FINANCIAL SERVICES GUIDE

The financial services referred to in this financial services guide (FSG) are offered by Northlake Holdings Pty Ltd t/as Country Wide Insurance Brokers (CWIB).

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.

Statement of advice (retail clients* only)

You will receive a statement of advice (SOA) whenever we provide you with advice which takes into account your objectives, financial situation and needs. The SOA will contain 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 will enable you to make an informed decision about your insurance needs.

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) or short-form PDS, unless you already have an up to date PDS or short-form PDS from the insurer. The PDS or short-form PDS will contain information about the particular policy which will enable you to make an informed decision about purchasing that policy.

From when does this FSG apply?

This FSG applies from 1 Jan 2009 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 you instruct us?

You can contact us to give us instructions by post, phone, fax or email on the contact details shown above.

Who is responsible for the financial services advice provided?

CWIB is responsible for the financial services that will be provided to you, or through you to your family members, including the distribution at the end of this FSG.

CWIB holds a current Australian Financial Services Licensee no: 238717, ABN: 56 009 296 824. The contact details for all CWIB branches are shown on 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?

CWIB is authorised to advise and deal in general insurance products to wholesale and/or retail clients. We will do this for you as your broker unless we tell you otherwise.

Will I receive tailored advice?

May be not in all cases, however, we may need information about your personal objectives, details of your current financial situation and any relevant information, so that we can 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 (retail clients* only), 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?

We 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, PDS or short-form 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.

If you wish to look at your file please ask us. We will make arrangements 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. We often 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 fee. The commission (retail clients* only) and fees will all be shown on the invoice and other documents that we send you. 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 of premium owed to you as a result of a cancellation or alteration to a policy, we will retain any fee we have charged you. We may also retain commission depending on our arrangements with the insurer. We may also charge you a cancellation fee.

When you pay us your premium it will be banked into our trust account. We 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 we may invest the premium and earn a return. We 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. Our commission varies between 5 – 22.5% unless otherwise indicated on our SOA.
P = the amount you pay for any insurance policy (less any government fees or charges included in that amount).

Any Broker Fees that we charge you will be between $22 - $55, unless otherwise shown on our tax invoice. This fee can increase depending on the size and complexity of the insurance being arranged.

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 20 - 50% of our commission or fees.

Our employee that will assist you with your insurance needs will be paid a market salary.

If we give you personal advice (retail clients* only), 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.

See below for information on the Steadfast association and commission.

Do we have any relationships or associations with the insurers who issue the insurance policies or any other material relationships?

CWIB is a shareholder of Steadfast Group Limited (Steadfast). Steadfast has exclusive arrangements with some insurers under which Steadfast will receive between 0.5 - 1% 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.

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.

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

We have entered into an arrangement with QBE under which we may obtain a profit share. The amount of profit share (if any) is determined by QBE once a year by reference to the amount of the premium earned when compared with the claims experienced in our total portfolios with QBE (excluding workers compensation). Due to the contingent nature of insurance and the way the arrangements are set up it is not possible to know the amount of any profit share, if any, to which we may be entitled. We will always advise you when profit share is applicable to your transaction (retail clients* only). Please ask us if you would like more information about our profit share arrangements.

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 0.5 - 2% 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 premium funder that will usually be used by CWIB is Royalwest Finance. The Directors of CWIB are the sole shareholders Royalwest Finance.

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 20 days, please contact our Head Office and request to speak with our Complaints Officer, or put your complaint in writing and send it to “The Complaints Officer” at our Head Office address noted at the beginning of this FSG. We will try and resolve your complaint quickly and fairly.
CWIB is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). If your complaint cannot be resolved to your satisfaction by us you have the right to refer the matter to FOS. FOS can be contacted at Level 5, 31 Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000 on 1300 780 808, fax 03 9613 6399, email info@fos.org.au or website www.fos.org.au.

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

CWIB has a professional indemnity insurance policy (PI policy) in place.

The PI policy covers us and our employees for claims made against us and our employees by clients as a result of the conduct of us or our employees in the provision of financial services.

Our PI policy covers us for claims relating to the conduct of representatives who no longer work for us.

Any Questions

If you have any further questions about the financial services CWIB provides, please contact us. Please retain this document for your reference and any future dealings with CWIB.

* Retail clients are individuals or those who purchase an insurance product for use in connection with a small business (ie less than 20 employees, or 100 if the business manufactures goods) AND they purchase a general insurance contract which has been designated as a retail product, including motor vehicle, home building and contents, sickness and accident, consumer credit, travel, personal and domestic property, pleasure craft, any other kind of insurance prescribed in the Corporations Regulations. All other clients are wholesale

Country Wide Insurance Brokers

Office	Location	Telephone	Facsimile
Perth	Level 3, 170 Burswood Rd, Burswood WA 6100	(08) 9472 6622	(08) 9472 6633
Bunbury	49-51 Marlston Drive Bunbury WA 6230	(08) 9791 1786	(08) 9791 1723
Cunderdin	59 Main Street, Cunderdin WA 6407	(08) 9635 1539	(08) 9635 1139
Geraldton	5 Wiebbe Hayes Lane, Geraldton WA 6530	(08) 9921 3020	9921 6777
Katanning	51 Clive Street, Katanning WA 6317	(08) 9821 2130	(08) 9821 2138
Mandurah	Unit 1/11 Davey Street, Mandurah WA 6210	(08) 9535 9220	(08) 9535 9221
Moora	9 Berkshire Valley Road, Moora WA 6510	(08) 9651 1526	(08) 9651 1743
Narrogin	2 Williams Road, Narrogin WA 6312	(08) 9881 2221	9881 3001
Northam	210 Fitzgerald Street, Northam WA 6401	(08) 9622 7677	(08) 9622 7655

Website:	www.cwib.com.au