Insurer to us
Unless
we tell you in writing that we will provide our service on a "Fee Only -
No Commission" basis, we are remunerated by commission from the relevant Insurer
whenever you enter into an insurance policy arranged by us (including renewal
and some variations which increase the premium payable).
The
commission is a percentage of the Insurer’s base premium (i.e. premium
excluding stamp duty, fire services levy, GST or any other government charges,
taxes, fees or levies). Different Insurers
can agree to pay us different commission rates for the same type of products.
The rates also vary for each product type.
The
commission rate does not represent our profit margin as it also reimburses us
for administrative and other expenses we incur in providing our services.
The
commission is included in the premium amount set out in your invoice and we
receive it when you pay the premium or at a later time agreed with the Insurer.
If
we act on your behalf and you cancel a policy and obtain a refund of premium,
you agree that we can keep our commission.
If we didn’t do this we would not be properly paid for the services we
provide to you.
Other
remuneration arrangements we have with Insurers
We
are participants in the Zurich Australian Insurance Limited (ABN 13 000 296
640) Zenith arrangement which includes a profit share component.
Profit
is determined by comparing the premium earned with the claims experience of our
total
As
part of the program, we are entitled to $5000 annually from
We
are also members of the Austbrokers Group of insurance brokers.
Austbrokers
Holdings Limited (ABN 60 000 000 715) (AHL) and IBNA Limited (ABN 43 086 563
055) (IBNA) are joint owners of A & I Members Services (AIMS) a company
that provides marketing, distribution and training services to members of
Austbrokers and IBNA Groups. Some
Insurers pay a commission to AIMS on selected products arranged by Austbrokers
member insurance brokers and IBNA members which is an agreed percentage of the
base premium (before government fees or charges). Different Insurers may pay different
commission rates to AIMS.
This
money funds the provision of AIMS services to Austbrokers and IBNA
members. We, other Austbrokers members
and IBNA members benefit from this support and it helps ensure we can continue
to provide you with our extensive range of services. Austbrokers and IBNA members may also be
entitled to share in any excess of the commission received by AIMS in any one
annual period (if any) after deduction of all relevant AIMS costs and expenses
in providing its services in that period.
We
have an agreement with the QBE Intermediary Distribution division of QBE
Insurance (
If
you have any queries or want more information regarding our remuneration please
do not hesitate to contact us.
Fees Paid by You
Unless
we specifically agree in writing before providing our services to charge on a
“Fee Only – no commission” basis, the Fees will be paid in addition to any
commission we receive.
We may charge you:
·
a Broker Fee – this is an administration fee payable when you enter into
an insurance policy;
·
a pre-agreed set amount for specific services;
·
an amount based on a pre-agreed rate for the time we spend providing the
service; or
·
on some other basis agreed with you before we provide the service.
All fees are payable after we have provided the
service or at such earlier time we agree with you in writing and will be noted
in the invoice that we send you. The
fees are not refundable.
Where we act for the Insurer
Where
we act for an Insurer, not you, we receive commission from the Insurer as our
principal and may also charge you an administration fee. The amount of the fee will vary depending on
the complexity and type of services that we provide you with. We will tell you how much the fee is before
we provide you with the service.
The
fee is payable when you buy the policy or at such earlier time as we agree with
you in writing. It is noted in the
invoice we send you and is not refundable.
Where there is a referral
Where
a third party has referred you to us, we may pay them an agreed percentage of
our remuneration or an agreed amount for the referral as a commission or
fee. This amount will be paid after we
have arranged insurance for you. A
commission or an agreed fee may also be paid on renewal and in some cases on
variation.
If
we refer you to another service provider we will be remunerated by them by way
of a commission or fee for doing this unless we tell you we are not. The amount is generally a percentage of their
remuneration, the amount of which may depend on the circumstances. A commission or an agreed fee may also be
paid on renewal and in some cases on variation.
In
making any referral we do not advise or represent that their products and
services are right for you and take no responsibility for the products and
services they may provide to you. You need to make your own decision based on
the information they provide.
Our staff's remuneration
Our
staff receive an annual salary that may include bonuses based on performance
criteria (including sales performance) and achievement of company goals. They
may also receive certain soft dollar benefits described further below.
Receipt of Soft Dollar Benefits policy
From
time to time we and our representatives may also receive what are commonly
referred to as "soft dollar benefits" from product issuers, premium
funders and other financial service providers we deal with.
These
can include entertainment (e.g. lunches, sporting events, movies, etc),
conferences (e.g. attendance at a product issuer conference or sponsorship of
our Austbroker Group Annual conference by a product issuer), accommodation and
travel, business tools (e.g. software); gifts (e.g. product issuer or service
provider branded promotional and other occasional small gifts such as bottles
of wine or hampers on special occasions, etc).
These
benefits are provided by a wide range of product issuers, premium funders and
service providers. In most cases they relate to our development of an
understanding of the product issuer and service provider and their product
ranges and practices, etc. Ultimately, this assists us in better servicing and
representing you.
Our
policy is that any of the above received by us or our representatives that
exceed $300 per item or transaction in estimated value are potentially
material.
This
means they must be disclosed to our Conflicts Manager in writing. The Manager determines if appropriate
procedures are in place to manage or avoid any potential conflict of interest
which might arise. They only approve
benefits where this is the case and retain a record of this which you can
access on request.
The
above restriction does not apply to conferences or functions, the principal
purpose of which is professional development and where the right to attend is
not based on sales volumes.
If
we provide you with personal advice we may provide you with more details about
the soft dollar benefits that we receive in the documentation we will provide
you with.
If
we do not provide you with personal advice, we will provide you with further
details at your request.
Premium
Funding
In
some cases Insurers require the full premium payment up front. Premium funding is one way of not having to
pay your premium in one lump sum. You
will, however, have to pay interest to the premium funder on the amount
borrowed.
We
and Austbrokers Holdings Limited (ABN 60 000 000 715), have a preferred
supplier arrangement with Pacific Premium Funding Pty Ltd (“Pacific”) for the arrangement
of premium funding. If you use Pacific,
we receive (a) a commission which is a percentage of the amount of funding
provided to you; (b) a payment based on a percentage of all loans arranged each
month; (c) a payment based on a percentage of certain fees and interest
received by Pacific on the total amount of outstanding loans less certain
expenses; and (d) a proportion of certain upfront payments received by
Austbrokers Holdings Limited from Pacific based on the value of the loans
arranged with Pacific in an agreed period when compared with those arranged by
other Austbrokers members. We are 50%
owned by Austbrokers Holdings Limited and benefit from any profit made by this
entity due to this arrangement.
In
arranging premium funding with Pacific or any other premium funder, we do not
provide personal advice or represent that any of the premium funder’s products
and services are right for you or that they are the most appropriate. You need to make your own decision based on
the information provided.
If
you need more information or explanation of the above, please ask us.
Further
information about our remuneration
If
we provide you with personal advice, then at the time the advice is provided to
you or as soon as practicable afterwards, we will tell you either:
·
the amount of any
remuneration we receive (including commission) for each financial product to
which the personal advice relates; or
·
if the amount is
not known the manner of calculation.
This
detail will also be advised to you in the personal advice documentation that we
will provide you with.
If
we do not provide you with personal advice, you can ask us to provide you with
more detailed particulars of the remuneration we or other persons may receive
including details of the range of amounts or rates of remuneration (including
commission) that we, or they, may receive.
You
must request this information within a reasonable time after this FSG is
provided to you and before we provide you with any financial services to which
this FSG relates.
Money
Handling Arrangements
We
handle all money received from you or the Insurer in relation to insurance in
accordance with the requirements set out by the Corporations Act 2001
(Cth). We keep any interest earned on
any amounts held by us on your behalf or on behalf of the Insurers. The length of time we hold any money can vary
according to the type of insurance and the different arrangements we have in
place with Insurers.
Do we have
any relationships or associations with issuers or related bodies corporate that
might influence our service or advice ?
We
are a member of the Austbrokers group of insurance brokers.
In
some cases we may refer you to or advise you to use the services of one of our
related bodies corporate. They may act
as an agent of the Insurer and you will be told when this is the case. As a member of the same corporate group we
may indirectly benefit from any such referral or advice if it improves the
group performance. Please refer to our
remuneration section for normal benefits we can receive under such
arrangements.
We
will tell you when we are referring you to a related body corporate.
How do we
manage Conflicts of Interest ?
We
take any potential conflicts of interest seriously and have a Conflict of
Interest Policy which we and our representatives must comply with and you can
access by contacting us. Compliance is
audited on a regular basis.
Conflicts
of interest are circumstances where some or all of your interests as our
client, are or may be inconsistent with, or diverge from, some or all of our
interests.
Our
procedures and training are all designed to properly manage any conflict of
interest and it is important to note that we have legal duties we owe you when
we act as your professional adviser. We treat these very seriously.
A
key conflict faced when we act on your behalf is where we receive benefits from
someone other than you – this can potentially influence us to act in their or
our interests rather than yours. Where we arrange a policy an Insurer can pay
us commission (see above for details). It is the major form of insurance broker
remuneration and can create a potential conflict of interest because it may be
in our interest to recommend the product issuer or service provider that pays
us the most because it increases our remuneration. This may not be in your
interest in certain circumstances.
We
have a number of procedures in place to manage this potential conflict of
interest. For example, we tell you about this remuneration arrangement in this
Guide and you can ask for more detailed information if you need it before you
proceed. If we provide personal advice
we have a legal duty as a professional to put your interests ahead of our own
and can only provide you with advice that is appropriate for you. If we can't provide such advice we will tell
you. The documentation that we give you if we provide you with personal advice
also confirms the remuneration received. We and our representatives are trained
in this important duty and compliance with it is monitored regularly.
If
you have any questions make sure you ask us.
Cooling off
Period
A
cooling off period may apply to an insurance policy issued to you as a retail
client. During the period you may return
the policy. Details of your cooling off rights are included in the relevant
Product Disclosure Statement document.
In
some cases an Insurer can deduct certain amounts from any refund. Ask us if you do not understand the right.
Other terms
of our Service
Important
You
must read the Important Information about your insurance document we give you
(tell us if you have not received it) and ask us if you have any questions or
do not understand anything we have set out in that document. It will help you understand some important
matters about your insurance.
Misstatement of Premium
We
try to tell you the correct amounts of premium and statutory and other charges
that apply to your insurance. In the
event that we misstate that amount (either because we have made an
unintentional error or because a third party has misstated the amount), we
reserve the right to correct the amount.
Where permitted by law, you shall not hold us responsible for any loss
that you may suffer as a result of any such misstatement.
Professional
Indemnity Insurance Arrangements
We
and our representatives are covered under professional indemnity insurance that
complies with the requirements of Section 912B of the Corporations Act.
The
insurance (subject to its terms and conditions) will continue to cover claims
in relation to our representatives/employees who no longer work for us (but who
did at the time of the relevant conduct).
Complaints and Disputes
If
you have any complaints about the service provided to you, you should take the
following steps.
1. Contact
us and tell us about your complaint.
2.
If your complaint
is not satisfactorily resolved within 24 hours, please contact our Complaints
Officer,
3.
Please mark the
envelope “Notice of Complaint”. We will
try and resolve your complaint quickly and fairly.
4.
If the complaint
can’t be resolved to your satisfaction within 20 business days, you have the
right to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). We will provide you with further details
about FOS upon lodging your dispute with us, or at any time upon your request.
If you have any further questions about this financial
services guide, please contact us on phone number (03) 9783 3200.
Keep
this document for your reference and any future dealings with us.
IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE AND CONSENT
Our Privacy
Policy
This
statement tells you how Fergusons Financial Services collects, uses and
discloses personal information and what we expect of you. “Personal information” is information about
and which identifies individuals, including, for example, an individual who is
an insured and an individual who may simply be referred to in the application
for cover or claim form (such as an employee, director, claimant, witness,
etc.).
It
is important you read, understand and agree to the following.
What we do
We
collect personal information to be able to provide our various services. These include:- insurance broking, claims
management, risk management consulting, other forms of insurance services
(including underwriting and reinsurance), Life Insurance Products, employee
benefits, superannuation, and investment advisory services. Other purposes include:- helping to develop
and identify products/services that may interest clients, conducting market or
customer satisfaction research, developing, establishing and administering
alliances and other arrangements with other organisations in relation to the
promotion, administration and use of our respective products and services. For more information on our services please
contact us.
We
disclose personal information to third parties who we believe are necessary to
assist us in providing our services. In
arranging and managing a person’s insurance needs we will usually provide
information to Insurers, reinsurers, other insurance intermediaries, insurance
reference bureaus, our advisers such as loss adjusters, lawyers and
accountants, and others involved in the claims handling process. We also provide it to purchasers of our
business and related companies.
If
the required personal information is not provided, we or any involved third
parties may not be able to provide appropriate services.
We
limit the use and disclosure of any personal information provided by us to such
third parties to the specific purpose for which we supplied it (except with our
or the individual’s consent).
We
take reasonable steps to ensure that whenever we collect, use or disclose
personal information, it is accurate, complete, and up-to-date.
What we
expect of you
When
you provide us with personal information about other individuals, we rely on
you to have them aware that you will or may provide their information to us,
the purposes we use it for, the types of third parties we disclose it to and
how they can access it (as described in this document). If it is sensitive information we rely on you
to have obtained their consent to the above.
If you have not done either of
these things, you must tell us before you provide the relevant information.
If
we give you personal information, you and your representatives must only use it
for the purpose we agreed to. Where
relevant, you must meet the requirements of the National Privacy Principles set
out in the Privacy Act 1988, when collecting, using, disclosing and handling
personal information on our behalf.
You
must also ensure that your agents, employees and contractors meet the above
requirements.
Contacting
us or opting out
If
we send you any information about services or products, or you do not want us
to disclose your personal information to any other organisation (including
related bodies corporate) you can opt out by contacting our Privacy
Officer. If you would like a copy of our
Privacy Policy or would like to seek access to your personal information please
contact our Privacy Officer. Should our
Privacy Officer not hear from you within thirty (30) days we will presume your
acceptance of this statement and our Privacy Policy.