This information highlights the nature of Rees-Thomas Financial’s License to operate as a Financial Advice Provider in New Zealand. It also describes the types of financial advice we can provide you, and the types of financial advice we do not provide.

Financial Advice in New Zealand

Name of Financial Advice Provider: Rees-Thomas Financial Limited
Registration Number: FSP1004250
Application Status: Licensed
Address: PO BOX 24514, Manners Street, Wellington, 6142 | Level 6, 114 The Terrace, Wellington Central, Wellington, 6011
Phone numbers: 04 384 7113 | +6427 334 4812
Email Address: service@rtfs.nz

Financial Advice Provider ‘Rees-Thomas Financial Limited’ is engages Financial Adviser Samuel Wilson Rees-Thomas FSP250025 to provide Financial Advice to its clients..

When working with a Financial Adviser, it is critical you understand the scope and nature of advice they are licensed to provide you.

Furthermore, it is possible that an adviser may generally have a licence to provide a type of advice (such as Insurance Advice), but the adviser may not be accredited to provide advice on some insurance advice products.

It is important to note that the regulatory environment for Financial Advisers was reworked on March 15, 2021. Before this date, Advisers were divided into AFA’s, RFA’s and QFE’s. These terms no longer apply.

Key definitions:
- FAP = Financial Advice Provider
- FAP Licence = Licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority enabling a FAP to provide advice
- Accreditation = Agency agreements between financial product providers such as Insurers, Banks, or Investment Product Providers enabling FAP (Financial Advisers) to provide advice on specific products.

Scope of licence

Taking into account their financial goals and current financial position; Rees-Thomas Financial provides advice to clients regarding the following product types:

General Financial Planning
We can assist you with establishing your financial priorities and goals. We can also provide general commentary on your current financial position. This does not include investment advice. 

Lifetime Cashflow Modelling
We use software called Planolitix to effectively capture and report on your current financial position and trajectory. These outputs enhance and contribute to our Insurance Planning advice. 

Budget Planning, Debt management
We can assist you with general advice on these matters, and refer you to experts for product-specific solutions. We do not provide specific product advice on lending facilities such as mortgages.

Life Insurance
Pays out a lump sum in event of death or terminal illness. 

Income Protection Insurance
Replaces loss of income in event of illness or injury on a monthly basis.  

Health Insurance
Covers the cost of private medical treatment, specialist appointments, tests, diagnostic procedures and treatment/drugs not covered by state-funded entity Pharmac.

Trauma Insurance
Pays out a lump sum in upon diagnosis of up to 55 pre-set health conditions (depending on the insurer)

Total and Permanent Disability Insurance
Pays out a lump sum in event of total and permanent disability. 

Accreditations

For personal and business risk insurance advice we work with the following insurers:

For domestic fire and general insurance advice we work with the following insurer:
AON StyleCover (underwritten by Vero)

How Rees-Thomas Financial operates as a Financial Advice Provider

 To ensure we prioritise a client’s interests above their own, we follow an internationally recognised professional advice process to ensure our recommendations are made on the basis of the client’s goals and circumstances.

 This process is generally referred to as the ‘Six-Step Advice Process’:
1. Getting to know you and understand your financial goals and objectives through consultation

2. Gathering relevant data on your current financial circumstances

3. Analysing this data, accessing viable solutions and taking into account any existing solutions you already have in place

4. Providing recommendations

5. Implementing recommendations

6. Ongoing review of recommendations as your circumstances change (where relevant)

Conduct

Rees-Thomas Financial Ltd and anyone who gives financial advice on our behalf, have duties under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 relating to the way that we give advice.

 We are required to:

·       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 behaviour, 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).

 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.

Remuneration (what do our services cost)?

Typically, we are remunerated by way of commissions received directly from product providers. As we get to know you and what is important, we will provide more specific information in relation to any remuneration we receive as a result of any advice we provide. In line with the spirit of professional disclosure below are some guidelines.

As an insurance adviser holding direct agency agreements with most major insurers I have the ability to select a commission structure for each new set of policies implemented. Generally speaking the varying structures reflect the below table (though there a slight differences across each insurer). In the interest of remaining impartial in my advice process, I use independent research from Quality Product Research Limited in Auckland, and dedicated software to provide you an overview of the options available to you market wide.

Additional comments: Commission is generally paid on a percentage of total API (Annual Premium Income), Less GST and policy fees.

Aggregator group: Rees-Thomas Financial is a member shareholder of co-operative Plus4 Insurance Solutions, a Financial Adviser association dedicated to continual professional development, client advocacy and adviser advocacy. Remuneration in the form of 10-20% commission may also paid the business from product providers via the Dealer Group, this is based on production of the group as a whole and Rees-Thomas Financial. The Business can also receive other services or benefits Rees-Thomas Financial from the dealer group such as discounted software and systems.

Costs for Insurance Advice:
Our initial consultation (the Needs Analysis Meeting) is always free of charge.

For written advice, and our second meeting, a fee of $195 p/h +GST depending on complexity (capped at 2.5 hours unless pre-agreed) will apply for:
- the Insurance Statement of Advice we’ll prepare for you
- the Planolitix lifetime cashflow modelling we’ll prepare for you
- your personal Planolitix subscription access

The standard process from that point is for services to be provided at no cost to you with remuneration for services received via commission (this includes support from administrative staff team or advice from Samuel Rees-Thomas regarding any administrative or claim related matters going forward).

Analysis and preparation of an Insurance Statement of Advice, insurance application and underwriting management takes approximately 10 - 30 hours, depending on complexity. Should new insurance/s be arranged as part of my advice to you, commission will be paid to Rees-Thomas Financial by the insurer.

Alternatively, we can provide Fee-based advice by request only.
As an alternate option, we can in some cases operate on a hybrid fee/commission basis, which may result in a 10% discount on some insurance premiums. Our hourly rate is $195.00 + GST.

Fees regularly apply where we are providing advice for restructuring a business' insurance portfolio with a range of existing policies in place (requiring restructuring), and no commission is paid to Rees-Thomas Financial Services Ltd (i.e. primarily a consulting service).

Costs for standalone Planolitix consultation, report and advice:
A fee of $300 + GST applies for your initial consultation, your report and subscription/login access. Depending on your needs we recommend review consultations every 1-3 years.

Cancellation of new insurances within two years
All insurers include a clause in their commission payment terms called ‘commission claw-back’. This essentially means that should a new insurance policy be cancelled within two years of implementation - the commission paid to the adviser for their work will be reversed in the form of a bill payable back to the insurance company. Typically, this will cost the adviser business the equivalent of the remaining months of payable premiums until the two-year period is reached.

To protect Rees-Thomas Financial against early cancellation of covers we provide advice on - we reserve the right to charge a fee equivalent to the claw-back fee charged by the insurance company.

All of our insurance advice is based on implementation of cover for mid to long-term purpose.
If you intend on keeping your new insurances for less than two years, please advise us so that we may work for you on a fee basis rather than a commission basis.

The above terms do not apply to:
- Clients engaging us on a fee basis
- Claims (where a policy is paid out and comes to term)

Conflicts of Interest

For life insurance and health insurance, Rees-Thomas Financial Limited receives 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 Rees-Thomas Financial Limited. The amount of the commission is based on the amount of the premium.

To ensure that we prioritise the client’s interests above their own, we follow an advice process that ensures our recommendations are made on the basis of the client’s goals and circumstances. We 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 professional compliance adviser.

What should you do if something goes wrong?

If you have a problem, concern, or complaint about any part of my service, please tell us so that we can try to fix the problem.

You may contact the internal complaints programme by sending your complaint to hello@rtfs.nz or PO Box 24514, Wellington or by phoning 04 384 7113.

If we cannot agree on how to fix the issue, or if you decide not to use the internal complaints scheme, we will issue you a letter of deadlock.  You can then contact the Insurance & Savings Ombudsman. This service will cost you nothing and will help us resolve any disagreements. You can contact the Insurance & Savings Ombudsman at:

Address: Level 11, Classic House, 15-17 Murphy St, PO Box 10845, Wellington 6143

Telephone: (04) 499 7612 or 0800 888 202 or Email address: info@iombudsman.org.nz