26/06/2025

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Virtual Communications Limited T/A The Insurance Adviser

FSP Number:               The Insurance Adviser - FSP1006610

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Director:                       Michael McCarthy 
                           

Contact details:          Address:          9 Hopetoun Street, Freemans Bay, 1011, Auckland

                                     Phone:             09 218 3878 / 021 364848

                                     Email:               mike@theinsuranceadviser.co.nz

 

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Virtual Communications Limited trading as The Insurance Adviser FSP1006610 is a Financial Advice Provider that holds a license issued by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to provide financial advice services.
 

You can find Virtual Communications Ltd listed on the Financial Service Providers Register at fsp-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz.

The Insurance Adviser is a financial services company in New Zealand specialising in Personal Risk Insurance and KiwiSaver advice.

Our mission is to empower Kiwis to secure their financial future by providing advice to educate and inform, allowing our clients to make the best decisions.
 

We provide quality advice to get the right type of insurance that suits your personal situation, budget and approach to risk. We are here to help you with all your Personal Insurance and KiwiSaver needs.

 

 

Our Services    
The conditions of our licence allow us to provide the following financial advice services:

• Personal Risk - Life, Income, Disability & Health Insurances

• KiwiSaver Investments only
   

Personal Risk - Life, Income, Disability & Health Insurances

The Insurance Adviser provides personalised advice based on your individual circumstances to determine the personal risk products that best meet your personal goals and needs, limited to the providers we have chosen to work with. We follow a documented advice process that uses your personal situation to determine what is important to you, what products you need and how much cover you should have in place. We then recommend the provider that offers the cover suited to your stated preferences.
 

Providers we work with

• AIA NZ            

• Asteron Life NZ

• Chubb Insurance NZ

• Partners Life

• Fidelity Life NZ

• NIB NZ

• Southern Cross Health
   

How are we paid?

To ensure that advice remains accessible, we will not charge an upfront fee for providing personal risk insurance advice or for implementing advice if you decide to proceed.

In place of an upfront fee, we (Virtual Communications Ltd/The Insurance Adviser) are paid a commission by the recommended insurance provider from the premium they charge you for your cover. This commission will range from 140% to 220% of the first year’s premium, depending on which insurance company you take out cover with. We will then receive a servicing commission of 7% of the annual premium for the Life of the policy.

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KiwiSaver

At The Insurance Adviser, we provide personalised advice on KiwiSaver, limited to the providers we have chosen to work with. As part of our service, we can discuss your risk profile regarding investing and can recommend a KiwiSaver fund that matches your investment timeframe and tolerance for financial risk.

We do not offer investment planning or retirement planning services.

For Managed Funds, we can refer you to other service providers, including Generate. If you decide to invest with Generate, The Insurance Adviser will receive a commission for referring you. The commission is an ongoing payment of 0.125% of your account balance. This fee is paid to us by Generate from the revenue they receive from the fees you pay.
 

Providers we work with

• Booster

• Pathfinder

• Milford Asset Management 

• Generate                                                                               

 

How are we paid?

We do not charge our clients any fees for providing personalised advice on KiwiSaver. We are paid through the providers who may pay us an upfront fee, and a small amount of ongoing commission based on funds under management.

 

Other Services

General Insurance

We do not provide advice on general insurance; however, we can refer you to a general/commercial insurance broker for which we may receive a referral fee.
 

Referral commissions range from 3.75% to 6.25% of each premium, depending on which insurance products you put in force, after taxes and levies.  

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How do we manage conflicts of interest and put your interests first
 

As mentioned, the services we offer are provided free of charge because The Insurance Adviser is paid by the providers when one of their products is taken up on the back of our recommendation.
 

To ensure that we always put your interests first:

 

• We follow a proven 6-step advice process that puts the client’s needs at the heart of the advice process

• We identify and disclose the maximum level of commission I may get on the back of our recommendation

• If our recommendation involves replacing the cover, we will provide a comparison of covers and explain what the recommended provider offers that your existing cover does not.  We will also let you know if there is anything your existing provider covers that the recommended provider will not

• All our recommendations are provided in writing with an explanation as to how they are based on your individual needs

• The Insurance Adviser completes internal and external reviews of my advice process to ensure I follow a thorough review process that puts client interest first

 

 

Our Duties

 

Under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, it is the duty of a license holder to ensure:

 

• We will ensure that the standards of competence, knowledge, and skill set out in the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services (Code of Conduct) are met. These form part of the wider regulatory regime for financial advice and ensure I have the expertise necessary to provide you with advice

 

• Priority is always given to your interests by taking all reasonable steps to ensure that the advice given to you is not materially influenced by our own interests or the interests of any other person connected with the giving of advice

 

• We will exercise care, diligence, and skill that you would expect from a person engaged in the occupation of giving financial advice.

 

• We will meet the standards of ethical behaviour, conduct, and client care set out in the Code of Conduct, to treat you as we should and to provide you with suitable advice

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What if something goes wrong

 

We value the ability of our clients to provide feedback about the service they have received as well as the opportunity to put it right if you are unhappy with any aspect of our service.

 

If you would like to raise concerns about the service you have received, we have an internal complaint process that we will follow when we receive your formal complaint.

 

Our internal process involves:

 

1. Requesting your complaint in writing

2. Acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 2 working days of receipt

3. Investigating your concerns by speaking with all the involved parties and reviewing all the documentation we hold on file.

4. Provide a formal written response within 28 days of acknowledging your concerns.

 

If you would like to provide feedback or make a complaint, please send your email to: mike@theinsuranceadviser.co.nz

 

If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of our internal complaints process, you can escalate it to our dispute resolution scheme:

 

Scheme:                      Financial Dispute Resolution Service (FDRS)

Address:                      Level 4, 142 Lambton Quay, Wellington 6011

Telephone number:   0508 337 337

Email address:            fdrs.org.nz

 

They are an independent dispute resolution service provider that helps resolve complaints about financial service providers, free of charge.