• FINANCIAL SERVICES GUIDE

Introduction

This Financial Services Guide (FSG) details the services we offer. 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 our associates are paid;
  • any potential conflicts 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; and
  • your obligations

Please take the time to carefully read this important document and retain with policy documentation.

Who we are and our contact details

FSG issued and services provided by:

Reksons Insurance International Australia Pty Ltd trading as RIIA

ABN 21 668 616 402

AFSL No. 555 799

Suite 33, 2 Benson Street, Toowong QLD 4064

Telephone: 1300 146 561

Email: enquiries@reksons.com

Website: www.reksons.com/au

 

All references to “we”, “us” or “our” relate to RIIA unless otherwise specified.

Currency of this FSG

This FSG applies from 26th June 2024 and remains valid unless another FSG is issued to replace it.

Lack of Independence

We are not independent, impartial, or unbiased pursuant to section 923A of the Corporations Act because:

  • We may receive remuneration, commission, gifts or other benefits when we provide personal advice to you in relation to insurance products and other financial products; and/or
  • We may have associations or relationships with issuers of insurance products and other financial products.

Further information about these benefits and relationships are set out in this Financial Services Guide.

If you have any questions about this information, please ask us.

What services we provide

We are authorised, pursuant to our AFSL, to deal in and provide financial advice in relation to general insurance products for wholesale clients.

 

To assist in your decision making, we will give you information about the insurance product by providing you with a Policy Wording or Product Disclosure Statement (‘PDS’). The PDS is an important document. You should carefully read the PDS to decide if the product features suit your objectives, financial situation and needs before deciding about the insurance product. Please keep the PDS in a safe place for your reference and for any future dealings with us.

 

In some cases, we may make a general recommendation or give an opinion about the insurance products (‘General Advice’). We do this without consideration of your specific individual objectives, financial situation or needs. This is a General Advice service. We do not provide any advice on whether other products may be more appropriate for your needs or which of the product options may be best for you.

How to instruct us

You need to give us instructions in writing by email or by another method agreed by us.

How we are remunerated

Unless we tell you otherwise, we will be remunerated by commission from the insurer when we arrange an insurance policy for you (this includes renewal and some variations). We may also charge you a fee payable at the same time as the premium or at such earlier time as we agree with you in writing.

The commission is a percentage of the premium (excluding government charges, levies and taxes). Some insurers may pay us more than others. The rate of commission can vary between 0 and 20% of the premium, according to the type of insurance and cover provided and the way the transaction is arranged.  The commission does not represent our profit, as it also reimburses the administrative and other expenses involved in providing our services.  In some cases, we may receive an amount based on the volume or profitability of insurance placed across our entire portfolio with that insurer over a period of time.

Some insurers require full premium payment for the whole policy period up front. Premium funding allows you to pay your premium via instalments. You will, however, need to pay interest to the premium funder on the amount borrowed. In arranging premium funding with any premium funder, we do not provide personal advice or represent that any of the funder’s products and services are suitable for you or that they are the most appropriate. You need to make your own decision based on the information provided.  If we arrange premium funding for you, we may earn a commission from the premium funder. This is usually calculated as a percentage of the premium (excluding government charges, levies and taxes) and may be between 0 and 3.5%.

We handle money received from you or the insurer in accordance with requirements set out by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). We keep any interest earned on these amounts. The length of time we hold any money can vary according to the type of insurance and the different arrangements we have in place with insurers. Generally, no more than 45 days.

Your insurance broker will be paid a market salary which may include bonuses and incentives based on overall performance, contribution to company objectives and retention and growth of client portfolio.

We and our staff may receive non–monetary benefits from product issuers and other financial service providers such as conferences, functions, meals and entertainment. We monitor this to ensure these benefits don’t create a conflict with your interests.

Referral fees and other remuneration

When a third party has referred you to us, we may pay them an agreed percentage of our remuneration. A commission or an agreed fee may also be paid on renewal and in some cases on variation.

If we refer you to another service provider, we will be remunerated by them by way of a commission or fee for doing this unless we tell you we are not. The amount is generally a percentage of their remuneration, the amount of which may depend on the circumstances. A commission or an agreed fee may also be paid on renewal and in some cases on variation.

In making any referral we do not advise or represent the service provider’s products and services are right for you and take no responsibility for the products and services they may provide to you. You need to make your own decision based on the information from the service provider.

Please ask us if you would like further information about our remuneration.

Compensation Arrangements

We have arrangements in place and maintain Professional Indemnity insurance in accordance with s912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (as amended). This insurance, subject to its terms and conditions, provides indemnity up to the sum insured for us, our representatives and employees in respect of our authorisations and obligations under our Australian Financial Services Licence. This insurance will continue to provide coverage for a representative or employee who ceases work with us, for work done whilst engaged by us.

OTHER INFORMATION

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest may arise in circumstances where some or all your interests as our client are, or may be, inconsistent with some or all of our interests. Our Conflicts of Interest Policy monitors this to ensure we are aware of and manage any conflict of interest. If a conflict is unavoidable, we will consult with you and manage the conflict in such a way as to avoid prejudice to any party.

 

Duty of Disclosure

Before you enter into a contract of insurance, you have a duty under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) (ICA) to disclose anything that you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, or in the case of consumer contracts (as defined in Part IV of the ICA) (Consumer Contracts) to take all reasonable care to disclose anything that you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, that may affect the insurer’s decision to insure you and on what terms. You have that duty after proposal, and up until the time the insurer agrees to insure you. You have the same duty before you renew, extend, vary or reinstate a contract of insurance.

 

If you are uncertain whether a particular matter should be disclosed to an insurer, please contact us.

 

Non-disclosure

If you fail to take reasonable care in disclosing information to us in the case of Consumer Contracts, or do not tell us anything you are required to, the insurer may cancel your contract or reduce the amount that it is required to pay you if you make a claim, or both. If your failure to disclose is fraudulent, the insurer may refuse to pay a claim and treat the contract as if it never existed.

 

Premium and Invoice Calculations

We make every effort to correctly determine the premium and statutory charges that apply to your insurance, however, occasionally, errors can occur. We may correct any such error and (except to the

extent prohibited by law) we will not be responsible for any loss you suffer as a result of the error or its correction.

Utmost good faith

All insurance contracts are subject to the doctrine of utmost good faith. This doctrine requires that all parties to the contract should act with utmost good faith in their dealings with each other. Failure to do so on your part may prejudice the continuation of the contract or any claim made against it.

Important Relationships

We are a privately owned insurance advisory firm. As an insurance broker, we normally act for you. We may enter into a binder agreement with an insurer to arrange insurance and settle claims on their behalf. We will inform you when we act for the insurer and not for you.

 

Directorships

Some of our directors are also directors of Rekerdres & Sons Insurance Agency Inc. and Rekerdres Administration and Management Services Inc.  These two entities are based in Dallas USA and provide risk management and claims handling services for policies placed with the subscribed Rekerdres Policy, a service that RIIA has no involvement in.

Privacy Collection Statement

At RIIA we are committed to protecting your privacy. We use your personal information to assist with your insurance needs and provide you with accurate advice. We provide your information to insurance companies and agents that provide insurance quotes and offer insurance terms to you or the companies that deal with your insurance claim (such as loss assessors and claims administrators).

 

If we collect information about you from someone other than yourself (e.g. a referrer or another financial institution), we will let you know and the circumstances in which this occurred.

 

If you don’t provide us with full information, we can’t properly advise you, seek insurance terms for you, or assist with claims and you could breach your duty of disclosure.

We do not trade, rent or sell your information.

 

We may disclose your information to recipients in European Union countries, the United States of America and the United Kingdom for the purpose of obtaining quotations and managing your policy, including claims handling services. If a recipient is not regulated by laws which protect your information in a way that is similar to the Privacy Act, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that they protect your information in the same way we do or seek your consent before disclosing your information to them.

 

From time to time, we will use your contact details to send you offers, updates, articles, newsletters or other information about products and services that we believe will be of interest to you. We may also send you regular updates by email or by post. We will always give you the option of electing not to receive these communications and you can unsubscribe at any time by notifying us that you wish to do so.

 

Our Privacy Policy contains more information about how to access and correct the information we hold about you and how to make a privacy related complaint, including how we will deal with it. Ask us for a copy by contacting us at the details at the beginning of this document.