Financial Services Guide

The financial services referred to in this financial services guide (FSG) are offered by:

Prof Cover Pty Ltd

Corporate Authorised Rep (CAR) No. 403877

ABN 90 546 883 226
Address 175 Centre Road Bentleigh, Vic 3204
Tel 03 9557 7400
Fax 03 8677 2454
Email info@profcover.com.au
 
Charles Gordon Anne Barnett Leonard Sack
Authorised Rep No. 308527 Authorised Rep No. 402937 Authorised Rep No. 457303

As Authorised Representative for Management & Risk Insurance Brokers (M&R)

ABN ​13 005 433 287
Tel 03 9557 7400
Fax 03 8677 2454
Email info@mandr.com.au

M&R hold an Australian Financial Services Licence No. 234939 and is responsible for any financial services we provide you. M&R is also responsible for the distribution of this FSG and we are authorised by M&R to distribute it as well.

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.
LACK OF INDEPENDENCE
Why we are not independent, impartial, or unbiased in relation to the provision of personal advice and the impact of this on you
 
Prof Cover and M&R 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; 
- We may be subject to direct or indirect restrictions relating to the financial products in respect of which personal advice is provided; and/or
- We may have associations or relationships with issuers of insurance products and other financial products.  
 
Further information about these benefits and relationships is set out in this Financial Services Guide.
 
If you have any questions about this information, please ask us. 


Further information when personal advice is given (retail clients only)

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 (retail clients only)

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 1 November 2023 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, email or our website, www.profcover.com.au via the contact details mentioned on page 1 of this FSG.   

Who is responsible for the financial services provided? M&R 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. M&R hold a current Australian Financial Services Licensee no: 234939.  The contact details for M&R 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?    We are authorised under M&R’s Australian Financial Services Licence to provide financial product advice and deal in general insurance products for wholesale and retail clients. We will do this for you as your broker unless we tell you otherwise.  

Will I receive tailored advice?  That will be determined on a case-by-case basis. We may need information about your personal objectives, details of your current financial situation and any relevant information, in order to 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, IAOA or any other warnings that we give you, carefully before making any decision about an insurance policy.

What information do you maintain in my file and can I examine my file? Prof Cover and M&R 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 or from our website, www.profcover.com.au 

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

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.

How will I pay for the services provided?  Payment for the services we provide are made directly to M&R Insurance Brokers. For each insurance product the insurer will charge a premium that includes any relevant taxes, charges and levies. M&R will 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 broker fee. These will all be shown on the invoice sent to you. M&R pays the commission and broker fee (if applicable) to us after deducting a management fee.

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 M&R’s trust account. M&R will retain the commission from the premium you pay us and remit the balance to the insurer in accordance with M&R’s arrangements with the insurer. M&R will earn interest on the premium while it is in their trust account or may invest the premium and earn a return. M&R 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. Commission varies between 0% and 30%.
P = the amount you pay for any insurance policy (less any government fees or charges included in that amount).  

We may also charge you a broker fee in addition to commission when you enter into an insurance policy. The amount of the fee will depend on the complexity of the services we are providing. For retail clients this may range from $0-$500. For all clients the broker fee will appear on the invoice.

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 0.5 to 50% of our commission or fees.

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 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?    

M&R is a shareholder of Steadfast Group Limited (Steadfast). Steadfast has exclusive arrangements with some insurers under which Steadfast will receive between 0.5 - 2% commission for each product arranged by us with those insurers.  These payments are used to operate Steadfast. 

Depending on the operating costs of Steadfast (including the costs of member services provided by Steadfast to us and other Steadfast shareholders) and 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 and compliance tools, procedures, manuals and training, legal, technical, banking and recruitment advice and assistance, group insurance arrangements, product comparison and placement support, claims support and group purchasing arrangements. These member services are either funded by Steadfast, subsidised by Steadfast or available exclusively to shareholders for a fee.

You can obtain a copy of Steadfast's FSG at www.steadfast.com.au

Steadfast is also a shareholder of Miramar Underwriting Agency Pty Limited (Miramar).  As a shareholder, Steadfast may receive dividends from Miramar.  These amounts will indirectly contribute towards the benefits we receive from Steadfast.]

Steadfast has a shareholding in Macquarie Premium Funding.  If we arrange premium funding with Macquarie Premium Funding for you, under its agreement with Macquarie Premium Funding, Steadfast will receive 0.5% of your insurance premium (including government fees or charges).  As an equity shareholder of Macquarie Premium Funding, Steadfast may also receive dividends from profits of Macquarie Premium Funding.  The amount of the Steadfast dividend is based on the share of profit attributable to funding arranged by Steadfast shareholders.  The payments (commission and dividends) that Steadfast receives from Macquarie Premium Funding are used to operate Steadfast.  Depending on the operating costs of Steadfast and the amount of total business we place with Macquarie Premium Funding in any financial year, we may receive a portion of those amounts at the end of each financial year.]

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  0% to 5% of 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. The amount of our commission and any fee that we charge will set out in the premium funding contract.

What should I do if I have a complaint?

  • Contact us and tell us about your complaint.  We will do our best to resolve it quickly.
  • If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved within 24 hours, please contact the Prof Cover Managing Director on 03 9557 7400 or put your complaint in writing and send it to the address noted on page 1 of this FSG.  We will try and resolve your complaint quickly and fairly.
  • M&R is a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).  If your complaint cannot be resolved to your satisfaction by us you have the right to refer the matter to the AFCA. The AFCA can be contacted at:
Mailing address Australian Financial Complaints Authority, GPO Box 3, Melbourne 3001
Ph 1800 931 678
Email info@afca.org.au
Website www.afca.org.au

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

M&R 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

Any questions?  If you have any further questions about the financial services we provide, please contact us. Please retain this document for your reference and any future dealings with us and M&R Insurance Brokers

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