# The Burns Group Limited — Public Disclosure Statement *Mirror of FAP Public Disclosure Statement filed under FMC Act 2013 s431.* - **Version date:** 2026-05-18 - **Source URL:** http://www.burnsgroup.co.nz//pdfs/disclosure_agreement.pdf - **Source PDF SHA256:** `0fdbfdb5bbf24fcffbdc145f4c498f89...` - **Confidence tier:** C (LLM-extracted from PDF) - **Extracted via:** claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 - **Ingested:** 2026-05-18 - **Machine-readable facts:** [facts.json](https://financeadvisers.co.nz/api/provider/FSP771185/facts.json) - **All versions on file:** [filings.json](https://financeadvisers.co.nz/api/provider/FSP771185/filings.json) - **Authoritative register:** https://fsp-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/FSP771185 > **About this document.** FAP Public Disclosure Statements are regulated documents that financial advice providers must publish under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, section 431. The content below is the FA-NZ mirror — machine-parsed from the source PDF on the date shown above. For binding regulatory purposes, refer to the firm's own current publication via the source URL above. --- # The Burns Group Limited Client Agreement & Financial Advice Provider (FAP) Disclosure This Client Agreement ('Agreement') & Disclosure sets out the services that we will provide to you, including any important information you should know before deciding to obtain financial advice from us. ## About your Financial Advice Provider The Burns Group Ltd (FSP771185), holds a class 1 licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to provide financial advice. The Burns Group Ltd (FSP771185) is authorised by that licence to provide financial advice. At The Burns Group our purpose is to "make it comfortable for clients to make informed decisions that feel right to them" (including their decision to retain the status quo). We are here to help you understand your personal risk management and commercial funding needs by providing valuable advice to ensure you get the right type of funding (e.g insurable personal / life risks cover and commercial finance) for the best value for money. ## About your Financial Adviser I (Paul Joseph Burns) am a Financial Adviser (FSP#119885) and am giving advice on behalf of The Burns Group Ltd. My details are as follows: | Name: | Paul Joseph Burns | Email: | paul@burnsgroup.co.nz | |---|---|---|---| | Telephone: | 027 2300151 | Business Address: | Level 1 433 Hutt Road Lower Hutt | Neither The Burns Group Ltd nor I have been subject to a reliability event. A reliability event is something that might materially influence you in deciding whether to seek advice from me or from The Burns Group Ltd. As an example, it would include legal proceedings against me, or if I had been discharged from bankruptcy in the last four (4) years. ## Nature and Scope of My Advice I am able to provide you with financial advice relating to your Personal (and Business) Insurances and commercial funding. We are able to provide financial advice from the following product providers: | Life, trauma and disability insurances | Asteron Life, Chubb Life, Fidelity Life, NIB and Partners Life | |---|---| | Health Insurances | NIB and Partners Life | I do not provide advice on either… - Mortgage or lending options. - Property or liability Insurance. - Investments (e.g Kiwisaver). ## My commitment to you As your Financial Adviser, I have a number of obligations that I must comply with. These include adhering to a Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services, legal duties prescribed by law and a requirement to meet certain standards of competence, knowledge and skill. In addition to the above, I will undertake the following on a *mutual good faith* basis: - Act in your best interests when providing financial advice. - Ensure that the financial advice is suitable for you. - Help you understand the advice process and any complex terminology. - Exercise care, diligence and skill in providing you with a financial adviser service. - Provide my financial advice in writing. - Maintain accurate records and keep them safe and secure. - Provide my services in a timely manner. - Respect (and abide by) what you decide to do - in regards to your financial decisions. Therefore we'll gladly assist you to safely facilitate your decisions – to ensure your desired intentions are realised. - Keep your personal information confidential and restricted to only the parties who require it as part of the application process. ## Your obligations - It is important that you provide accurate and timely information. - Cooperate with me (and your selected financial institution). - Do your best to honour agreements, keep appointments and follow through on actions that you've agreed to. - Keep the lines of communication open and advise me (as soon as possible) if you've any difficulty with complying with commitments. - Advise The Burns Group Limited of your decisions. - You have a **duty of disclosure** to advise of any significant matters or changes that the insurance company should be made aware of before making their decision. ## Timeframes You will need to allocate approximately 30 minutes to 90 minutes for our first financial advice meeting. Several meetings may be required for the entire application and advice process to be completed. I'll contact you from time to time to see if your circumstances have changed or if I can be of any further assistance to you. I encourage you to contact me if your situation changes or if you require any changes. ## How I am paid for my advice As I (Paul Burns) am a salaried employee of The Burns Group Ltd, I personally receive no commission. I can assist you in 1 or more of the following ways. Associated hourly service fee (unless otherwise stated) is $250 (+gst) (or discounted fee of $150 +gst – if you've been referred by a 3rd party). NB… 100% of the following service fees will be completely waived if The Burns Group Ltd is paid a commission - on any insurance cover that is issued within 120 days of 1st engaging The Burns Group Limited to undertake any of the following services. 1. **Review Service of existing cover or situation** to determine fit for purpose. I.e Backward looking focus. E.g see if you're paying too much or if your current cover may not perform as anticipated at claim time. May also suggest more appropriate options and alternatives. Fee for service is usually based on 2 – 6 hours work. 2. **Strategy Planning Service**, to help protect your situation against the financial threats posed by the risks in your life. Forward looking focus. Fee for service is usually based on 4 – 12 hours work. 3. **Finding and brokering an insurance solution Service** - & helping you put it in place. Project management of your insurance application. Liaising on your behalf with all parties (e.g Doctor, insurer/s and accountant etc) to get your cover issued. Fee for service is usually based on 8 – 16 hours work. Instead of charging you a fee, my preference is to be paid a success fee (commission – paid by your insurer) at no charge, on the basis that your insurance cover is issued within 100 days of being applied for. Otherwise you'll be charged for a maximum of 10 hours. 4. **Claims Advocacy Service** – Assisting with and negotiating claims on your behalf. No charge – in relation for claims advocacy service of any policy - that The Burns Group Limited is the designated servicing broker for. Otherwise (for other policies) you'll only be charged a success fee. I.e if the claim is either approved or is declined solely because of client non-disclosure. Success fee is either a maximum of 10 hours (at $250 / hour +GST) or 2.5% of the claims proceeds (whichever is the greater). ## Insurance Commissions Clawback Contingency Fee. The Burns Group Limited may receive commission of between 0% & 250% of the first year's premiums of your policy (or any increase of premium in the 1st year), depending upon which insurance company and which policy you choose. **Please Note...** If you either cancel or reduce any insurance contract (or any increase in premiums) during the 1-24 months, The Burns Group may have to repay commissions to an insurer. Generally, if premiums are reduced or cancelled in the 1st 6 months, then the commission debt is 100% (of commissions). A sliding scale (from 99% to 0%) of commission debt applies over the following 18 months. **To offset this liability the client will then be liable** for a "**consulting fee**" (which may be tax deductible) - to *partially* indemnify The Burns Group Ltd's commission debt. This fee will be… a. $2,500 + GST (as a contribution towards the costs involved in consulting, arranging insurance and servicing the policy), or less as we would not ever charge you more than the amount of commission repaid to the insurer. **I therefore strongly urge you to contact me as soon as you consider the notion of cancelling or reducing your policy, because I'd like to help you make an informed decision that feels right to you.** ## How I am paid for my ongoing services ### Insurance Commissions The Burns Group also receives a commission of between 0% and 35% (depending on the level of 1st year's commission) of the premium for each year the policy remains in force. This entitles you to contact us and receive personal service (e.g arranging policy changes, providing ongoing advice, answer questions and provide full assistance and advocacy for you at claim time). ## Fees and Expenses Unless advised and agreed to (at the outset of any work or advice) you are not liable for any other fees. Any fees relating to any insurance application (e.g blood tests, medical exams or reports from your Doctors) will be paid for by insurers. In certain circumstances I may need to charge a fee for our time, but this will be discussed and agreed with you beforehand. More specific detail on this will be included with my written recommendations. ## How I manage any conflicts of interest I have an obligation to act in the best interests of clients when making a recommendation. Should any actual or potential conflicts of interest arise during the advice process, I undertake to bring any such conflict of interest to your attention so that you may assess my advice objectively. At present, I have identified the following conflicts of interest: ### Product Provider Commission: - If you accept and act on my advice, The Burns Group Ltd will receive a commission. Conversely, if you do not accept and act upon my advice, we will not receive a commission. To ensure that I prioritise your interests above my own, I follow an advice process that ensures my recommendations are made on the basis of your individual goals and circumstances. I complete ongoing training about how to appropriately manage conflicts of interest. The Burns Group Ltd undertakes a periodic compliance review of my advice process. *The Burns Group Ltd also engages an independent compliance consultancy firm to conduct ongoing independent compliance reviews and audits.* ## Complaints ------ What should you do if you are unhappy with something? If you have a problem, concern, or complaint about any part of our service, please tell us so that we can try to fix the problem. The Burns Group Limited has an internal complaints process and we undertake to investigate your concerns promptly and fairly. If you have a problem, concern, or complaint about any part of our service or your product performance, please contact The Chief Complaints Officer; The Burns Group Limited in the first instance so that we may try to fix the problem. Email paul@burnsgroup.co.nz - phone 04-5668888 or by post to PO Box 31-661 Lower Hutt. If your complaint cannot be satisfactorily resolved this way, it then becomes a dispute. The Dispute Resolution process (at no charge to you) is: 1. In the event of a dispute you must notify us that the complaint is not resolved and is now a dispute. 2. We will confirm in writing our internal complaints process, likely timeframes, and our Disputes Resolution Scheme which you can access at any stage should you choose to. 3. Should we fail to handle the problem to your satisfaction within a reasonable time frame then the product providers themselves have internal complaints handling processes which you might wish to also access. This means that if we have used a particular product that is connected to the issue at Dispute, you can contact the company that issued that product and have them attempt to resolve the matter as well. 4. If these options fail to resolve the Dispute to your satisfaction, then you may take the matter to the Financial Dispute Resolution Services, of which we are a member. We are bound by the outcome of that process. You can choose to be bound by the outcome but you can also choose to be free to pursue other legal avenues if you wish. Their service will cost you nothing as we pay for it, and it can help us resolve any disagreements. You can contact: Financial Dispute Resolution Services email: info@fdrs.org.nz / Telephone: (Call Free) 0508 337 337 / Physical Address: Level 4 142 Lambton Quay Wellington / Postal Address: PO Box 2272 Wellington 6140. We are bound by the outcome of that process. You can choose to be bound by the outcome, but you can also choose to be free to pursue other legal avenues if you wish. ## Termination This Agreement will remain in place until it is terminated by either party giving the other at least thirty (30) days' written notice. ## How we collect, use and share your information The Burns Group Ltd complies with the Privacy Act 2020. In order to assemble your application and determine your eligibility for a personal insurance product, I will require certain personal and financial information from you. The information will be made available to your Financial Adviser, product provider, and any other necessary third parties. At times, I may be allowed or otherwise obliged to disclose your personal information by law (e.g., under Court Orders or Statutory Notices pursuant to taxation laws). I may also disclose personal or business information to other financial institutions and organisations at their request if you seek to obtain products and/or services from them. Personal and business information may also be disclosed to: - Professionals such as solicitors, accountants, insurance advisers and/or valuers when a referral is made at your request. - If we intend to sell our Financial Adviser business, to any prospective purchaser of my business. - The Financial Markets Authority, disputes resolution scheme and/or independent compliance reviewer as required for monitoring or compliance purposes. From time to time, this information may be updated and/or changed. I undertake to advise you of material changes to any of the items or products/services noted above via email and/or via post. ## Special requirements or limitations that we have agreed ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ## Client Acknowledgements **Compliance or regulatory bodies may require evidence that I have explained specific requirements or obligations and provided certain information to you. Can you please acknowledge by signing below that these requirements have taken place?** ### Provision of Information I / We acknowledge the advantages of undertaking a full suitability (needs) analysis and the need to provide relevant personal and financial information and by not doing so I / we risk receiving advice or product recommendations that may not be appropriate to my / our needs. ### Privacy Act I / We acknowledge I / we have read and understood the information relating to the Privacy Act 2020 and how this information may be used. ### Adviser Remuneration I / We acknowledge I / we have had the basis of adviser remuneration explained. ### Client confirmation I / We confirm and declare to the Financial Adviser and any other information recipients that: - The information provided for the financial advice will be true and correct. - That where the Financial Adviser has assisted me/us to complete an application form, that I/we have authorised this and will check that the information contained in the application is true and correct. - I/We understand that our Financial Advice Provider is required to keep our information for a minimum of seven (7) years after our engagement has completed. - That in the event, of any of the contingencies (as outlined in this agreement), I/we agree to pay any such fees (as detailed) within 30 days of invoice. - I/we can cancel this agreement by giving notice to The Burns Group Ltd within five working days after being given the contract. | Client 1 name | | |---|---| | Client 1 Signature | Date | / | | Client 2 name | | | Client 2 Signature | Date | / | ## Adviser Acknowledgement I confirm that we have covered the information in this Client Agreement and I have answered any questions to help ensure that our client understands the financial advice process. | Adviser Signature | Date | / | If you sign this Client Agreement a copy will be provided to you.