Financial Services Guide

The financial services referred to in this guide are offered by

The Heron Partnership Pty Limited
ACN 100 196 272
AFS Licence No. 252538

The purpose of this guide

This guide is designed to define how The Heron Partnership operates and complies with the Corporations Act in relation to the financial services we provide.

It is issued by Heron Advisor under the express authority of The Heron Partnership Pty Limited.

This guide contains important information about:

• How we operate;
• The financial advisory services we are licensed to provide;
• How we are remunerated;
• Compensation Arrangements;
• Our internal & external complaints handling procedure; and
• How we can be contacted.

Who we are

The Heron Partnership is an independent superannuation consultancy that provides strategic, technical and actuarial advice to employers and superannuation fund trustee boards, strategic, market and product advice, assessments and ratings to product issuers and superannuation assessment, ratings and planning tools utilised by financial planners.

Through our Heron Advisor web site at advisor.heronpartners.com.au we provide superannuation data, research, assessments and ratings of superannuation funds. We do not provide personal financial advice. These services are principally provided to financial institutions/product issuers, financial planning dealer groups, financial planners, employers and superannuation fund trustee boards. Heron Advisor services are only provided through the Heron Advisor web site. We do not accept instructions to provide any other advisory services directly to individuals.

Financial Product Advice

The Heron Partnership is authorised to provide financial product advice for certain classes of financial products, including life products, retirement savings accounts and superannuation to retail and wholesale clients. We do not provide personal financial advice to individuals.

The product ratings through Heron Advisor have been produced without taking into account any individual's financial needs, circumstances and objectives. To the extent that the product ratings may constitute financial product advice, they are general financial product advice only, and any person should, before acting on such advice, assess the appropriateness of the advice having regard to their own financial situation and consult a licensed financial adviser before making any changes to their financial affairs. Your financial planner will provide you with a SOA when providing you with advice. In addition to providing the advice, the SOA will contain the basis on which the advice has been provided, information about fees, commissions or other associations or relationships which may influence the advice provided. If as part of the SOA your financial planner makes a recommendation that you acquire a particular financial product/s you will also be provided with a Product Disclosure Statement/s, which contains information about the particular product/s to assist you, make an informed decision about acquiring that particular product/s.

How we are paid

Advisory fees, for services provided by The Heron Partnership are charged either on the basis of a set retainer or an hourly time cost rate. The fee basis will be provided to you prior to the commencement of any work on your behalf. In some circumstances, we might be engaged and paid by a third party (such as a financial planner) to provide independent advice to its clients.

Financial institutions/product issuers, financial planning dealer groups, financial planners and employers subscribe to the on-line assessment and ratings services provided through Heron Advisor. Fees for this service are by subscription and charged based on the type and volume of services required.The Heron Partnership does not receive any commissions, in respect to the services provided.

Compensation Arrangements

We have professional indemnity insurance in place which covers us for errors and omissions. This insurance meets the requirements of the Corporations Act and covers the services we provide. These arrangements cover claims related to the conduct of representatives and employees who no longer represent The Heron Partnership (but did at the time of the relevant conduct).

Who is responsible for the financial services provided?

The Heron Partnership, through its consultants, is responsible for all advice provided. Services involving comparative product assessments reflect our views and opinions and are therefore subjective, and are based on analysis of Product Disclosure Statements, information provided by third parties, such as the product issuers, assessment undertaken by us and our general market knowledge.

Although this analysis and information is considered to be accurate at the time produced, The Heron Partnership gives neither a guarantee nor a warranty nor makes any representation as to the correctness of the information presented and accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracy or incompleteness in the information provided to it nor in its own subjective judgement. We make no guarantee or warranty in relation to the investment component or rate of return of any product that we rate.

Relationships or associations with financial institutions/product issuers:

The Heron Partnership has no debt or equity associations with financial institutions/product issuers. However, one of the services provided by The Heron Partnership is to provide advice to financial institutions/product issuers about products, services and the superannuation market, including research reports and product ratings, on a fee for service basis. The provision of this advice is adhoc and does not influence the ratings and assessments made through Heron Advisor.

If you have a complaint

If you have any complaints or concerns about the services provided by The Heron Partnership please contact our Managing Director as follows:

The Heron Partnership Pty Limited
Level 9, 412 St Kilda Road
Melbourne VIC 3004
Telephone 03 9254 4900

We endeavor to resolve a complaint within 20 days of receipt of advice about the complaint.

If the complaint can’t be resolved to your satisfaction you have the right to refer the matter to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), as follows:

Australian Financial Complaints Authority
GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001
Telephone: 1800 931 678 (free call)
Website: www.afca.org.au
Email: info@afca.org.au

The Heron Partnership’s AFCA membership number is 11895.

ASIC also has a free call information line which you may wish to use to obtain information about your rights. They can be contacted on 1300 300 630.

Please refer to this document for your future reference and any future dealings with Heron Advisor.

Additional information

Please contact us on (03) 9670 4300 if you have any questions about the content of this guide or the services provided by Heron Advisor.

This Financial Services Guide was last updated in April 2024.