Effective date: 11 July 2025
These terms and conditions replace any prior or existing agreement between GARD Insurance Pty Ltd, ABN 96 605 493 454 AFSL 479 125 (referred to as 'GARD', 'we', 'us', 'our') and any Australian Financial Services licensed insurance broker (referred to as 'broker', 'you', 'your') from the effective date.
Please read these terms and conditions carefully and contact us immediately if there is anything in these Terms of Business that you do not understand or that you do not agree with.
We have authority to arrange, enter into, bind and administer a range of insurance products on behalf of various insurers in accordance with the agreements between us and the insurers. You wish to carry on a financial services business to provide financial product advice for insurance products, and to deal in financial products by applying for, acquiring, varying or disposing of insurance products provided by GARD.
By continuing to instruct us, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
We, on behalf of the insurer(s), have the right to cancel any contract of insurance if the premium is not paid in accordance with the terms of the contract of insurance or these Terms of Business.
In the event that we exercise any cancellation right in relation to a contract of insurance, we will issue a notice of cancellation in accordance with the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth).
When a contract of insurance is cancelled following the cooling off period, if applicable, we will refund:
unless the PDS, policy wording or insurance documentation associated with the contract of insurance notes that the premium is non-refundable.
We will not refund any fees unless the contract of insurance is cancelled during the cooling off period, if applicable, or is a full term cancellation.
You must provide us (or a party nominated by us or the insurer(s)) with all reasonable assistance in respect of all claims and agree that any claim will only be paid on receipt of all outstanding premium(s) and other fees and statutory charges for that contract of insurance.
You must inform us immediately of any complaint you receive which relates specifically to a contract of insurance issued by us or the services we provide. You must fully cooperate with our dispute resolution procedures and provide us with all reasonable assistance, including providing all relevant documents and information in the investigation and resolution of the complaint.
We will only contact insureds in the following circumstances:
Each party will attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute between them in connection with these Terms of Business within thirty (30) days after written notice from a party. If the parties cannot resolve the dispute by negotiation within thirty (30) days from the original written notice, they will mediate in accordance with the Australian Disputes Centre guidelines for commercial mediation, as amended (ADR Guidelines | Australian Disputes Centre). This clause does not apply to any urgent court application, including interlocutory relief.
We will issue policy documentation electronically to an email address nominated by you. If you choose to distribute insurance documentation via electronic means, you must comply with all regulatory guides and any statutory requirements.
You acknowledge that electronic communications are not always secure and may be read, copied, lost or interfered with in transit. You agree we are not responsible for any of the risks associated with electronic communication, including loss of data, unless it is established that any loss or breach resulted from our negligence or breach of these terms and conditions.
We may at our sole discretion, offer certain general insurance products on an exclusive distribution basis to selected brokers. We reserve the right to vary or terminate any such exclusivity agreement at any time by providing thirty (30) days' written notice to the relevant broker.
While an exclusive distribution arrangement is in effect, we will not accept any Letter of Appointment from another broker in relation to policies issued under that arrangement for the duration of the relevant insurance contract.
Any contract or agreement incorporating these Terms of Business will be governed by the laws of New South Wales and the parties irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of New South Wales and any courts which may hear appeals from those Courts.
You must maintain professional indemnity insurance, arranged or approved by us, covering both you and your Authorised Representatives which insure for an amount reasonably calculated to provide appropriate coverage for your obligations under any laws or regulations dealing with the provision of financial services (including the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)) and under these Terms of Business.
You must provide evidence of professional indemnity insurance coverage upon request.
You indemnify and hold us harmless against any claims or liability arising from:
You must ensure that all proposal forms, documents and information that you collect and provide to us are correct and complete. You must provide sufficient, accurate and complete information to enable us to properly assess the insurance risk(s).
You must ensure that the information provided to us includes all relevant information requested in the proposal form and any other details requested by us. Where additional information is required, you must obtain this from the customer as soon as practicable and provide it to us in a timely manner.
You must ensure that you undertake a reasonable analysis of your client's circumstances, objectives and needs to determine whether the product is appropriate for your client.
You must ensure that the insured receives a copy of the current Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and all other relevant documents at or before the time of sale.
You must advise your client of the importance of reviewing the PDS, policy wording and schedule to ensure they understand the terms, conditions and exclusions of their policy and that the cover meets their requirements.
You must keep complete and accurate records relating to all insurance contracts, including correspondence relating to advice provided and dealings with the financial products under these Terms of Business.
All collected premium, applicable fees and statutory charges must be held in a trust account in accordance with statutory requirements.
You must accept the offer for the contract of insurance prior to or on the inception date and provide us with all information including proposal forms and closing instructions (where applicable) within fourteen (14) days from the inception date of the contract of insurance, unless we provide an alternate timeframe.
The contract of insurance will be issued on the same terms and conditions as the written offer we provide and any subsequent documents or other conduct relating to the conduct of the contract of insurance, including any counter offer from you, will have no effect unless we confirm in writing.
Hold covered terms may be available in limited circumstances on written request and at our sole discretion.
You must comply with all relevant obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) when providing us with personal information about individuals, including making them aware that their personal information will be disclosed to us and handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
ConfidentialityEach party must keep confidential and must not use the other party's confidential information, except as necessary to perform their obligations under these Terms of Business or as required by law. Nothing in this clause restricts the use or dissemination of confidential information obtained lawfully from a third party.
Each party authorises the other to disclose its confidential information to its insurers, reinsurers, actuaries, auditors, professional advisors and any related bodies corporate. This clause survives the expiry or termination of any contract or agreement incorporating these Terms of Business.
In this clause, 'confidential information' means all information, data, practices and techniques relating to a party, or a related body corporate, customers, competitors, business, operations, strategies, computer systems, marketing systems and intellectual property or other property of which the other party becomes aware in negotiating or performing under these Terms of Business but does not include information that is in the public domain or later comes into the public domain unless it came into the public domain by a breach of confidentiality.
You must retain all records including correspondence (whether electronic or otherwise) either created by or supplied to you for the purpose of providing financial product advice or dealing with the insurance products under these Terms of Business for a minimum period of seven (7) years, or longer if required by any statutory requirement.
The broker and GARD each hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) that authorises them to provide financial product advice and to deal in general insurance products to either retail or wholesale clients (or both). Each party will notify the other immediately if its AFSL is suspended or cancelled or any authorisation on the licence is varied other than by the addition of authorisations, or in the case of an exemption, the party is no longer entitled to an exemption.
The broker acts as an agent for each of its clients and not as agent for GARD or any insurer in providing any financial advice or dealing in any financial product under its own AFSL.
GARD acts as an agent for insurers unless we tell you otherwise.
GARD and the broker are and remain independent contractors at all times and for all purposes. Except as expressly provided for in these terms and conditions, neither GARD nor the broker has authority to act on behalf of or represent the other and will not imply to have any such authority.
The broker is responsible for the acts, defaults and negligence of its Authorised Representatives, agents, employees and contractors.
Nothing in these terms and conditions creates a binder or relationship of agency, joint venture, partnership or employment relationship between the parties.
We will pay you commission on each base premium in accordance with the rates agreed between us. Unless otherwise agreed, the base premium is exclusive of statutory charges (including GST), and any fire or emergency services levy or any other fee.
Where you provide your services under a fee for service arrangement, you are not entitled to commission in respect of that contract of insurance.
We will not pay commission for any contract of insurance cancelled during the cooling off period.
You agree to distribute any retail products in accordance with the most recent Target Market Determination (TMD). You also agree to provide reasonable assistance to us to meet our distribution reporting and significant dealings obligations set out in the TMD for retail insurance products you arrange.
You must issue a tax invoice to the insured in your name that specifies the GST payable on any taxably supply we make to the insured. Where an adjustment event such as a variation or cancellation of the contract of insurance occurs, you must issue an adjustment note to the insured in your name.
You must issue a tax invoice to us that specifies the GST payable on any taxable supply made by you to us. Where an adjustment event such as variation or cancellation of the contract of insurance occurs, you must issue an adjustment note to us.
We may vary these Terms of Business by providing you with thirty (30) days written notice, unless the variation is to comply with a statutory requirement where the variation will apply with immediate effect.
Any contract or agreement incorporating these Terms of Business may be terminated without cause by either party by providing thirty (30) days written notice to the other, or immediately if a party has its Australian Financial Services Licence varied, suspended or cancelled.
We may terminate any contract or agreement incorporating these Terms of Business immediately by providing written notice to you if you are subject to an insolvency event, breaches a condition or engages in serious misconduct including fraudulent activity. As soon as practicable after any termination of any contract or agreement incorporating these Terms of Business and in any event within ninety (90) days of termination, each party must pay all money owed to the other after taking into account any adjustments and you must return to us at your expense all documents including marketing materials supplied by us.