Licensing Information

Blossom Financial Ltd provides financial advice through Monique Riley (FSP1010026), a registered Financial Adviser.

Monique operates as a contractor under the brand Elliot and Lord Ltd, which is an Authorised Body under the Financial Advice Provider license issued by the Financial Markets Authority in the name of NZ Financial Services Group Ltd (NZFSG) (FSP286965).  There are no conditions attached to this licence.

Financial Advice Scope

Monique Riley provides advice on home lending products, and recommends products from lenders who are part of NZ Financial Services Group’s approved panel of product providers.

Commission

If you proceed with a product on the basis of financial advice received from a Financial Adviser, the Adviser Business usually receives commission from the applicable product provider. The commission is generally of an upfront nature but may also include a renewal or trail commission.

This commission is used to remunerate the Financial Adviser that provides the financial advice to you, and to pay the expenses associated with the operation of the Advisers business including adviser remuneration, administration, compliance, and technology.

The Adviser Business also pays NZ Financial Services Group for services provided to the Adviser Business in connection with the Adviser Business’ authorisation under our licence from the FMA.

The Adviser Business takes steps to ensure that the receipt of commissions does not influence the financial advice given to you and that their Financial Advisers prioritise your interests by recommending the best product for your purpose regardless of the type and amount of commission that may be received. These steps include:

•    Ensuring their Financial Advisers follow an advice process that ensures the Financial Adviser understands your needs and goals and that their recommendations meet those needs and goals.

•    Ensuring their Financial Advisers receive regular training on how to manage conflicts of interest.

•    Providing you with a schedule showing commission rates and types by product provider. This schedule is contained within each Financial Adviser’s personalised Disclosure Guide. Your Financial Adviser will provide you with more information about commissions during the advice process.

Fees and Expenses

Generally we don’t charge you any fee for the advice and transactional solutions that we provide to you. This is possible because, on settlement of a home loan, we usually receive commission from the applicable product provider as described above. There are two exceptions to this general position which are explained below.

We may charge you a one-off fee in the following situations:

(a) No commission: 

If you request that we provide services in relation to a product or service and we do not receive a commission. Any such fee would be agreed and authorised by you in writing before we complete the services, 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 we provide Services in relation to either a product that is offered by a provider that we do not hold an accreditation with, or a product that is outside our usual arrangements with our product providers.

(b) Repayment of commission: 

If a product or service provider requires that we repay commission within 27 months of settlement of your mortgage or issuance of your risk insurance policy. Any such fee would be no more than $2,500 (plus GST) and would be calculated based on a rate of $250 (plus GST) per hour of the financial adviser’s time spent providing services to you in connection with the applicable mortgage or insurance. The fee charged will not exceed the amount of commission clawed back from the lender. Should we need to charge you a fee, you will be invoiced and will be given 30 days to

Conflicts of Interest

If there are any conflicts of interest, apart from commission, that could potentially influence the financial advice given to you, these will be shown in your Financial Adviser’s Disclosure Guide.

Complaints and Dispute Resolution

If you have a complaint about our service you need to tell us about it. You can contact our internal complaints service by phoning Monique Riley on 021 716 957 or emailing info@blossomfinancial.co.nz with the heading Complaint – (Your Name). Please set out the nature of your complaint, and the resolution you are seeking. We will acknowledge receipt of this within 24 hours. We will then record your complaint in our Complaints Register and notify our Licence Holder. We may want to meet with you to better understand your issues.

We will then investigate your complaint and provide a response to you within 7 working days of receiving your complaint. If we need more time to investigate your complaint, we’ll let you know. 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 and will assist us to resolve things with you.

Details of this service are:

Financial Services Complaints Limited

Phone: 0800 347 257

Email: complaints@fscl.org.nz

Our Duties

Anyone giving financial advice under NZFSG’s licence from the FMA is bound by and supports the duties set out in the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.

These duties are:

•    Meet the standards of competence, knowledge, and skill and the standards of ethical behaviour, conduct, and client care set out in the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Providers.

•    Give priority to your interests.

•    Exercise care, diligence, and skill.