Financial Services Guide
The financial services referred to in this financial services guide (FSG) are offered by Insurance Union Pty Ltd | ABN 35 653 254 409 | AR No 1295689

Our contact details are:

Insurance Union Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR) of PSC Connect Pty Ltd T/as PSC Network Insurance Partners (PSC) ABN 23 141 574 914 AFSL No: 344648. Address: Level 1, 96 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, VIC 3002. Phone: 03 9862 6550 and Email: info@pscconnect.com.au

PSC holds a current Australian Financial Services Licence No: 344648 and is responsible for the financial services that Insurance Union Pty Ltd and its representatives will provide to you.

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 others and we are paid.

  • Any potential conflict of interest we may have.

  • Our internal and external dispute resolution procedures and how you can access them.

  • Arrangements that are 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 from the insurer. The PDS will contain information about the particular policy, which will enable you to make an informed decision about purchasing that policy.

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. This is because PSC or our representatives receive remuneration from:

  • The issuer of the product you buy

  • Other third parties for related services provided in connection with the personal advice e.g. premium funders

This remuneration does not reduce our obligation to always act in your best interests. Further in this document explains how this remuneration is calculated and how PSC manages any possible conflict of interests. You are always entitled to request information on your fees and commissions in respect to the products you buy.

From when does this FSG apply?
This FSG applies from 1st June 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 or email on the contact number or details mentioned on page 1 of this FSG.

Who is responsible for the financial services provided?
Insurance Union Pty Ltd is an authorised representative of PSC, which holds a current Australian Financial Services Licensee No: 344648. The contact details for Insurance Union Pty Ltd are on the front of this FSG. PSC is responsible for the financial services provided to you or through you to your family members, including the distribution 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?
Insurance Union Pty Ltd is authorised to advise and deal in general insurance products to wholesale and retail clients. We will do this on your behalf as your broker unless we tell you otherwise. Sometimes we will act under a binder or agency we have from an insurer. When we act under a binder or agency, we will be acting as the agent of the insurer. This means that we represent and act for the insurer, not for you. We will tell you when we act under a binder or agency to arrange your insurance or advise you about your insurance needs.

Will I receive tailored advice?
If required to (and wherever possible) we will give you a Product Disclosure Statement (“PDS”) which contains information on the product and its features to assist you make an informed decision about purchasing that product.

If we give our Retail Clients personal advice which takes into account individual objectives, financial situations and needs, we will, if required, provide a Statement of Advice ("SOA") or Advice Document. The information may include the advice given to you, the basis of the advice and other information on our remuneration and any relevant associations or interests.

When we provide a general advice service to you, we will give you a warning which tells you the advice is of a general nature and does not take into consideration your financial situations and needs. You should consider it along with the PDS to decide whether or not the product suits you.

You should always carefully read any warnings or additional important information in the advice or in the documentation we provide you before you make any decision about an insurance policy. Any advice we provide you will only be current at the time we give it.

What information do you maintain in my file and can I examine my file?
Insurance Union Pty Ltd maintains a record of your personal profile, including details of insurance policies that we arrange or issue 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 ensuring the privacy and security of your personal information. PSC is part of the PSC Insurance Group, which has a standard privacy policy that applies to all group entities. This is available on request. A copy is also available on PSC Insurance Group website www.pscinsurance.com.au. If you wish to look at your file, please ask us. We will arrange 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. PSC often receives a payment based on a percentage of this premium (excluding relevant taxes, charges and levies) called commission. In some cases, you may be charged a broker fee and an administration fee shown on the invoice that is sent to you. The Authorised Representatives earn a percentage of the commission, broker fees and any administration fees paid to PSC. You can choose to pay for our services by any of the payment methods set out on the invoice. You are required to pay PSC within the time set out on the invoice.

When you pay us your premium, it will be banked into PSC's trust account. We will 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 may invest the premium and earn a return. We will retain any interest or return on investment earned on the premium.

If there is a refund of premium owed to you because of a cancellation or alteration to a policy, we will retain any fee we have charged you. We may also retain our commission from any premium that is refunded to you by an insurer. We will deduct any unpaid fee or retained commission from the refunded premium before sending the difference to you.

How are any commissions, fees or other benefits calculated for providing the financial services?
PSC's commission will be calculated based on the following formula:

X = Y% x P

In this formula:

X = PSC's commission

Y% = the percentage commission paid to PSC by the insurer. Our 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). Any fees that we charge you will be:

  • An administration fee in addition to commission when you enter into an insurance policy.

  • A flat fee for arranging an insurance policy or a fee based upon the time we spend advising you.

  • An annual management fee.

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% to 25% of our commission or fees. Our employees that will assist you with your insurance needs will be paid a market salary that may include bonuses based on performance criteria. 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.

Do you have any relationships or associations with the insurers who issue the insurance policies or any other material relationships?
PSC is a member of the PSC Insurance Group, which is a group of related financial services businesses. The businesses operated in the group include insurance broking, underwriting agencies (on behalf of local and overseas insurers), and workers compensation consulting and claims administration. These businesses operate separately from the PSC broking business although they are related companies. We will inform you if your insurances are placed through one of these entities or we recommend or engage any of these entities to provide services to you. We refer you to the PSC Group website for further details on all related companies at www.pscinsurancegroup.com.au.

PSC has arrangements with some Insurers, underwriting agencies and premium funders ( Partners) under which the Partners may pay PSC a professional services fee (PSF) for access to PSC regulatory and compliance support, marketing and communications , training, data insights and access to technology platforms. The PSF is not determined by the volume of the business placed with the Partners. The PSF is used to assist in administration expenses and is not distributed to branches or individual advisors.

As a PSC Authorised Representative, we have access to PSC Services including broking systems including broking systems support, standard procedures, manuals and training, legal, technical, banking, recruitment advice and assistance, group insurance arrangements, product comparison and placement support, claims support, and group purchasing arrangements. These services are either funded by PSC, subsidised by PSC or available exclusively to PSC for a fee.

Premium funders
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 4% 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.

Service Fees
With some insurers, PSC charges a service fee at the end of a financial year based upon the additional claims and underwriting work performed for these insurers. These fees are not shared with the Authorised Representative or PSC’s employees.

What should I do if I have a complaint?

  1. Contact us and tell us about your complaint. We will do our best to resolve it quickly.

  2. If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved within 24 hours, please contact PSC’s Complaints Manager on 03 9862 6550 or info@pscconnect.com.au.

  3. PSC 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 AFCA who can be contacted on 1800 931 678 or online at www.afca.org.au.

What arrangements are in place to compensate clients for losses?
PSC Insurance Group has a professional indemnity insurance policy (PI policy) in place.

This PI policy covers PSC and its representatives (including authorised representatives) for claims made against them by clients as a result of their conduct in the provision of financial services. The PI policy will cover us for claims relating to the conduct of former representatives who no longer work for PSC and satisfies the requirements for compensation arrangements under Section 912B of The Act.

Who is a retail client?
Some of the information in this FSG only applies to retail clients. A retail client is:

  • An individual, a manufacturing business employing less than 100 people or any other business employing less than 20 people,

  • For any motor vehicle, home building, home contents, personal and domestic property, sickness/accident/travel, consumer credit or medical indemnity policy acquired by the client.

Any questions?
If you have any further questions about the financial services we provide, please contact us using the details available on page 1. Please retain this document for your reference and any future dealings with PSC.