Licence status and conditions

Professional Financial Group Limited (FSP723191) "PFG", holds a license issued by the Financial Markets Authority to provide financial advice.

 

Professional Financial Group Limited and its advisers comply with the Privacy Act 2020.

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Our duties

Professional Financial Group Limited, and anyone who gives financial advice on our behalf, have duties under the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act 2019 "FSLAA", which amended the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, relating to the way that we give advice. We are required to:

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• give priority to your interests by taking all reasonable steps to make sure our advice isn’t materially influenced by our own interests

• exercise care, diligence, and skill in providing you with advice

• meet standards of competence, knowledge and skill set by the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services (these are designed to make sure that we have the expertise needed to provide you with advice)

• meet standards of ethical behavior, conduct and client care set by the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services (these are designed to make sure we treat you as we should, and give you suitable advice).

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This is only a summary of the duties that we have. More information is available by contacting us, or by visiting the Financial Markets Authority website at https://www.fma.govt.nz

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The Code of Conduct standards can be read here: https://www.fma.govt.nz/assets/assets/code-of-professional-conduct-for-financial-advice-services.pdf.

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Nature and scope of the financial advice given:

PFG provides advice to our clients about their home loans, investment property loans, business loans, life, trauma, income & mortgage protection, TPD and health insurances. 

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We provide financial advice and broker products from a large range of providers. These presently include AIA, ASB, ANZ, ASAP Finance, Avanti Finance, Bluestone, BNZ, Cressida Capital, DBR, First Mortgage Trust, Liberty Finance, Lock Finance, SBS Bank, Southern Cross Partners,  Sovereign Home Loans & Private Lenders.

 

We do not provide advice on investment products such as equities, managed funds, term deposits, but refer to suitably specialized people in these areas.

Any financial advice provided on our behalf, will take account only of the information you have given us about your particular needs, financial situation or goals.

 

General fees payable for our financial advice:

In some circumstances PFG charges fees for service provided. All fees will be discussed and agreed in advance (where possible). 

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Fees include: -

• Claw-back - refers to when a loan is repaid ahead of the minimum timeframe that Banks insist on. A commission claw-back is likely, any expected fees will be discussed in advance or as soon as we are advised by the Bank. Our Client Agreement covers this upfront so you have full knowledge.

• An upfront commission - where one is not offered by the provider of the loan we have sourced for you.

• A general administration & advisory fee of $495 per transaction, plus AML cost recovery $25 per entity certified. Complexity fees may also be charged where a transaction is more complex than standard & requires additional time allocation/advice, we will agree a cost upfront with you prior to any accrual. For progressive build projects we typically charge on initial draw down date a client direct fee of 0.25% (of loan amount approved) due to the large amount of extra time needed throughout progressive drawdowns and associated administrative processes. 

• Loan pre-approval expiration, or after two extensions, or when there is no indication of the loan proceeding.

• Any advisory services provided that are independent from a commissionable transaction for PFG. Present cost being $325/hour + GST on complex matters, or $280/hour + GST, for advice on more general items. There’s a minimum charge of $120 +GST as we need to cover compliance related costs that happen post each discussion/advisory call.

• Some client paid, direct fees charged in advance will be outlined and mutually agreed before commencement of work, within email or a more formal Statement of Advice (SoA) and fees will vary depending on the work provided.

• Valuation co-ordination fee of $35 per valuation (if a mandated requirement of a Bank specifies we must order through their online portal system as part of the application process).

• Related fees will be detailed in a specific Terms & Conditions Agreement for each loan or risk product transaction, explained in full and accepted by each client prior to commencement of work.

• Typically, PFG charges $195 for a single person / $295 for a couple for a risk management strategy & needs analysis workshop organizing personal insurance related products. 50% of these fees is rebated as a loyalty payment to you, if PFG ends up writing your insurance and that insurance is in force for a minimum term of 24 months. If it becomes clear during our advice based, consultative process, that a client's needs require complex advisory and/or additional time, PFG reserves the right to charge a complexity fee of up to $195 per policy arranged. This will be disclosed and agreed with each client ahead of the additional work being commenced and cost accruing.

• PFG does not provide General insurance services such as house, contents, car, business risk. We opt to refer to a trusted third party, presently a colleague at Prosper Insurances. We receive a referral fee for each referral that results in business being written. This is presently: -

  • $100 for every policy issued, per entity

  • $50 for every stand-alone vehicle policy

  • $50 for every travel insurance policy

• PFG runs educational, customized workshops​ - our main one being Rules of the Game "ROTG". This workshop presently costs $450 but is discounted to $395, by way of a credit note, when bundled with PFG brokering your home/investment property loan, where our above general administration & advisory fee is charged.

• PFG holds exclusive rights to run "The Bubbles Programme" - personalized life and financial advice based workshop/s. The cost for this workshop based programme is presently $3,995 + GST per couple, or $3,250 + GST for singles.

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Claw-back & Cost Recovery Fees

Any loan  arranged by PFG repaid within the provider's specified claw-back period (ranging between 18-28 months of settlement/drawdown), will result in all or some of the upfront commission being clawed back by the provider. This can range from 25% to 100% of the original commission originally paid by the provider on each client's behalf.

 

To ensure PFG is fairly compensated for the services initially provided, we would seek recovery of some or all of the cost via a claw-back recovery fee. Our claw-back recovery fee will either be the full/pro-rata commission clawed back by the Provider, or based on time spent on the transaction, calculated at our flat rate of $325/hour - PFG’s standard consultancy cost. In some instances where initial commission payments are sizable, PFG can at times, elect to defer client costs associated with additional time/consultancy work undertaken in the initial process. In the event a claw-back is received on transactions whereby PFG deferred such income, PFG reserves the right to also on-charge those deferred costs as part of the cost recovery process associated with the claw-back.

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PFG's adviser will openly disclose the original commission percentages to each client at the time a client signs our specific T&Cs. We note that commission percentage rates are stated within our adviser's personal disclosure statement and that disclosure is provided at commencement of our relationship with each client.

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There is no claw-back if PFG charged an upfront, client direct service fee for arranging a loan.

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Complaints & Dispute Resolution

If you are not satisfied with our financial advice or service you can make a complaint by emailing  neil.inns@pfgroup.co.nz or by calling 021 667878.

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While we strive to not encounter any complaints, we are human and welcome any feedback. We take any complaint seriously in order to improve and grow the service we provide and would aim to remedy as quickly as possible to end up with a happy client.

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Once a complaint is received we will follow our internal complaints process, as follows: -

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1. Acknowledge receipt of complaint within 24 hours.

2. Provide resolution which may require further information to be provided.

3. We aim to resolve complaints within 10 working days of receiving them. If we can’t, we will contact you within that time to let you know we need more time to consider your complaint.

4. We will contact you by phone or email to let you know whether we can resolve your complaint and how we propose to do so.

5. If you are not satisfied with the way we propose to resolve your complaint, or if you do not wish to use our internal complaints process at that point, we will issue you with a Letter of Deadlock and you may choose to proceed to contact our dispute resolution scheme, as detailed below: -

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If we cannot jointly agree on how to fix the issue, you can contact our external disputes resolution scheme: Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman (IFSO). IFSO provides a free and independent dispute resolution service that may help to resolve your complaint if we have not been able to do so to your satisfaction.

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To contact IFSO:

Call:                0800 888 202

Email:             info@ifso.co.nz

Write to:        PO Box 10-845, Wellington 6143, NEW ZEALAND

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Duties information

PFG and our advisers have duties under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 relating to the way that we give advice. www.fma.govt.nz

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We are required to: -

•    give priority to your interests; 

•    exercise care, diligence, and skill;

•    meet standards of competence, knowledge and skill set by the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services;

•    meet standards of ethical behaviour, conduct and client care set by the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services.

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Conflicts of interest & conduct, commissions or other incentives

Any home loan will result in PFG receiving commissions from the lender we arrange this through. If you wish to proceed with the proposal the lender will pay a commission to PFG based on the amount and type of debt provided. The commission is generally an upfront commission payment but we may also receive an ongoing trail commission payment. The upfront commission is calculated as a percentage of the loan at drawdown and the trail commission is calculated as a percentage of the loan outstanding at the relevant time. We may also receive a fixed rate rollover fee from the applicable lender if we assist in re-fixing your loan.

 

Our client’s best interests will always be at the heart of our operation and any perceived or real conflicts of interest will be taken seriously. PFG has its own internal processes for dealing with conflicts of interest so any conflicts of interest are avoided or disclosed so our client’s best interest are always prioritized.

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For life and other insurance products, PFG and the financial adviser receive commissions from the insurance companies on whose policies we give advice. If you decide to take out insurance, the insurer will pay a commission to PFG and your financial adviser. The amount of the commission is based on the amount of the premium.

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To ensure that our financial advisers prioritize the client’s interest above their own, we follow an advice process that ensures our recommendations are made on the basis of the client’s goals and circumstances. All our financial advisers undergo annual training about how to manage conflicts of interest. We undertake a compliance audit, and a review of our compliance programme annually by a reputable compliance consultancy firm organised by our aggregator, Prosper Group Limited.

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PFG is governed by the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 and Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act 2019 "FSLAA" that administers guidance on how we provide advice. Please refer to their website below for further information or contact us directly if you have any additional queries.