FINANCIAL SERVICES GUIDE

This FSG sets out the services that we can offer you. It is designed to assist you in deciding whether to use any of those services and contains important information about:

• the services we offer you.
• how we and others are paid.
• any potential conflict of interest we may have.
• our internal and external dispute resolution procedures and how you can access them.
• arrangements we have in place to compensate clients for losses.

Further information when personal advice is given

We will provide you with further information whenever we provide you with advice which takes into account your objectives, financial situation and needs. This information may include the advice that we have given you, the basis of the advice and other information on our remuneration and any relevant associations or interests. This information may be contained in a statement of advice (SOA). 

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.

Product disclosure statement

If we offer to arrange the issue of an insurance policy to you, we will also provide you with, or pass on to you, a product disclosure statement (PDS), unless you already have an up to date PDS. The PDS will contain information about the particular policy which will enable you to make an informed decision about purchasing that product. 

From when does this FSG apply?

This FSG applies from June 2024 and remains valid unless a further FSG is issued to replace it. We may give you a supplementary FSG. It will not replace this FSG but will cover services not covered by this FSG.

How can I instruct you? 

You can contact us to give us instructions by post, phone, fax or email on the contact number or details mentioned on page 1 of this FSG. 

Who is responsible for the financial services provided?

Consolidated Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd is responsible for the financial services that will be provided to you, or through you to your family members, including the distribution of this FSG.

Electronic delivery of disclosure notices

Please note that where possible we prefer to provide all correspondence and disclosure notices (including Financial Services Guides and Product Disclosure Statements) to you electronically, via email attachments or email links to documents/websites etc. If you have provided your email address to us we will typically use that email address for all correspondence and disclosure notices. Should you not wish to be sent disclosure documents electronically please advise us and we will update our records accordingly.

Consolidated Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd holds a current Australian Financial Services Licensee no: 245584. The contact details for Consolidated Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd are on the front of this FSG

What kinds of financial services are you authorised to provide to me and what kinds of financial product/s do those services relate to?

Consolidated Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd is authorised to advise and deal in general insurance products to wholesale and/or retail clients. We will do this for you as your broker unless we tell you otherwise.

Will I receive tailored advice?

Maybe not in all cases. However, we may need information about your personal objectives, details of your current financial situation and any relevant information, so that we can arrange insurance policies for you, or to give you advice about your insurance needs. We will ask you for the details that we need to know.

In some cases we will not ask for any of this information. If we do not ask, or if you do not give us all of the information we ask for, any advice you receive may not be appropriate to your needs, objectives and financial situation.

You should read the warnings contained in any SOA, or any other warnings that we give you, carefully before making any decision about an insurance policy

Where we provide you with advice about your insurance arrangements, that advice is current at the time that we give it. We will review your insurance arrangements when you inform us about changes in your circumstances.

Retail clients

Under the Corporations 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.

If you are a Retail Client and we give you Personal Advice, commission amounts will be provided in any SOA or on any relevant invoices where an SOA is not provided. When we give you General Advice, full commission information (including dollar amounts) will be provided on request.

If you are a Retail Client, the commission amounts we receive from underwriters for all transactions will either be disclosed on your invoices or on our Terms of Engagement that accompany the invoices. In addition, when we give you Personal Advice, commission amounts will be provided in any SOA we are required to provide you.

Retail client issues

Typically we only provide General Advice to our Retail Clients. 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. We will provide you with a General Advice Warning in such cases.

If you are a new Retail Client purchasing Personal Accident or Sickness insurance and obtain Personal Advice, that is, advice that takes into account your particular circumstances, we will 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.

Contractual Liability and your insurance cover

Many commercial or business contracts contain clauses dealing with your liability (including indemnities or hold harmless clauses). Such clauses may entitle your insurers to reduce cover, or in some cases, refuse to indemnify you at all. You should seek legal advice before signing and accepting contracts. You should inform us of any clauses of this nature before you enter into them.

What information is contained in my file and can I examine my file?

We maintain a record of your personal profile, including details of insurance policies that we arrange for you. We may also maintain records of any recommendations or advice given to you. We will retain this FSG and any other FSG given to you as well as any SOA or PDS that we give or pass on to you for the period required by law.

We are committed to implementing and promoting a privacy policy, which will ensure the privacy and security of your personal information. A copy of our privacy policy is available on request. A copy is also available on our website, www.ciainsurance.com.au.

If you wish to look at your file please ask us. We will make arrangements for you to do so.

How will I pay for the services provided?

For each insurance product the insurer will charge a premium that includes any relevant taxes, charges and levies. We often receive a payment based on a percentage of this premium (excluding relevant taxes, charges and levies) called commission, which is paid to us by the insurers. However, in some cases we will also charge you a fee. These will all be shown on the invoice that we send you. You can choose to pay by any of the payment methods set out in the invoice. You are required to pay us within the time set out on the invoice.

If there is a refund or reduction of your premium as a result of a cancellation or alteration to a policy, or based on a term of your policy (such as a premium adjustment provision), we will retain any fee we have charged you. We will also retain commission depending on our arrangements with the insurer, or charge you a cancellation fee equal to the reduction in our commission.

When you pay us your premium it will be banked into our trust account. We retain the commission from 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 or we may invest the premium and earn a return. We will retain any interest or return on investment earned on the premium.

How are any commissions, fees or other benefits calculated for providing the financial services?

Our commission will be calculated based on the following formula: X = Y% x P

In this formula:

X = our commission  

Y% = the percentage commission paid to us by the insurer. Our commission varies between 0% and 27.5%.

P = the amount you pay for any insurance policy (less any government fees or charges included in that amount).

Any fees that we charge you will be basis on our standard fee schedule unless otherwise negotiated.

We do not often pay any commissions, fees or benefits to others who refer you to us or refer us to an insurer. If we do, we will pay commissions to those people out of our commission or fees (not in addition to those amounts), in the range of commission rates for referrers 0% to 100% of our commission or fees.

Our employees that will assist you with your insurance needs will be paid a market salary.

If we give you personal advice, we will inform you of any fees, commission or other payments we, our associates or anyone referring you to us (or us to any insurer) will receive in relation to the policies that are the subject of the advice.

See below for information on the Steadfast association and commission.

Do you have any relationships or associations with the insurers who issue the insurance policies or any other material relationships?

Consolidated Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd is a Steadfast Group Limited Network Broker and principals hold shares in Steadfast. As a Steadfast Network Broker we have access to services including model operating and compliance tools, procedures, manuals and training, legal, technical, HR, contractual liability advice and assistance, group insurance arrangements, product comparison and placement support, claims support, group purchasing arrangements and broker support services. These services are either funded by Steadfast, subsidised by Steadfast, or available exclusively to Steadfast Network Brokers for a fee.

Steadfast has arrangements with some insurers and premium funders (Partners) under which the Partners pay Steadfast a fee to access strategic and technological support and the Steadfast Broker Network. Steadfast is also a shareholder of some Partners. You can obtain a copy of Steadfast’s FSG at www.steadfast.com.au

If we arrange premium funding for you we may be paid a commission by the premium funder. We may also charge you a fee (or both). The commission that we are paid by the premium funder is usually calculated as a percentage of your insurance premium (including government fees or changes). If you instruct us to arrange or issue a product, this is when we become entitled to the commission.

Our commission rates for premium funding are in the range of 1% to 4% of the funded premium. When we arrange premium funding for you, you can ask us what commission rates we are paid for that funding arrangement compared to the other arrangements that were available to you.

All material conflicts that impact our advice, that are not mentioned in this FSG, will be advised to you on the invoices related to that advice.

All material conflicts that may impact our ability to act in your best interests will be disclosed to you and we will only continue to act with your consent.

What should I do if I have a complaint?

Clients not satisfied with our services should contact our Complaints Officer. We are members of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), a free consumer service. Further information is available from our office, or contact AFCA directly on 1800 931 678 or visit www.afca.org.au. We also follow The Insurance Brokers Code of Practice.

We have 30 days to resolve your complaint. You are able to contact us by phone, in writing, email, or in person.

What arrangements do you have in place to compensate clients for losses?

Consolidated Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd has a professional indemnity insurance policy (PI policy) in place.

The PI policy covers us and our representatives (including our authorised representatives) for claims made against us and our representatives by clients as a result of the conduct of us, our employees or representatives in the provision of financial services.

Our PI policy will cover us for claims relating to the conduct of representatives who no longer work for us.

Any questions?

If you have any further questions about the financial services Consolidated Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd provides, please contact us. Please retain this document for your reference and any future dealings with Consolidated Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd.