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Financial Advice Provider Disclosure Statement

Under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, we are required to give you this information before providing financial advice. Financial advice is provided by Upmeet Sodhi on behalf of Mutual Solutions Limited, which holds a full Financial Advice Provider licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority.

Provider Mutual Solutions Limited – Financial Advice Provider
FSP Number FSP 729871
Licence Full Financial Advice Provider licence (Class 2), issued by the Financial Markets Authority on 18 March 2022. Standard conditions apply.
Address Level 2, 26 Broadway Avenue, Palmerston North 4410
Website mutuals.co.nz
Dispute scheme Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL), member #4573

Home loan advice

Mutual Solutions Limited is a member of NZ Financial Services Group Limited (NZFSG) for compliance, technology and brokerage services in relation to home loan advice only. Home loan advice is provided under a separate Home Loan Disclosure Guide, which we give you before any mortgage engagement.

Shared office

We share office space with Manawatu Insurance for convenience only. We do not share a licence, systems, clients, advice processes or responsibility for financial advice, and there is no referral or remuneration arrangement between us.

Reliability

Neither Mutual Solutions Limited nor Upmeet Sodhi has been subject to any reliability event that would materially affect your ability to rely on our advice. If any part of this disclosure is given to you verbally, you can ask for it in writing at any time.

Your Financial Adviser

Name Upmeet Sodhi
Role Financial Adviser, providing regulated financial advice on behalf of Mutual Solutions Limited
FSP Number FSP 250405
Advice provider Mutual Solutions Limited, FSP 729871
Qualifications National Certificate in Financial Services (Financial Advice) (Level 5); New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services (Level 5) – Residential Property Lending strand (2023); Executive Master of Business Administration, Massey University (2018)
Experience Advising on insurance, KiwiSaver, investment and home loan products since 2010

Nature & Scope of Advice

Mutual Solutions provides personalised financial advice in the areas below. We recommend products from the providers available to us, and we will tell you if we ever recommend a product from outside that list and why.

What we advise on

  • Personal risk insurance – life, trauma, total and permanent disability, income protection, mortgage repayment protection, health and medical insurance, and related risk insurance.
  • Business insurance – key person, shareholder and buy-sell protection, business overheads and business continuity cover, where applicable.
  • KiwiSaver – provider selection, fund choice and contribution strategy.
  • Selected managed funds and investment products – limited to managed funds and portfolio investment entities offered by providers we hold agency or distribution arrangements with.
  • Residential home loans – first home, refinancing, construction and top-ups, under our separate Home Loan Disclosure Guide.
  • Ongoing servicing of any product arranged through us, including annual reviews and claims support.

What we do not advise on

  • Legal advice
  • Tax advice
  • Estate planning advice
  • General insurance, such as house, contents, vehicle or travel insurance
  • Direct shares, bonds, derivatives, foreign exchange, cryptocurrency, discretionary investment management or foreign pension transfers
  • Personal loans, business lending, equipment finance or other non-residential lending, unless expressly agreed with you in writing

Where something is outside our scope, we will tell you and, where we can, refer you to a suitable specialist. We do not execute investment transactions on your behalf.

Information on this website is general in nature. It becomes personalised advice only once we have agreed a written scope of service with you and you have received a Statement of Advice.

Providers We Work With

Mutual Solutions works with a selected group of insurers, lenders, KiwiSaver providers and investment providers. Our recommendations are made from the providers available to us, not from every provider in the market.

Insurers AIA, Asteron Life, Chubb Life, Fidelity Life, nib, Partners Life and Resolution Life
KiwiSaver & investment Booster, Generate, Koura and Milford
Home loan lenders Set out in the Home Loan Provider Schedule that accompanies our Home Loan Disclosure Guide, supplied via NZFSG

These arrangements are reviewed from time to time. If we recommend a product from a provider not listed here, we will disclose that to you and explain why.

Fees, Expenses & Commissions

For standard advice, you usually do not pay us a fee. Instead, the product provider pays Mutual Solutions a commission when a policy, loan, KiwiSaver membership or investment is put in place through us. Commission rates vary by provider and product, and we will show you the specific commission that applies to any recommendation in your Statement of Advice.

For a plain-English explanation of how this works, see How commissions work.

Commission we may receive

  • Insurance providers may pay an upfront commission when cover starts, and an ongoing (renewal) commission each year the policy stays in force.
  • KiwiSaver and investment providers may pay a commission when you join, and an ongoing commission based on your balance.
  • Lenders may pay a commission when a home loan settles, and in some cases an ongoing trail commission.

Typical commission ranges

Life, trauma & TPD Upfront 100–230% of first-year premium · Renewal 7.5–30% per year
Income & mortgage protection Upfront 100–230% · Renewal 7.5–30% per year
Health insurance Upfront 10–170% · Renewal 2.5–25% per year
Business insurance Upfront 100–230% · Renewal 7.5–30% per year
KiwiSaver Up to $200 per new member · 0.20–0.50% of balance per year
Home loans Set out in our Home Loan Disclosure Guide

A full provider-by-provider commission and fee schedule is available free of charge on request.

Fees you may pay

Any fee payable by you must be agreed with you in writing before you become liable for it. Client-paid fees may apply in these situations:

  • Products that pay no commission – quoted case by case and agreed in writing.
  • Stand-alone complex consultation – $250 + GST per hour, only where agreed with you in writing beforehand.
  • Commission clawback – see the next section.

Commission Clawback & Recoupment

When an insurance policy is cancelled or materially reduced within the first 24 months, the insurer can require Mutual Solutions to repay some or all of the upfront commission it received. This is called a clawback.

Recoupment fee

What you may be invoiced

If you cancel or materially reduce an insurance policy within 24 months of its start date and the insurer claws back commission, Mutual Solutions may invoice you the lesser of:

(a) the actual commission amount clawed back by the provider; or

(b) $3,000 + GST.

For example, if $1,500 of commission is clawed back after 15 months, you may be invoiced $1,500 + GST, payable on the 20th of the following month.

This fee applies only where it has been properly disclosed to you and agreed in writing before your cover starts. No recoupment fee applies once a policy has been in force for longer than the 24-month clawback period, and none applies where the insurer does not claw back commission.

Conflicts of Interest

Because product providers pay us commission, and because we work with a selected group of providers, conflicts of interest can arise. Providers may also offer training, hospitality, technology support or other small benefits from time to time. Any benefit that could reasonably influence our advice will be disclosed to you in writing.

How we manage this

  1. Every recommendation is based on your needs, goals and circumstances, assessed through a written needs analysis before any remuneration is considered.
  2. We compare the options available from our providers where appropriate, using a product research matrix.
  3. Commissions, fees and any soft-dollar benefits are disclosed in your Statement of Advice.
  4. We keep records of our advice and the reasons for it.
  5. Our advice is reviewed internally, and independently where required, and the adviser completes an annual conflicts attestation and ongoing training.
  6. If you are unhappy with how a conflict has been handled, you can raise a complaint with us and escalate it to FSCL at no cost.

Complaints & Dispute Resolution

If you are not happy with our service or advice, please tell us as soon as possible so we can put it right.

Step 1

Contact Mutual Solutions first

Email: info@mutuals.co.nz

Phone: 0800 67 55 55

Post: Mutual Solutions Limited, Level 2, 26 Broadway Avenue, Palmerston North 4410

We will acknowledge your complaint as soon as practicable, and we aim to resolve it within 20 working days. If we cannot resolve it to your satisfaction, we will explain why and tell you how to take it further.

Step 2

Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL)

If your complaint is not resolved, you can contact FSCL, our independent dispute resolution scheme. This service is free to you. Mutual Solutions is FSCL member #4573.

Phone: 0800 347 257

Email: complaints@fscl.org.nz

Post: PO Box 5967, Wellington 6140

Website: fscl.org.nz

Privacy Policy

Mutual Solutions Limited collects and uses personal information so that we can give you financial advice and arrange and service products for you. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and your rights under the Privacy Act 2020.

What we collect

Identity Name, date of birth, IRD number, nationality, photo identification
Contact Address, email and phone numbers
Financial Income, assets, liabilities, existing cover, KiwiSaver and investment balances, lending history
Health Medical information, only where an insurer needs it for underwriting or a claim
Insurance, lending & investment Policy, loan, KiwiSaver and investment details, applications and claims
Communications Meeting notes, emails and call records
Website use IP address, browser type and pages visited, collected through cookies and Google Analytics

Where we collect it from

  • Directly from you, in meetings, forms, email and phone calls
  • Third parties you authorise, such as your employer, accountant, doctor or a credit reporting agency
  • Insurers, lenders, KiwiSaver and investment providers, in relation to products you hold or apply for
  • Public sources, such as the Companies Office, LINZ and the Financial Service Providers Register
  • Service providers that help us verify identity or process applications

How we use it

  • To provide the advice and services you ask for
  • To obtain quotes and submit applications to product providers
  • To service your products, including claims, top-ups, switches and refinancing
  • To carry out reviews of your cover and circumstances
  • To meet our legal and regulatory duties, including under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 and the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services
  • To meet our obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009
  • To communicate with you, including product and service updates, which you can opt out of at any time
  • To keep the records we are required to keep

Who we share it with

  • Insurers, lenders, KiwiSaver and investment providers, for quotes, underwriting, applications, issuance and servicing
  • Compliance reviewers and auditors who check our advice files
  • Providers of our CRM, document storage, email and cloud services, and the form service that delivers website enquiries to us
  • AML/CFT identity verification providers
  • Regulators and government agencies where the law requires it, including the Financial Markets Authority, Inland Revenue and the Department of Internal Affairs

We never sell personal information. Third parties who receive your information may use it in line with their own privacy policies, for example an insurer's medical assessors in the event of a claim.

Cloud and overseas storage

Some of your information is stored or processed using secure cloud services such as Google Drive, Microsoft 365, Dropbox, our CRM, our website enquiry form service and similar systems. Some of these services store data outside New Zealand. Where that happens, we take reasonable steps to make sure appropriate protections apply, including encryption in transit and at rest, multi-factor authentication, and Privacy Act 2020 safeguards in our supplier agreements.

How long we keep it

We keep client records for at least seven years after our relationship ends, as required by law and regulation, and then destroy them securely.

Your rights

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct it. Contact us at info@mutuals.co.nz and we will respond within 20 working days. You are not required by law to give us personal information, but if you choose not to, we may not be able to provide advice or arrange cover or lending for you.

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any email or by contacting us.

Privacy complaints

If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first at info@mutuals.co.nz or 0800 67 55 55. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz or 0800 803 909.

If something goes wrong

If a privacy breach is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify the people affected and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner as soon as practicable, in line with the Privacy Act 2020, and act to reduce any risk.

Cookies

This website uses cookies and Google Analytics to improve how it works. You can disable cookies in your browser, although some features may not work fully.

Changes to this policy

The current version of this policy is always available at mutuals.co.nz/disclosure.html#privacy. Our privacy officer can be contacted at info@mutuals.co.nz.

Anti-Money Laundering (AML/CFT)

Mutual Solutions Limited is a reporting entity under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 where required. This means we may need to collect identity information from you, verify your identity (including electronically), complete sanctions and politically exposed person checks, and keep AML/CFT records.

Where lawful and appropriate, we may rely on identity verification already carried out by an insurer, lender, KiwiSaver or investment provider, and we may share verification information with those providers or with identity verification providers so they can meet their own obligations.

Our Duties to You

Under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, Mutual Solutions Limited and anyone giving advice on its behalf must:

  • Give priority to your interests by taking all reasonable steps to make sure our advice is not materially influenced by our own interests
  • Exercise care, diligence and skill in providing advice
  • Meet the standards of competence, knowledge and skill set by the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services
  • Meet the standards of ethical behaviour, conduct and client care set by the Code

More information about these duties is available from the Financial Markets Authority at fma.govt.nz.

Terms & Conditions

By using this website and engaging our services, you agree that:

  1. The information on this website is general in nature and does not constitute personalised financial advice.
  2. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
  3. All financial advice is subject to our full disclosure statement.
  4. Mutual Solutions Limited is not responsible for decisions made based on general website content without first engaging our advice process.
  5. This website is operated in New Zealand and is subject to New Zealand law.