Clear Insurance has kickstarted the new financial year by choosing Steadfast Group (Steadfast) as a new partner after obtaining an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL).
The deal with Steadfast follows Clear Insurance's 12-year partnership as a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR) of Insurance Advisernet (IA).
“I founded Clear Insurance 12 years ago as an Insurance Advisernet Corporate Authorised Representative following an 11-year career with AON, which included being an Authorised Representative to AON for seven years. I’m incredibly thankful for my time with Insurance Advisernet. It's a great organisation and continues to be one of Australia's leading Authorised Representative networks,” said Clear Insurance managing director Lisa Carter.
Carter said Clear Insurance wanted to step out of the Authorised Representative model and build itself as a stand-alone business in partnership with Steadfast.
“We're delighted to have the support, resources, technologies, and strength of Steadfast behind us as AFSL Holders,” she said.
Another reason for the move to Steadfast is likely differences of opinion over broker remuneration. Some brokerages, like Clear Insurance, charge fees for their services. Many ARs in the IA network operate on the commission model.
“Our focus is, and always has been, to delight clients with clear risk and insurance advice and a transparent approach to remuneration. We charge fees commensurate with our work to support our clients' success. Our approach reinforces our value as business advisers, so we're not interested in under-cutting our competitors or driving clients to make price-focused decisions which may risk under-insurance. It's simply not in the client's best interests,” Carter said. “We do it the Clear way. We believe in transparency and nurture relationships with our people – our clients, team, insurers, and industry partners – they're our people.”
Clear Insurance was recognized as Top Insurance Brokerages in Australia. Read the full report here.
