InsuranceLine Pty Ltd
Australian Business Number
(ABN) 39 084 666 017
Australian Financial Services Licence
(AFSL) No 243260
This document outlines important legal information as required by the Corporations Act 2001
and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
1 July 2008
Purpose of this Financial Services Guide
We are required by law to provide you with this Financial Services Guide. It contains important information about the authorised services we offer, the remuneration we, our service providers and authorised representatives receive and our internal and external dispute resolution services. It is designed to assist you in deciding whether to use any of those authorised services.
Our Services
InsuranceLine and its authorised representatives are authorised and responsible under our Australian Financial Services Licence to:
| • |
provide general financial product advice about life and general insurance products, and |
| • |
deal in life insurance and general insurance risk products. |
Who are our representatives?
Our representatives are our own staff, our management and any other people we appoint as our authorised representatives.
InsuranceLine has appointed a number of trained and dedicated staff to be our authorised representatives. They are employees of SalesForce Australia Pty Ltd, who have undergone a stringent training process set and administered by InsuranceLine to ensure our standards are maintained.
Our contact details are shown at the end of this Financial Services Guide, while the name and ASIC identification number of the authorised representative with whom you deal will be provided in an accompanying letter which forms part of this Guide. This FSG may be issued by our Authorised Representatives.
What does general financial product advice mean?
Our representatives have been trained to an ASIC prescribed standard to discuss the products we offer.
It is important that you understand that we do not provide personal advice or make recommendations about the suitability of the product for you. Therefore, you should carefully review the Product Disclosure Statement that we will send to you, having regard for your own objectives, financial situation and needs before deciding to purchase.
The Product Disclosure Statement sets out the important information you should consider when deciding to acquire a certain product, including the insurer and the benefits, features and associated costs of the product.
What does “dealing” mean?
This means that our representatives can arrange policies on your behalf. When we give general financial product advice, arrange for the insurer to issue policies or renew general insurance policies, we act for you.
However, we are also authorised to issue policies on behalf of certain insurers under an arrangement called a “binder” being TOWER Australia Limited - “TOWER” and The Hollard Insurance Company Pty Ltd - “Hollard”. When we do this we will tell you and, in these circumstances, we are acting for the insurer, rather than you. The insurers registered addresses are:
| • |
TOWER - 80 Alfred Street, Milsons Point NSW 2061. |
| • |
Hollard - Level 24, 259 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000. |
Note that whether we arrange or issue policies we do not handle your money. All premiums in respect of the policy are paid direct to the insurer, and any claim amounts are paid directly to you by the insurer.
TOWER and Hollard authorise the issue of this Financial Services Guide, as it relates to the binder and the use of their name.
Dispute resolution process
InsuranceLine offers an internal dispute resolution service in relation to any concerns you may have about InsuranceLine or any of our authorised representatives. If a dispute is not resolved to your satisfaction through our internal dispute resolution service, you may then refer your concern to an external dispute resolution service. These services are free of charge to you.
Internal dispute resolution service
In the first instance, we hope that our internal representatives can handle any concern you may have. Please call or write to us first. If you are not satisfied with our initial response, please ask to speak to the Complaints Officer who will handle your matter personally, or write to our Complaints Officer at the address shown at the end of this Financial Services Guide.
External dispute resolution service for Life Insurance risk products
In the event that we are unable to resolve your concern within 45 days or to your complete satisfaction, you then have the right to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which is an independent complaints resolution forum. Call FOS on 1300 780 808 or write to G.P.O. Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001.
External dispute resolution service for General Insurance risk products
In the event that we are unable to resolve your concern, the InsuranceLine dispute resolution officer will, on request, review the matter and respond within 15 days. If you are dissatisfied with a decision, you may then refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which acts as the external dispute resolution provider. The FOS is an independent body and its service to you is free. InsuranceLine and Hollard agree to accept the FOS's decisions in respect of matters referred to it. To access FOS you must contact them within 3 months of notification of a decision from InsuranceLine’s Dispute Resolution Committee, on 1300 780 808.
To use FOS, you must have firstly attempted to use our internal dispute resolution service.
Your privacy
We collect your personal information in order to make offers and process any requests, quotes or applications for InsuranceLine products and services. The personal, health and medical information you provide will be kept private, and will only be given to these parties if required. Without this information, applications cannot proceed. Your personal information may be disclosed to the following 3rd parties:
| • |
The insurer, plan administrators and any related bodies corporate – in order to assess your policy application and administer your policy. |
| • |
Organisations to whom we, the insurer or the plan administrators outsource mailing, information technology, telephony and communications requirements – in order to process your application. |
| • |
Government regulatory bodies – if required by law. |
| • |
Investigators, health professionals, lawyers, accountants, other insurers, reinsurers – in order to assess your application or at the time of a claim. |
| • |
A life insured named in your application. |
| • |
The financial institutions involved in collecting your premium. |
By signing an application form or making a telephone or online application you consent to these disclosures listed above. By supplying us with contact details you agree to allow InsuranceLine to contact you from time to time in relation to the products we offer until you tell us otherwise. You have rights to access the personal information held about you. If you wish to do so, or if you do not want to receive any information on other products or services offered by InsuranceLine or the insurer, please contact us.
Disclosure of remuneration
Depending on the product and the insurer, for each policy we arrange, InsuranceLine receives commission from the insurer plus reimbursement for the GST we have to pay. This commission is used by InsuranceLine to cover the costs of marketing and distributing this product to you. This commission is included in the premium already, and you don’t pay any extra.
Commission from TOWER is between 22% and 91% of the first year’s premium, plus between 6.8% and 13.6% of each premium paid. (Except for the Accidental Death Plan which is just 27.3% for each premium paid.)
Commission from Hollard is 28% of each premium paid less $1.50.
The current GST rate is 10% of the amounts paid to us. Our commissions are paid monthly or twice monthly. Other than by product and insurer, these commission rates don’t vary for any reason. From the commissions that the insurer pays to us, InsuranceLine pays the following costs. Note that these costs are not additional charges to you:
| • |
The costs involved with marketing, media time, TV, radio and print advertising material, fulfillment (including special offers, such as will kits), mailing and postage. |
| • |
The costs involved with providing general financial product advice and dealing, arranging and issuing each new policy. |
| • |
The costs involved with supporting our authorised representatives, which include but are not limited to office rent, management, hardware and software technology and human resources support. |
| • |
The basic wages for our own staff, management and our authorised representatives. |
| • |
Any additional commissions, bonuses and/or other non-cash incentives for our authorised representatives. These are calculated fortnightly depending on the number of policies issued and the standard of compliance achieved, and in total will vary between 0% and 20% of the first year’s premium. If payable, commissions and bonuses are paid fortnightly, while other incentives accrue from time to time. |
| • |
Any referral fees or commissions to people or organisations who may refer new customers to us, for example some organisations might receive $20 per successful referral. |
| • |
Our back office costs such as office rent, management, training, compliance, accounting, auditing as well as generating a profit margin. |
| • |
The commissions paid in no way affect the claim payout you receive on successfully submitting a claim. |
We also provide outsourced administration services to TOWER on separate arms length terms. TOWER Distribution Management Limited hold a minority shareholding in InsuranceLine Holdings Pty Limited and InsuranceLine Group Holdings Pty Limited and have appointed a director to these companies.
PI Insurance
InsuranceLine has Professional Indemnity Insurance in place to cover us and our authorised representatives for liability arising from the financial services we provide. We understand it is adequate to meet our requirements as a financial services licensee.
How to contact us
Please note that for legal purposes and quality control, all phone calls are recorded. If you do not wish to have your call recorded, please tell us at the start of the call. In this case, we may request that your communication be put in writing.
|
