You have appointed Medical Assurance Society New Zealand Limited (MAS) FSP35849 as your broker in accordance with the terms of this agreement (“the terms”). Our contact details are:
Level 3, PWC Centre 10 Waterloo Quay Wellington 6011
By allowing us to act as your insurance broker you agree to be bound by these terms that apply to the broking services we provide to you.
We may also publish revised terms on our website or send you a copy of revised terms from time to time. These will then apply to our broking services provided from that date forward.
If there is any conflict between these terms and any subsequent legal agreement between us and you in relation to broking services, then that agreement will prevail unless agreed otherwise.
2. Services
We are members of Steadfast NZ Limited which supplies management, marketing, professional, technical, and buying benefits, and services to us.
You can provide us with instructions in person, by telephone, email or in writing using our contact details above or by communicating directly with your MAS Adviser.
Our role is limited to the provision of insurance broking and risk management related advice and services. We do not provide safety inspections, valuations or advice on every potential hazard or threat to your business. You should carefully read all policies and other documentation issued to you, so you understand what is or is not covered. We do not offer advice about tax, accounting, regulatory or legal matters and nothing we say should be read as such advice.
We may arrange insurance for you with insurers domiciled in New Zealand or elsewhere or a combination of both. We may engage the services and assistance of third-party brokers, reinsurance brokers, consultants, or others to assist us with the provision of the arranging and placement of such insurance for you.
We may provide you with assistance with the placing and servicing of insurance for risks domiciled outside New Zealand, or the management of risks outside New Zealand. We may engage the services and assistance of third-party brokers, consultants, insurance brokers, reinsurance brokers or others to assist us with the provision of such services to you.
We will negotiate with insurers on your behalf and will do our best to ensure that policies and endorsements for insurance we place on your behalf are issued by your insurers promptly and correctly. These documents detail the precise terms and conditions relating to the insurance we have arranged for you and the information contained in them is important. You should carefully read and store these documents.
If your insurances were arranged by another party prior to our appointment:
we will not be responsible for any premium payments made in relation to those insurances prior to our appointment, unless otherwise agreed with you;
we will review the policies within 60 days of our appointment, or upon the receipt of the relevant documentation, whichever is the later, unless otherwise agreed with you and discuss with you any relevant issues we identify with the current policies; and
we will not be responsible for the adequacy or apportionment of your insurance arrangements prior to our review but will suggest changes as we see fit.
Upon our receipt of premiums and related statutory charges from you, we will deal with them in accordance with the Insurance Intermediaries Act 1994.
3. Remuneration
Insurers with whom we broker policies provide premiums that include commission.
The commission is a percentage of the premium (excluding government charges, levies, and taxes). The rate of commission can vary according to the type of insurance and cover provided and the way the transaction is arranged.
On domestic and commercial insurance transactions we may be remunerated by commission as described in section 2 above. We will always disclose our total remuneration.
If we arrange premium funding for you, we may be remunerated from the premium funding loan provider.
We may also receive non-financial benefits from insurers such as training, professional development courses, and function invitations.
We reserve the right to set off any outstanding sums that you owe us in connection to any contract of insurance, from any money we receive on your behalf in relation to that insurance.
In the event of a policy being cancelled mid-term, and not replaced by another policy, we will refund the returned premium we receive from insurers, subject to any cancellation or administrative fee imposed by the insurer. We reserve the right to retain our commission for arranging and managing the insurance.
4. Your Responsibilities
You should carefully read and understand the information we provide to you.
You are responsible on an ongoing basis for providing us with all material facts relating to the insurance contracts we arrange on your behalf. Material facts are those that would influence an insurer when deciding whether to accept the risk, and if accepted the terms and conditions that would apply. Failure to provide full and accurate information may mean that your cover is reduced, or in the case of non-disclosure of material facts the insurer may be able to avoid (cancel) the contract from the very beginning. If you are in any doubt as to what facts are material, you should disclose them to us. We will not be responsible for any consequence resulting from a failure by you to disclose all material facts to an insurer (including, without limitation, the possibility of your insurance policies being rendered void or limited).
You must provide accurate, complete, and timely information to us. We are not responsible for checking the accuracy or completeness of any information you provide to us or any insurer.
You must advise us on an ongoing basis of any change in your business that might affect your insurances. This may include acquisitions, disposals, mergers, sale of principal assets, geographic locations of business, or any changes to business operations which could increase risk to the business.
You must advise us (or your insurers) as soon as is reasonably practicable of an event or circumstance that may give rise to a claim or potential claim under your insurance policy. If you do not inform us (or your insurers) of such a claim or potential claim, you may prejudice your rights under your insurance policy.
You must pay the premium(s), any statutory charges, government levies, taxes, GST, and fees when due as set out in our invoice(s).
If you do not pay the premium on time, we are required to advise the insurer. The insurer has the right to cancel the insurance and you will not be insured. The insurer may also charge a short-term premium for the time they have insured the risk. We will have no responsibility for any loss you may suffer because of insurers cancelling the insurance or taking any prejudicial steps because of late payment.
5. Disclosure of Interest
We make every attempt not to have a situation where there is a conflict of interest. Should a situation arise where a conflict of interest could be perceived we declare it as soon as it is practicable for us to do so.
6. Privacy
We are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.
We collect, use, store and disclose your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Statement, available at MAS Privacy Statement.
We use this information to advise you about the management of your risks and your insurance needs.
If the information is not provided, we may not be able to provide the services you require.
You have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong. If you would like to ask for a copy of your information, or to have it corrected, please contact us at privacyofficer@mas.co.nz, or 0800 800 627, or PO Box 957, Wellington 6140.
7. Complaints
As a financial service provider, we are members of the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman (IFSO). IFSO’s service is free of charge to you.
Our complaints process is explained in full on our web site at Make a Complaint – MAS. If you do not have access to the internet please ask us and we will provide you with a hard copy of our complaints policy.
8. Limitation of Liability
While we may provide you with information about your insurers’ financial standings from time to time, as your broker, we are not the insurer of the risk, and we cannot guarantee the availability of insurance for your risks. Depending on your circumstances and risk, there may be no, or a limited number of, insurers that are willing to provide insurance cover to you.
We make no representation or warranty concerning the solvency or ability of any insurer to pay claims.
To the extent permitted by law, we will not be responsible or liable for:
any consequential, incidental, indirect or special damage or loss of any kind including, but not limited to, loss of profits, loss of revenues, loss of anticipated savings, loss of data, loss of reputation, loss of goodwill, loss of opportunities and loss of business.
the supply, by you or others, of incorrect or incomplete information. This includes information that we may use to calculate the premiums and other charges relevant to your insurance), the failure by you or others to supply appropriate, relevant or timely information, including relevant information, or the failure by you or others to provide such information within the time periods reasonably requested by us from time to time.
any failure or delay on our part where it is due to a force majeure event.
the failure of you or others to act on our advice or to respond promptly to any communications from us or any insurer.
the default, negligence, error, omission, or lack of care on the part of any person other than ourselves.
any expenses or liabilities in respect of tax or fire and emergency levies arising from your insurances.
any variation between a certificate or summary of cover and the actual terms of cover or any omission from, or misstatement in, a certificate or summary of cover.
9. General
You may cancel our appointment by giving us written notice of cancellation or by appointing another broker. Upon such notice being received, we will cease providing you services and: (a) withdraw from any negotiations in progress, including, without limitation, any claims, or renewals of policies; (b) return any premiums we have received from you but not yet disbursed. If a contract of insurance is cancelled before the expiry of the period of insurance, we may refund the net premium we receive from your insurers(s). We reserve the right to retain our commission or fees charged when the policy was arranged.
We will not cancel a contract of insurance without instruction from a person who is authorised to represent each of the parties who are named as insureds in the contract of insurance, or the approval of any interested parties noted in the contract. We cannot cancel a policy without the insurer’s approval and some insurance contracts contain a non-cancellation clause or cancellation penalties which, for the avoidance of doubt, you will be responsible for paying.
Any failure by us to enforce any right or obligation under these terms, will not in any way limit or waive our right to subsequently enforce such right or obligation.
If any part of these terms becomes invalid or unenforceable for any reason whatsoever, the remaining terms will continue to apply subject to any modifications as is necessary to continue to give them effect.
We accept no liability for instructions received until we acknowledge receipt and acceptance of the instructions to you in writing.
No cover or action by us shall be deemed to be taken or given until confirmed by us in writing.
These terms are governed by the laws of New Zealand and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand Courts.