FINANCIAL SERVICES GUIDE – AFS Licence No: 238425
This document is a Financial Services Guide (FSG). It sets out information designed to assist you to decide whether you wish to make use of our services. You will also generally receive a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) which sets out details specific to the product.
We hold an Australian Financial Services (AFS) Licence No: 238425 under the Corporations Law to provide advice and deal in relation to general insurance products. As an Insurance Broker we are able to act on your behalf and assist you with advice on general insurance products appropriate for your needs. The condition of this Licence requires us to hold a current Professional Indemnity Insurance Policy, our accounts must be audited annually, and our licence must be approved by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).
We are members of the National Insurance Brokers Association, and our Directors, Glenn Stevens and Andrew Burns hold the Diploma of Financial Services (Insurance Broking) and are Qualified Practicing Insurance Brokers (QPIB) who have, between them, more than 36 years experience in the industry. Our support staff, are also qualified and have attained the complying level of training under the new AFS licence. All members of our company are continually updating their training and knowledge so that we can offer all our clients an efficient, competent and personalized service.
We are a shareholder of Steadfast Group Limited (Steadfast) which has exclusive arrangements with some insurers under which Steadfast will receive commission of between 0.5-1% of the base premium excluding statutory charges for each product arranged by us with those insurers. These payments are used to operate Steadfast. Depending on the operating costs of Steadfast (incl costs of member services provided by Steadfast to us and other Steadfast shareholders) & 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 & compliance tools, procedures, manuals & training, legal, technical banking & recruitment advice & assistance, group insurance arrangements, product comparison & placement support, claims support & group purchasing arrangements. These member services are either funded by Steadfast, subsidised by Steadfast or available exclusively to shareholders for a fee.
When you pay us your premium it will be banked into our trust account. We retain the commission for the premium you pay us and remit the balance to the insurer in accordance with our arrangements with the insurer. We will earn interest on the premium while it is in our trust account and we will retain any interest earned on the premium.
You can obtain a copy of Steadfast’s FSG at www.steadfast.com.au
The commission is calculated on the base premium before statutory charges i.e. fire service levy, GST and stamp duty and we may charge you a fee. This commission and fee, which is disclosed on your invoice, is used to operate our business and provide the services, credit facilities, technology and training required.
We subscribe to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), and its supporting General Insurance Brokers Code of Practice. If your complaint cannot be resolved to your satisfaction by us you have the right to refer the matter to the FOS. FOS can be contacted on 1300 780 808. Please refer to the rear of our invoice for other important notices.
Privacy Statement – Personal information requested is to enable us to evaluate and administer your insurance cover. We collect personal information from you for the purpose of providing insurance products, services, and to assist in processing claims.
We may disclose information to others, such as insurers, claims consultants and assessors, financiers, and mortgagees, but only in accordance with “General Insurance Privacy Principles”. Personal information may also be used to advise you of products and services offered (unless you instruct otherwise).
IMPORTANT NOTICES
1. Your duty of disclosure
Before you enter into a contract of general insurance with an insurer, you have a duty, under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984, to disclose to the insurer every matter that you know or could be reasonably expected to know, (eg any accidents/losses whether insurer or not, insurance denied, cancelled, renewal refused or claim rejected, criminal convictions, etc) is relevant to the Insurer’s decision whether to accept the risk of the insurance and, if so on what terms.
You have the same duty to disclose those matters to the Insurer before you renew, extend, vary or endorse, amend or reinstate a contract of general insurance.
Your duty, however, does not require disclosure of a matter;
•That diminishes the risk to be undertaken by the Insurer;
•That is of common knowledge;
•That your Insurer knows, or in the ordinary course of his business, ought to know;
•As to which compliance with your duty is waived by the Insurer.
Non-disclosure
If you fail to comply with your duty of disclosure, the Insurer may be entitled to reduce his liability under the contract in respect of a claim or may cancel the contract.
If your non-disclosure is fraudulent, the Insurer may also have the option of avoiding the contract from its beginning.
2. Utmost good faith
Every insurance contract is subject to the doctrine of utmost good faith which requires that parties to the contract should act toward each other with the utmost good faith. Failure to do so on your part may prejudice any claim or the continuation of cover provided by Insurers.
3. Change of risk/circumstances
It is vital that you should advise us of any change from your ‘normal’ form of business. (eg acquisitions, changes in occupation or location, new products, or new overseas activities, changes to security arrangements, etc.)
4. Subrogation
You may prejudice your rights with regard to a claim if, without prior agreement from your Insurers, you have entered into any agreement which excludes or limits your right of recovery from other parties, therefore you must not agree to give away any of your rights because this will affect our right to recover under Subrogation from other parties.
5. Other Parties’ Interest
The contract only covers the interest in the property of the Named Insurance and does not extend to cover the interest of any Third Party in such property. If you require the interest of a party other than the Named Insured to be covered, you must advise Bricher Insurance Brokers in writing.
6. Average/Co-insurance
It is most important that the sum insured you select is adequate to represent the value of the property insured, calculated in accordance with the cover being arranged. Otherwise you will be under insured and in the terms of the Average/Co-insurance provisions of your policy you may be responsible for paying part of the loss you actually suffer.
7. Reading of policy wording
It is essential that you read your policy document carefully taking special note of any policy limits, conditions and exclusions. If any aspects are not clear and do not meet your requirements please advise Bricher Insurance Brokers in writing immediately.
8. Cancellation
In the event of cancellation of this policy, any Broker Fee charged will be retained and a fee may be charged to cover administration costs.
9. Privacy Statement
Personal information requested is to enable us to evaluate and administer your insurance cover. We collect personal information from you for the purpose of providing insurance products, services, and to assist in processing claims. We may disclose information to others, such as insurers, claims consultants and assessors, financiers, and mortgagees, but only in accordance with “General Insurance Privacy Principles”. Personal information may also be used to advise you of products and services offered (unless you instruct otherwise).
10. Complaints
Clients who are not satisfied with our services should contact your customer/complaints officer. We subscribe to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), and its supporting General Insurance Brokers Code of Practice. If your complaint cannot be resolved to your satisfaction by us you have the right to refer the matter to FOS. FOS can be contacted on 1300 780 808.