Disclosure Guide
The Sprout Group NZ Ltd, trading as Sprout Financial, is a Financial Advice provider and holds a Class 2 Licence which is regulated by the Financial Markets Authority to provide financial advice.
Our Financial Services Provider (FSP) number is FSP1002564.
You can contact us at:
Address: PwC Tower, Level 38/15 Customs Street West, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010
Phone: 021 338 066
Email: mat@sproutfs.co.nz
Website: https://www.sproutfs.co.nz/
NATURE AND SCOPE OF ADVICE
Below are the areas we can provide advice on.
INSURANCE / RISK:
Personal risk insurance needs arising from:
- Life Insurance
- Trauma Insurance
- Total and permanent disablement insurance
- Income Protection
- Health / Medical Insurance
Business risk insurance needs arising from:
- Key Person Cover
- Retirement of business debt and other liabilities caused by death or disability
- Succession, partnership and share purchase needs caused by death or disability
We source Insurance products from the following companies
- Accuro (Health Insurance)
- Chubb (was Cigna)
- Partners Life
- AIA
- Fidelity Life
- Asteron Life
- NIB (Health Insurance)
We source KiwiSaver products from the following companies: (But do not provide advice)
- Koura Wealth
- Generate
Areas we do not provide advice on include:
- Estate Planning
- Investment Planning
- Mortgages (or any other lending)
- Wills
- Tax Advice
If you require professional assistance in any of these areas, we can connect you with industry professionals whom we would be glad to introduce you to.
Our advice process for Insurance:
We follow an internationally recognised 6-step process which involves:
- Determine what advice is needed
- Discuss your needs and goals
- Analyse and create a solution
- Provide a written report (Advice Statement)
- Present and implement recommendations
- Regularly review and adjust strategies
SPROUT’S ADVISERS
Mat Page / FSP1002564 / mat@sproutfs.co.nz/ Insurance Personal and Business Including:
- Life Insurance
- Trauma Insurance
- Total Permanent Disablement Insurance
- Income/Mortgage Repayment Insurance
- Health Insurance
- Key Person Insurance
- Shareholder Protection Insurance
Our duties and obligations to you:
We are obligated by the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 to adhere to specific standards when providing advice. These include:
- Ensuring you comprehend the nature and extent of the service you request from us.
- Offering advice and services relevant to your needs and circumstances.
- Listening attentively to your concerns, and preferences, and treating you fairly and respectfully.
- Acting with integrity, prioritising your interests, and avoiding any conflicts of interest.
- Exercising diligence, skill, and care in delivering advice.
- Meeting the required standards of competence and knowledge to provide the requested advice.
This is a condensed overview of our obligations. For more details, please visit the Financial Markets Authority website at https://www.fma.govt.nz.
Fees and Expenses
Generally, you won’t be charged any fees for the financial advice provided to you. This is possible because, on the issuance of an insurance policy, the insurer usually pays a commission to The Sprout Group NZ Ltd. Any exceptions to this general position are explained below. If these exceptions apply to you, you will be informed.
- There’s no commission: If you request that The Sprout Group NZ Ltd provide financial advice and it does not receive a commission from the insurer, you may be charged a one-off fee. Any such fee would be agreed to and authorised by you in writing before the advice is completed and would be based on an estimate of the time spent providing the advice. This may arise in the rare event that you request that Sprout provide financial advice in relation to either a product that is offered by an insurer that is not on our panel of approved insurers, or an insurance that is outside the usual arrangements with the approved insurers.
- Commission must be repaid: If you make certain changes to your insurance policy, the insurer can require Sprout to repay to them the commission it received for your policy – this is called a ‘clawback’ and can be up to 100% of the premium. If this occurs, Sprout may charge you a one-off fee. Set out below are the circumstances in which this would apply and the fee that would be charged to you.
| Changes that trigger a clawback | Relevant time period | Amount & calculation of the one-off fee.
|
| Your insurance policy is cancelled, or the terms materially changed. | The changes occur in the 24 months following the issuance of your policy. | Generally, no more than $3,000 (plus GST, if any). Calculated based on a rate of $250 (plus GST, if any) per hour of my time spent providing advice to you in connection with the applicable policy. The fee would not exceed the amount of commission that needs to be repaid to the insurer. |
You will be invoiced for any one-off fee and will be given 30 days to make payment.
On acceptance of an insurance application by the insurer, the applicable insurer usually provides The Sprout Group NZ Ltd with a commission payment, as described below.
The commission is generally an upfront commission payment, but an ongoing commission payment may also be paid by the insurer. The upfront commission is calculated as a percentage of the first year’s premium that you will pay. An ongoing commission is calculated as a percentage of the premium that you pay for each year the policy is in force.
The maximum percentage that each insurer uses to calculate upfront and ongoing commissions is set out below. If any variations to these percentages or other commission payments may apply, specific to your insurance application, your adviser will disclose this to you as part of their advice process.
The Adviser may also receive a referral fee or commission payment if they refer you to our referral partners. Commission payments or referral fees can be paid in different ways:
- Paid in full to a financial adviser.
- Shared between two or more financial advisers.
- Paid to an employer who then pays a financial adviser a salary.
- Paid in full to a financial adviser’s company, from which the financial adviser takes drawings or profit shares.
- Shared with a licence holder to cover the costs of the services they provide. Your adviser can provide you with more information to explain which option applies.
| Insurer | Upfront Commission % (Maximum) | Ongoing % (Maximum) |
| Accuro (Health Insurance Only) | 30% | 15% |
| AIA | 200% | 8% |
| Asteron Life | 200% | 5% |
| Chubb Life | 230% | 15% |
| Fidelity Life | 240% | 17% |
| Partners Life | 220% | 10% |
| NIB | 140% | 5% |
Conflicts of interest
At Sprout Financial Services, all the services we offer come at no cost to our clients. This is because we receive payment from providers when a product is selected based on our recommendation.
Even though we receive compensation from providers, we prioritise your interests by:
- Following a proven six-step advisory process that places our client’s needs at the forefront.
- Identifying and disclosing the maximum commission we may receive based on our recommendation.
- When recommending a change in coverage, provide a comparison of covers and explain the additional benefits offered by the recommended provider compared to your current coverage.
- We also highlight any coverage aspects provided by your current provider that the recommended provider may not offer.
- Providing all recommendations in writing, along with an explanation of how they align with your individual needs.
- Conducting both internal and external reviews of our advisory process to ensure a comprehensive evaluation that prioritizes client interests.
PRIVACY
The Sprout Group NZ Ltd will collect personal information about you in accordance with its Privacy Policy. It regards client confidentiality as of paramount importance. They will not disclose any confidential information obtained from or about you to any other person, except in accordance with the Privacy Policy which is located on The Sprout Group NZ Ltd website. The electronic platform used to store your personal information is secure and runs on Adviser CRM.
Complaints and disputes
If you have a complaint about the financial advice or the service provided to you, you can contact The Sprout Group NZ Ltd internal complaints service by phoning, or emailing
Attn: Mat Page
Mobile: 021 338 066
Email: mat@sproutfs.co.nz
(Subject line: Complaint – Your Name)
Please set out the nature of your complaint and the resolution you are seeking. The Sprout Group NZ Ltd aims to acknowledge receipt of this within 24 hours. It will then record your complaint in the Complaints Register and work with you to resolve your complaint. Your adviser may want to meet with you to better understand your issues.
The aim is to provide an answer to you within 7 working days of receiving your complaint. If we cannot agree on a resolution, you can refer your complaint to our external dispute resolution service. This service is independent and will cost you nothing. It will also assist us in resolving things with you. The name of this service and their contact details are:
Financial Disputes Resolution Service:
Name: Financial Services Complaints Ltd
Address PO Box: 5967
Wellington 6140
Email: complaints@fscl.org.nz
Freephone: 0800 347 257