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Financial Services Guide (FSG)
The Financial Services Guide (FSG) provides you with information
about Ausure Insurance & Finance Pty Ltd (Ausure) to help
you decide whether or not to use the financial services that
we provide. In most cases you will receive a Product Disclosure
Statement (PDS), which explains the significant features of
the insurance policy before we arrange the policy. The only
time this will not happen is when due to time constraints
it is not possible to get the PDS to you before we arrange
the product for you. In these cases we will send the PDS within
5 days of arranging the product. You should consider the PDS
in deciding whether to purchase the product. We will also
provide you with a invoice which will summarise the policies
we have arranged on your behalf, our invoice will also disclose
the exact amount of any remuneration we receive from arranging
your retail financial product. If you have any questions about
how we earn our income please ask your broker.
About Ausure
Ausure is a licensed general insurance broker, holds an Australian
Financial Services License (AFSL No 238433) and is responsible
for the financial services you receive including the distribution
of this FSG. Ausure is authorised to provide advice on and
deal in general insurance products.
How do we get paid?
We receive our remuneration in the form of fees and commission
which we collect when you pay your premium. Our primary form
of remuneration is commissions which is an amount of money
paid to us by the insurer and varies between 0 and 22.5% of
base premium (Premium less any taxes and charges) depending
on the policy type and insurer. Sometimes we also charge fees
as a part of our remuneration, these fees depend on the amount
and type of work we perform and are always included in the
price we quote you. If we refer you to a premium funding company
we may receive up to 2% of the amount of the financing in
commission. Some of the insurers that we do business with
give benefits to us such as subsidized training, sponsorship
of conferences and invitations to social business functions.
We have a policy to deal with any potential conflicts of interest
that means we have a documented plan that we continually monitor
to ensure that our advice is not influenced by any considerations
other than your best interests.
Please note that in the event of cancellation of a policy
before the expiry date some Insurers make refunds of premiums
based on a monthly or quarterly apportionments and therefore
may also be a minimum charge. We do not refund fees that we
have received. If premium funding has been arranged you may
also be obliged to pay the interest component for the full
year and other penalty charges by the premium funder. Before
making any decision to cancel this policy you should consult
us concerning the charges involved and commission and fees
which may be retained by us.
Providing Advice
When we provide personal advice to you we will clearly inform
you that we have taken into account the personal information
you have told us in making our recommendation. We will also
clearly inform you of the scope of our advice for example
we may only provide advice on which product from our approved
list is more appropriate for you.
To enable your broker to provide advice you need to supply
full and correct details of the assets to be insured along
with your personal objectives and financial situation. If
you are unable or choose not to supply information your broker
will be unable to make an effective recommendation and you
will need to assess the appropriateness of the advice to ensure
your insurance needs are properly met. You must also tell
your broker about any relevant changes in your circumstances
during the term of any insurance which has been arranged so
that your broker can advise whether your insurance remains
appropriate for your situation.
When we provide a more limited General Advice service to you
we will clearly advice you that our advice is ‘general
only’. This means that we have not taken into account
your personal circumstances, we have only considered the products
and their providers in our recommendations. In these situations
you must take care to consider whether this general advice
is appropriate for your circumstances. You must read and understand
the product disclosure statement to help you to decide if
the product is right for you.
Important Relationships
Ausure Underwriting Pty Ltd ABN (51 121 066 180) and Ausure
Premium Funding share common ownership with Ausure, Hollard
Insurance is a minority shareholder of the Ausure Group. Although
we (Ausure) usually act on your behalf, when we arrange a
Hollard product we have authority to issue the policy which
means we act on behalf of the insurer. Ausure Underwriting
is remunerated in accordance with the performance of their
portfolio of clients. In return for performing policy and
claims administration it is entitled to receive a share of
the profits which is calculated after deducting all costs
including claims, reinsurance, admin expenses, insurers overheads
etc.
How do we resolve complaints?
In the event that you have a complaint about the manner in
which we provide any financial service please contact Ausure
by phone on 02 4948 1155 or by writing at the address below.
If your complaint remains unresolved, Ausure’s dispute
committee will review the matter and respond within 15 days.
Your complaint will be dealt with fairly and promptly but
if you remain dissatisfied with the final decision you may
refer the matter to the Insurance Brokers Dispute Limited
(IBDLtd), which acts as Ausure’s external dispute resolution
provider. The IBDF is an independent body and its service
is free to you. IBDLtd can be contacted on 1300 780 808. Ausure
and Mick Urquhart AR244013 agree to accept the Scheme’s
decision. We use personal information about you to provide
you with financial services in accordance with our privacy
policy. We are committed to protecting your personal information
in accordance with the National Privacy Principles. A copy
of our privacy policy is available on request.
Duty of Disclosure
You and everyone who is insured under this policy must comply
with the duty of disclosure. You must ensure that you explain
the duty to any other insured that apply for insurance on
behalf of. Your duty of disclosure applies when you enter
into the policy and upon any renewal or variation to the contract.
Where we act on behalf of the insurer you need to refer to
the policy or the application form which will set out your
obligations for disclosing information.
When we act for you it is important that you tell us every
matter that you know or that a reasonable person in your circumstances
would know that would be relevant to an insurers decision
whether or not to insure you and on what terms. You have a
duty to act in good faith towards the insurer, this means
you must give honest and complete answers to each of the insurers
question. You must disclose in answer to each question any
matter that is known to you and which a reasonable person
in the circumstances could be expected to have told the insurer
in the circumstances. If you or any person under the policy
do not comply with the duty the insurer may avoid the claim.
Other information
Where you purchase certain domestic insurance policies (home,
motor, travel sickness and accident, consumer credit etc)
as a retail client you will usually have a 14 day cooling
off period. If you want to take advantage of a cooling off
period you must inform us promptly so we can inform the insurer
in writing. The insurer may retain its reasonable administration
and transaction costs.
We will forward you an invoice for the premium along with
the statutory charges and our fees. You must pay us by the
due date on your invoice. We will hold your payment in trust
pending our regular settlement with insurers and we retain
the interest earned on this account. If you do not pay the
premium on time we are obliged to advise the insurer who has
the right to cancel your policy. The insurer also has the
right to charge you for time on risk if you decide you do
not want the policy after you have been insured for a period.
The Insurance Contracts Act sets out standard terms of cover
for motor vehicle, home building, home contents, sickness
and accident, consumer credit and travel. If an insurer wants
to alter these terms they must clearly inform you in writing.
If an insurer has an unusual clause in their contract they
must inform you in writing or they are not able to rely on
that clause to reduce a claim. Insurers do this by requiring
us to provide you with a Product disclosure statement.
Please keep this document along with your policy wording and
invoice. This document will apply where we provide you services
in the future. If this document becomes superseded we will
supply a replacement document.
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