We act for you as your insurance broker unless we advise you otherwise. We do not act for any insurer under any binding arrangement or as their agent in any other capacity.
Who is Headsure
Headsure is a trading name of Head Group Pty Ltd (ABN 81 616 324 264) which is a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR 1261893) of CRE Insurance Broking Pty Ltd (ABN 78 157 782 084). CRE holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL 422608) issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to deal in and provide advice in relation to general insurance products to retail and wholesale clients. You can contact us by:
The services and advice we provide
Retail clients
Under the Corporations Act 2001 (the Act) retail clients are provided with additional protection compared to wholesale clients. The Act defines retail clients as:
- an individual; or
- a manufacturing business employing less than 100 people; or
- any other business employing less than 20 people,
- that purchases any of the following types of insurance policies:
- motor vehicle
- home building and/or contents
- pleasure craft
- caravan
- personal accident or sickness
- travel
- consumer or credit
- personal or domestic property
- other classes as prescribed by regulations
If you do not fall within the above criteria, then you are deemed to be a wholesale client. 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 protections provided.
Types of advice for retail clients
If you are a retail client, then typically we will provide you with general advice which does not take into consideration your personal needs and financial circumstances at the time. You will therefore need to consider whether the advice suits your requirements prior to acting upon it. On these occasions we will give you a general advice warning.
If you are a retail client and we agree to provide you with personal advice, we will give you a statement of advice (SOA). The SOA will contain advice we have given, the basis on which it was given, and details of relationships, associations, remuneration and other interests that may have influenced the advice we have given. If we arrange an insurance policy for you, or if we recommend you buy a particular insurance policy, we will also give you, or give you access to a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). The PDS is produced by the insurer and is designed to give you important information about the policy you are considering purchasing.
Our services
As authorised under the CRE AFSL, amongst other things, we:
- collect information that insurers require from you to assess your insurable risk profile and arrange general insurance products to help you protect against insurable risks
- provide you with information and qualified advice about general insurance products
- facilitate and arrange premium funding to spread the cost of your insurance
- assist you to make insurance claims
We will endeavor to arrange insurance that meets your risks and needs however, you should always consider the appropriateness of any advice we provide, or any insurance we recommend to you, in the context of your requirements before acting on our recommendations. We also rely on you for the accuracy and completeness of information you provide to us.
We usually provide our services using employees but may engage other specialist consultants as required to meet your requirements.
Receiving instructions
We will either ask for your instructions in writing or we will confirm your oral instructions back to you in writing as agreed. Your instructions will be carried out promptly and confirmed to you in writing followed by the relevant formal documentation which may include a certificate of currency, policy schedules and wordings, and our tax invoice.
Important information – retail and wholesale clients
The Insurance Contracts Act 1984 requires insurance companies to provide certain information to people intending to insure with them. The information concerns the duty of disclosure of an intending insured and the effect of certain clauses in a proposed insurance policy. When a general insurance broker is involved in the transaction, the information is to be provided by the broker. In general terms, the kind of information that an insurance company or broker must give you is as follows:
Duty of disclosure
Before you enter a contract of general insurance with an insurer, you have a duty under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 to disclose to the insurer every matter that you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, that is relevant to the insurer’s decision whether to accept the risk of the insurance, and if so on what terms.
You have the same duty to disclose those matters to the insurer before you renew, extend, vary, or reinstate a contract of general insurance. Your duty, however, does not require disclosure of a matter:
- that diminishes the risk to be undertaken by the insurer
- that is of common knowledge
- that your insurer knows or in the ordinary course of its business ought to know; and
- as to which compliance with your duty is waived by the insurer
Non-disclosure
If you fail to comply with your duty of disclosure, the insurer may be entitled to reduce its liability under the insurance contract in respect of a claim or may cancel the contract. If your non-disclosure is fraudulent, the insurer may also have the option of avoiding the contract from its beginning.
A few examples (though not exhaustive) of matters that could be considered of importance in relation to your duty of disclosure are as follows:
- material changes to business activities or locations
- past uninsured losses or claims
- non-renewal or cancellation of insurance policies
- fines or penalties
- criminal conviction
- insolvency or bankruptcy matters
Your duty to disclose may not be limited to the specific questions asked in any proposal form or renewal declaration, or to matters applying to you alone. It also includes other matters like past business or private insurance and applies to all persons and entities to be insured under the policy. Your duty continues to apply when you seek to renew, extend, alter, or reinstate a policy of insurance.
Underinsurance / average / co-insurance
Before you buy insurance, you should carefully consider whether your sum insured is adequate to cover any loss. You should insure for the full value of your property taking into consideration the type of insurance cover arranged such as replacement, re-instatement, indemnity, or market value.
Many policies covering property such as Office or Business Pack Insurance, Fire and Business Interruption contain an Underinsurance Clause which is sometimes referred to as an Average or Co-Insurance clause.
In simple terms, an Underinsurance Clause provides that if you are underinsured, your claim may be reduced in proportion to the amount of that underinsurance. By way of example:
- if full replacement value of your property is $1,000,000 and you chose a sum insured of $500,000, you would effectively be self-insured for 50% of the replacement value.
- if a claim occurred for $200,000, the amount payable by the insurer would be 50% of the $200,000 or $100,000
Correct insured names
Always ensure you advise us of every legal entity (which includes natural persons) that may have an insurable interest under a policy so that each can be properly advised to the insurer and noted as insured and/or for their respective rights and interests, as required. If these are not correctly noted, the insurer may have grounds to dispute indemnity, particularly if a contractual dispute arises against an entity not nominated or allowed for under the policy.
Invoices and payment
We will issue you with a tax invoice stating the amount payable and a summary of the policy, or changes to your policy in the case of an endorsement. Each component of the amount payable and payment options will be clearly displayed along with the payment due date. The tax invoice will state the amount of Goods and Services Tax (GST) payable. You should ask your accountant for advice about any possible tax deductions.
If you do not pay by the due date, or as otherwise required by us and/or the insurer, cover may not commence or may not continue. When you pay the premium, it will be banked into CRE’s trust account where, as allowed by law, CRE will earn interest, or earn a return by investing the premium. Any such interest or investment return will be retained by CRE.
Claims
You should immediately notify us of any claim or circumstances that may give rise to a claim. We strongly recommend you notify us of any losses whether you intend to make a claim or not.
In presenting a claim, it is your duty to disclose to the insurer all facts which are material to the claim. Insurers often place conditions upon you in their policies in relation to claims notification and handling. They may be entitled to reduce the claim settlement or decline the claim if you do not comply with such conditions.
In all circumstances, you should immediately take reasonable actions necessary to prevent further loss or damage occurring. It is important to remember that if you have a loss or claim involving a third party, you must not admit liability even if you think you are at fault.
Any claims documentation, insurer settlement cheques and other information received by us on your behalf will be provided to you as soon as reasonably practicable. We provide this claims assistance as part of our overall service for no separate charge unless we tell you otherwise. We do not provide this service if we no longer act for you.
Claims-made policies
Some policies such as Professional Indemnity and Directors & Officers Liability are issued on a ‘claims-made’ basis. This means that any claims, or facts that might lead to a claim, that you first become aware of during the current policy period must be notified to the insurer before the policy period expires. Such policies will generally not cover any claim, or potential claim, which is notified to the insurer after the expiry date of the policy.
Under Section 40(3) of the Insurance Contracts Act, if your policy is a ‘claims-made’ policy, and if you give notice in writing to the insurer of facts that might give rise to a claim against you as soon as is reasonably practicable after you become aware of those facts but before the policy period expires, the policy will cover (subject to other policy terms and conditions) any subsequent claim against you that arises from those facts, even if that claim is not made until after the policy period has expired.
You must therefore consider whether there are any facts that should be notified to your present insurer before the policy expires.
Insurer liability is several not joint
If a policy is arranged with more than one insurer, each insurer is responsible only to the extent of their individual proportion and there is no obligation for an insurer to cover any payment shortfall of the other insurer.
Contractual indemnities, hold harmless and limitations of liability
You may prejudice your right to claim under an insurance policy if, without prior agreement with your insurer, you agree to waive your rights of recovery/recourse against a third party who contributes to or causes a loss that could prevent the insurer from recovering monies from that third party (referred to as subrogation rights).
For the same reason, you must be cautious about contracting out of legislation such as proportionate liability legislation and agreeing to indemnity or hold-harmless clauses which are commonly found in commercial contracts. Such contracts will generally require you to assume liabilities greater than the liabilities normally imposed by common law or legislation. If you are in any doubt, you should forward a copy of the contract to us for an insurance review and seek legal advice before signing.
Privacy, personal information and complaints
The Federal Privacy Act 2000 sets out standards for the collection and management of personal information. With your consent, we will only use your personal information for general insurance services. Any personal information you provide will be collected, stored, used and disclosed in accordance with our privacy policy located at the bottom of our website at headsure.com.au. Alternatively, contact us and we will send you a copy.
Contact agreement
To ensure that we provide you with appropriate products and services, you agree to us calling you to discuss any new products and services. If you do not wish to receive such calls, please advise us and we will place you on our Do Not Call Register.
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 or links to websites. If you have provided us with your email address, we will typically use that email address for all correspondence and disclosure notices. Should you not wish to be sent documents electronically please advise us and we will update our records accordingly.
Complaints
If you have any concerns or wish to make a complaint about the service we have provided to you, please contact us and tell us about it. If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved within 24 hours, ask to be put in touch with our Complaints Officer who can be contacted by telephone on (02) 9493 6100 or in writing at CRE Insurance Broking PO Box 986 Crows Nest NSW 1585 or by email at admin@creinsurance.com.au and we will attempt to resolve the matter satisfactorily within 21 days.
If you are still not satisfied, you have the right to take your complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) which is a free consumer service. AFCA can be contacted directly by:
Compensation
As a Corporate Authorized Representative of an AFS Licensee, we must maintain adequate professional indemnity insurance to compensate you or your beneficiaries for loss or damage suffered because of our provision of negligent advice to you. We are covered under CRE’s professional indemnity insurance that complies with the requirements set down by ASIC. That insurance (subject to its terms and conditions) will continue to cover claims in relation to our employees or representatives who no longer work for us but who did at the time of the relevant conduct.
CRE is a member of the National Insurance Brokers Association and subscribes to the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice that is designed to help ensure our services are provided diligently and professionally.
Remuneration
Our remuneration will be on a fee or commission basis or a combination of the two depending on the services to be the provided and resources we expect to expend in meeting your requirements. If our remuneration comprises a fee only, we will agree this with you before, and it will be payable when, we place an insurance policy on your behalf unless we have agreed otherwise. We will remove all commissions from the insurance premiums charged by insurers. Where our services are cancelled before the period of insurance has ended, we will retain all fees charged as fully earned.
Commission
If we are remunerated by commission, this means we receive from the insurer a percentage of the base premium charged for your insurance. The amount we receive varies between 5% and 25% of the base premium. Where a policy is cancelled before the policy period has ended, we will retain the commission on any return premium due back to you. We may also charge non-refundable fees for services such as:
- market research on products available
- assessing the claims service of insurers
- sourcing alternative quotations and coverage
- risk analysis and portfolio co-ordination
All fees for such services will be agreed before the we provide the service.
Profit sharing, volume bonuses and contingent commissions
Headsure does not have any arrangements with insurance companies for profit share payments, volume bonus commissions or payments, contingent commissions, facility or platform payments, or distribution brokerage payments on our clients’ accounts.
International placements
Sometimes in the negotiation and placement of your insurance program, we may need to engage with the international insurance market. In most circumstances, this necessitates the engagement of local placement brokers or intermediaries. Their remuneration for work carried out is usually on a commission basis paid as part of the premium negotiated. Unless otherwise agreed, these commissions will be collected by these local intermediaries and will not be deducted from our remuneration. We may also charge a service fee for coordinating any offshore placements using local intermediaries, but we will agree this with you beforehand.
Premium funding
If we arrange premium funding for you, we may receive a percentage of the interest charged, however this will never be more than 2%. We will tell you the basis and amount of any such payment if you ask us. It is important to note that we offer and arrange premium funding as agent of the premium funder and not as your credit provider or finance broker. We also may act as the premium funder’s agent in cancelling any insurance policies where you have failed to meet your repayment obligations to the premium funder.
How our representatives are paid
Our representatives do not receive any benefit directly from the sale of insurance products to you. Our representatives may receive bonuses payable based on their individual performance and the overall performance of our business. If a person has referred you to us, we may pay them a part of our fees or commissions received, however we have no standing arrangements on this basis.
Relationships, associations and referrals
We have no specific financial relationships, associations or referral arrangements that influence us in providing our recommendations for general insurance products or associated services.
Date and currency of this FSG
This FSG has been approved by our Licensee (CRE).
It applies from 21 February 2022 and remains valid unless another FSG is issued by Headsure to replace it.
Codes of Practice
Our AFS Licensee (CRE Insurance Broking Pty Ltd) is a member of the National Insurance Brokers Association and subscribes to the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice that is designed to help ensure our services are provided diligently and professionally. The insurers we place your business with subscribe to the General Insurance Code of Practice.