Southern Cross Medical Care Society holds a licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority to provide a financial advice service. You can check our financial services registration at fspr.govt.nz.
Our financial advice service is intended to help you decide which Southern Cross product may best suit your needs.
Only those of our employees who have been appropriately trained and nominated by us are able to provide financial advice (these are our “nominated representatives”). Their advice is limited to recommending Southern Cross health insurance products or plans (or changes to your current plan). They cannot advise you on products offered by other providers.
We recommend that you consult an independent adviser if you need advice on how to choose from a range of different providers’ products.
Our financial advice service is provided free of charge.
Our nominated representatives are required to act in an ethical and transparent way. To ensure they prioritise your interests, before giving advice on any of our products they will ask about your particular health insurance needs, financial situation and goals. Any recommendations they make will take account of relevant information that you provide. For employer groups, this includes relevant information about the group of employees that would be covered under an employer group plan.
We provide ongoing training to our nominated representatives and undertake regular checks to ensure that the financial advice they provide is appropriate and meets our legal obligations.
Our nominated representatives are also required to comply with our conflicts of interest policy. This includes a requirement to raise any actual, perceived or potential conflict of interest with their manager or other senior staff member so that it can be resolved appropriately.
If you’re dissatisfied with the financial advice service provided by or on behalf of Southern Cross, you can raise your concern directly with any of our nominated representatives, or by:
We’ll acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two working days of the date we receive it (or if it is not practicable to do so, as soon as practicable after that time). We’ll aim to resolve your concerns in a transparent and timely manner and we’ll keep you informed of our progress.
So that we can best address your complaint, we may refer your complaint to different teams within Southern Cross. We will respond to you with the outcome of our investigation in a timely, fair and transparent way.
If you’re unhappy with our response, you can request that your complaint be reviewed by our Chief Operating Officer. The Chief Operating Officer will review and make a final determination in respect of your complaint, which will be communicated to you as soon as possible.
We belong to the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman’s approved dispute resolution scheme (IFSO). The IFSO Scheme is a free and independent dispute resolution service available to consumers that may help investigate or resolve complaints if not able to be resolved through our internal complaints process.
If your complaint has been fully investigated by us and you’re still not satisfied with the outcome, you can refer your complaint to the IFSO for review.
You can contact the IFSO Scheme on 0800 888 202, email at [email protected] or www.ifso.nz.
Alternatively, you can write to: Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman, PO Box 10845, Wellington 6143.
Southern Cross and its nominated representatives are bound by the duties set out in the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 to:
This statement was prepared on 1 July 2021.
Southern Cross Medical Care Society (trading as Southern Cross Health Society), Level 1, Te Kupenga, 155 Fanshawe Street, Auckland City 1010. Phone: 0800 800 181.
Southern Cross Medical Care Society (trading as Southern Cross Health Society) is a licensed insurer and a licensed financial advice provider. For more information about the financial advice service we provide and a copy of our public disclosure statement please visit southerncross.co.nz/disclosure-statement.
Southern Cross Medical Care Society (trading as Southern Cross Health Society) has an A+ (Strong) financial strength rating given by Standard & Poor’s (Australia) Pty Limited. The rating scale is: AAA (Extremely Strong), AA (Very Strong), A (Strong), BBB (Good), BB (Marginal), B (Weak), CCC (Very Weak), CC (Extremely Weak), SD or D (Selective Default or Default). Ratings from ‘AA’ to ‘CCC’ may be modified by the addition of a plus (+) or minus (-) sign to show relative standing within the major rating categories. Full details of the rating scale are available at www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/about/intro-to-credit-ratings. Standard & Poor’s is an approved rating agency under the Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Act 2010.
