Retail Clients
Retail clients are provided with additional protection from other clients under the Corporation Act 2001 (The Act). 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 cover.
– Motor vehicle, home building, contents personal and domestic, sickness/ accident/travel, consumer credit and other classes as prescribed by regulations.
Some information in this FSG relates to Retail Clients and it is important you understand if you are covered by this additional protection provided.
Our Services
We are committed to providing sound advise based upon your needs and our comprehensive market knowledge. We offer a range of services to assist you to protect your assets and your legal liabilities. These include:
– Reviewing and advising on your insurance needs
– Identifying risk factors to avoid claims
– Arranging and renewing insurance contracts
– Seeking competitive premium quotations
– Requesting premium funding quotes, if required
– Assisting with insurance claims.
How to contact Us
You are able to contact us by phone, in writing, by fax, email or in person.
Our Products
We can advise and arrange a broad range of insurances on your behalf including:-
– Commercial Industrial – general commercial insurance, ISR, Public Liability
– Industry Specific – transport, crane, earthmoving and equipment
– Truck & Motor – all types of fleets, transport fines & penalties, owner drivers, marine and marine load.
Other areas may also include:
– Home Building and Contents,
– Private and commercial motor
– Farm
– Business Packages.
– Liability,
– Industrial and Professional cover
– Construction
Fees for Our Services
We are paid commission by the relevant insurers when we arrange insurance on your behalf. As a general rule, the insurer will pay us an amount based on a percentage of the base premium. The rate ranges from 0 to 25% depending on the product.
For most policies, we charge a broker fee, the value of which will depend on the product arranged and the time we spend placing the business.
Some Insurers may pay additional remuneration. Due to the contingent nature of insurance, and the way the arrangements are set up it is not possible to know the amount of commission, if any to which we may be entitled after the end of the qualifying period.
Fees and commissions are our main source of income and cover the cost of providing services to you. Our charges include GST. Some of our charges may be tax deductible. If we hold your money in trust pending payment to the insurer, we also receive the interest period.
We will provide you with specific information about the basis and amount you will be charged before or at the time we arrange your insurance.
Refunds
If Insurance is cancelled before the expiry of the period of insurance, we will refund you only the net premium that we receive from the insurer. We will not refund any brokerage received for arranging the insurance cover.
Credit Card Fees
If you elect to pay your account by credit card our bank will charge you a card fee, which will vary depending upon which type of credit card you wish to use. This bank fee is not charged by us. The fee will be advised at time of payment when using our bank’s DEFT payment system.
Premium Funding
Premium funding products enable you to pay your premiums by instalments. Premium funders do charge interest. We may receive a commission based on a percentage of the premium from the premium funder if you enter into a funding agreement.
How Our Representatives Are Paid
Our representatives do not receive any benefit directly from the sale of a production to you. Our representatives may receive bonuses payable based on the overall performance of our business.
Conflict of Interest
As a business we have relationships with and receive income from various third parties as detailed in this FSG. For Clients receiving Personal Advice, details of relationships that impact the advice will be included in any SOA or invoice documentation we send you. All material conflicts that impact our advice, that are not mentioned in this FSG, will be disclosed to you.
Privacy
The Privacy Act 1988 sets out standards for the collection and management of personal information.
We are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information you provide to advise about and assist with your insurance needs. We only use your persona information for general insurance services. We do not trade, rent or sell your information
You can check the information we hold about you at any time, You can view our Privacy Policy on our Web Site, or ask us for a copy.
Complaints
If you are not fully satisfied with our services, please telephone our compliance officer. We will acknowledge your complaint in writing and endeavour to resolve the matter within 20 days.
If you are still not satisfied, we subscribe to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which handles complaints against brokers relating to a variety of small business and domestic processes. You can refer your complaints to FOS who will conciliate with a view to seeking a solution that is acceptable to both parties.
Further details about FOS can be attained at www.fos.org.au.
We maintain Professional Indemnity Insurance protection that complies with Section 912B of the incorporations Act. This insurance includes cover for claims relating to the conduct of employees & representatives who no longer work for us, but did so at the time of the relevant conduct.
Electronic Delivery of Disclosure Notices
Where possible we prefer to provide all correspondence and disclosure notices to you electronically, via email or links to our website. If you provide us with your email address we will typically use that address for all correspondence and disclosure notices.
If you do not wish to receive correspondence electronically, please let us know and we will update our records.