1. Home
  2. Disclosure

Financial Strength Rating & Disclosure

Insurer Financial Strength Rating

The Hollard Insurance Company Pty Ltd ABN 78 090 584 473 (Incorporated in Australia), (“Hollard”) has been given a financial strength rating of 'A' (Strong) issued by Standard & Poor's. The Standard & Poor's rating scale is:

  • AAA Extremely Strong
  • AA Very Strong
  • A Strong
  • BBB Good
  • BB Marginal
  • B Weak
  • CCC Very Weak
  • CC Extremely Weak
  • C Selective Default
  • D Default

The rating may be modified by the addition of a plus or minus sign to show relative standing within the major rating categories. A full description of this rating scale can be obtained from www.standardandpoors.com

An overseas policyholder preference applies. Under Australian law, if The Hollard Insurance Company Pty Ltd is wound up, its assets in Australia must be applied to its Australian liabilities before they can be applied to overseas liabilities. To this extent, New Zealand policyholders may not be able to rely on The Hollard Insurance Company Pty Ltd’s Australian assets to satisfy New Zealand liabilities.

Financial Advice Disclosure Statement

Prepared on 23 March 2024.

Licence status and conditions

SPCA Pet Insurance is a trading name of Greenstone Financial Services NZ Limited, NZBN 9429 047 013 582 (We, Us or Our).

We are registered on the Financial Service Providers Register and are licensed by the Financial Markets Authority to provide a financial advice service.

We engage our staff as Nominated Representatives to provide financial advice on our behalf.

We are a distributor and promoter of insurance products that are issued by The Hollard Insurance Company Pty Ltd (NZBN 9429 042 129 851, FSP 480747) and are administered and managed through PetSure (Australia) Pty Ltd (NZBN 9429 049 378 085, Company Number 8192554). Neither we nor our staff provide any financial advice on behalf of the Insurer or their agent PetSure. 

Limitations on the nature and scope of our financial advice

Our staff can provide financial advice only on whether the insurance products we offer may be suitable for you.

Our staff cannot provide you with financial advice about financial products and services offered by other providers.

Our staff will not compare the insurance products we offer with any other insurance products or services in the market.

Any financial advice provided by our staff will take account only of the information that you provide. Our staff:

  • can only advise whether you fit within the target markets for the insurance products we offer, having regard to information about your general circumstances (such as, gender, age, smoking status, and health history) that you provide; and
  • will not consider whether the insurance products we offer meet your specific financial needs and goals, including whether you require insurance and whether the premiums are affordable for you.

If you do not provide us with the information we request, or the information you provide is incomplete or incorrect, our staff may not be able to provide you with financial advice or that financial advice may not be suitable for your needs.

Fees or expenses

We do not charge a fee or other amounts for any financial advice provided to you.

Our staff will inform you of the amount of the premiums if you decide to purchase one of our insurance products.

Conflicts of interest, commissions and incentive payments

The Insurer pays us a commission of up to 42% of each premium and is paid on a level basis throughout the life of the policy. 

Our staff receive their remuneration directly from us and not the Insurer.

In addition to their salary, our staff may also receive additional remuneration in the form of commissions, bonuses and non-monetary incentives based on performance criteria paid by Greenstone. Any commission received by an employee will not exceed 4% of the first year’s premiums.

We have practices in place to ensure that our staff are not incentivised to sell inappropriately, for example, by engaging in pressure selling or selling to vulnerable customers. This includes a Code of Conduct that sets out rules to be adhered to when selling policies, and a Quality Assurance program that measures adherence to those rules. Significant failures will result in forfeiture of commission and bonuses. We have also implemented claw-back procedures so that our staff will lose any commission they have received for any policy that ends within a short period of time.

We also have a Conflict of Interest Policy which requires conflicts of interest to be managed with integrity, honesty, transparency and fairness.

Complaints handling

If you have a problem, concern, or complaint about any part of our service, please let us know by contacting us:

We have a complaints process in place to handle any complaints you may have. You can find out more information by referring to our Policy Document.

When we receive your complaint, our internal complaints process will be engaged.

We will seek to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction at the first point of contact.

If this is not reasonably possible, we will acknowledge your complaint in writing, and provide you with information about our internal complaints process, within two working days or, if not practicable to do so, as soon as practicable after.

We will then consider your complaint and, if necessary, investigate it. We will handle your complaint in a fair, transparent and timely manner. If we require further information, we will contact you.

You will receive our response by email, telephone or letter, whichever is the appropriate medium. Our response will inform you of the decision we have made with respect to your complaint, including explaining our reasons and detailing any action taken.

Dispute Resolution Process

If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction using our internal complaints process, you have access to a free, independent dispute resolution service, and that service may help investigate or resolve your complaint.

We are a member of the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman, which you can contact at:

Our duties

We, and our staff who give 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:

  • meet standards of competence, knowledge and skill set by the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services;
  • give priority to your interests;
  • exercise care, diligence, and skill; and
  • meet standards of ethical behaviour, conduct and client care set out in the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services.