Adelaide-based Terri Scheer Insurance Brokers is Australia’s first company to have been granted a licence under the Financial Services Reform Act.

Ms Scheer’s brokerage specialises in real estate insurance products and is the first of any financial service operation in Australia, including banks, funds managers, insurers or financial advisers, to be issued with an AFS licence. Ms Scheer said her company spent two years implementing operational strategies that were consistent with the promotion of consumer confidence and the provision of fair, honest and professional financial services required by the FSRA.

“Consumers need to have confidence in the companies they deal with, and we thought it was important to provide our clients as soon as possible with the assurance that they are dealing with a credible and qualified provider of insurance services,” Ms Scheer said.

“Embracing the new regulations has been a team effort and we are grateful to our industry body, NIBA, which has worked closely with ASIC to ensure the efficient application of the new regulations for all brokers,” Ms Scheer said.

The issue of the first licence is a reminder that other brokerages and financial service providers must be licensed by March 11 2004.

Pauline Vamos, ASIC’s Director of FSR Licensing and Business Operations, said there is “still a lot of uncertainty out there” regarding the licensing requirements. “A lot of people are starting to engage with what they have got to do for the first time and as a result some people are panicking.”

ASIC has received 20 applications for licences and while most applicants seem prepared, some applications indicate that people have not read the FRSA properly or have not clearly understood it, Ms Vamos said. “The most difficult area is determining what authorisations they need to apply for and where those authorisations fit regarding their existing business.”

Although there were some bugs in the electronic application process, they were immediately fixed and feedback regarding the electronic system was generally positive: “Overall we have had good, positive feedback,” Ms Vamos said.