Business insurance updates
We’ve been busy making updates to our business insurance cover to help make things a little clearer for you.
See what's changed
This table is a guide and lists the main changes to the Small Business Insurance Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). The information in the table does not replace or vary our PDS so please read the entire PDS for details of features and benefits and to ensure that this product is right for you.
| PDS section | Page # | Update type | Change in the PDS | PDS Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole document | 1 - 31 | Clarification | Policy document now titled ‘Small Business Insurance Product Disclosure Statement and Policy Wording’. | 04 Sep 2021 |
| 1 - 31 | Clarification | New sections format: General Information / Cover (Sections 1-5, plus Extensions) | 04 Sep 2021 | |
| GENERAL INFORMATION | 3 - 18 | |||
| Introduction | 4 - 5 | |||
| About this Product Disclosure Statement | 4 | Clarification | Explanation of who retail customers are and when parts of the document form part of their PDS. | 04 Sep 2021 |
| Your duty of disclosure / When answering our questions | 5 | Clarification | The Duty of Disclosure has been replaced with the duty of an insured “to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation when answering our questions”. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| Important information | 4 - 9 | |||
| Cancelling your policy | 5 | Benefit | Cancellation fee reduced to $22, with clarity on when this will apply. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| What if I have a complaint? | 6 | Clarification | Updated details regarding our complaints process. | 04 Sep 2021 |
| Your responsibilities | 7 - 8 | Clarification | Improved transparency with expanded details on the requirement to maintain a valid email address. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| 8 | Clarification | Additional 'Take reasonable precautions' requirement with an example to clarify the obligations. | 05 Apr 2021 | |
| General claims conditions | 9 - 12 | |||
| Authorised persons on your claim | 9 | Clarification | Updated to describe (1) how to add an authorised person and (2) conflict of interest. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| How we settle your claim | 11 | Clarification | Updated to provide clarity on how we settle claims. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| Quality guarantee | 11 | Benefit | New part describing our quality guarantee on authorised works. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| Excess | 12 | Clarification | What you need to provide for us to waive your excess. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| Actions of others | 12 | Benefit | New part describing circumstances where cover may not be limited by the actions of other people. | 04 Sep 2021 |
| General exclusions | 13 | |||
| Electronic data | 13 | Reduction | Added general exclusion for electronic data. | 04 Sep 2021 |
| Definitions | 14 - 18 | |||
| Business | 14 | Benefit | Definition added and removal of $100,000 limit on businesses involved in the maintenance and/or repair of buildings. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| Consequential loss | 15 | Clarification | New definition added. | 04 Sep 2021 |
| Goods in care | 16 | Clarification | New definition added. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| Insured person | 16 | Clarification | New definition added to clarify principals and other interested parties in Section 1. | 04 Sep 2021 |
| Storm | 18 | Clarification | New definition added. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| Third party | 18 | Clarification | New definition added. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| Vehicle/s | 18 | Clarification | Updated definition to exclude the requirement for the trailer to be attached. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| You / your / yours | 18 | Clarification | Removed reference to "employee/s and any persons acting for the policyholder or business". Updated to clarify principals and other interested parties in Section 1. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| COVER | 19 - 31 | |||
| Section 1 – Public and Products Liability | 19 | Benefit | Added cover for Advertising Liability | 04 Sep 2021 |
| 19 | Benefit | Update to ‘territorial limits’ extending liability cover for incidents occurring overseas (excluding North America). | 04 Sep 2021 | |
| - | Benefit | Removed exclusion of ‘household member’. | 05 Apr 2021 | |
| - | Clarification | Removed reference to ’joint insureds’. | 05 Apr 2021 | |
| 20 | Benefit | Narrowed exclusion for the failure to insure business premises despite it being required by the lease agreement. | 05 Apr 2021 | |
| 20 | Benefit | Narrowed exclusion for legal liability assumed under any contract or agreement. | 05 Apr 2021 | |
| 20 | Clarification | Updated cover for legal liability claims brought by workers against the business. | 05 Apr 2021 | |
| 22 | Benefit | Goods in Care cover now noted as an Extra Cover, and increased limit from $50,000 to $100,000. | 04 Sep 2021 | |
| 22 | Clarification | Clarify how goods in care are treated under legal liability. Replaces reference to 'custody and control'. | 05 Apr 2021 | |
| Section 2 – Business Items | 22 | Benefit | Expanded cover to include business items worldwide and removed the 45-day limit. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| Section 2 – Business ItemsSection 2 – Business Items | 22 | Benefit | Increased the business item limit to $2,500. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| 22 | Clarification | Clarifying that cover is for ‘portable’ business items. | 04 Sep 2021 | |
| Section 3 – Business Property Damage | 23 - 24 | Benefit | New cover section, which includes cover for Stock in Trade, Business Contents and Flood. | 04 Sep 2021 |
| 23 | Reduction | Added 72 hours cover exclusion for flood, storm or bushfire events. | 05 Apr 2021 | |
| 23 | Reduction | Additional exclusions added to include pets or livestock, growing crops or pastures and mechanical, electrical or electronic (including computer software) breakdown or failure. | 05 Apr 2021 | |
| Section 4 – Glass | 24 | Benefit | Removed exclusion under ‘What is not covered’ to glass that was cracked or imperfect prior to the loss or damage for which you are claiming. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| 25 | Benefit | Costs now noted as an Extra Cover, and extended to include materials attached to the broken glass, such as burglar alarm tape/wiring or reflective/shatter proofing film and glass/plastic/Perspex in external signage. | 04 Sep 2021 | |
| Section 5 – Money | 25 | Benefit | Added cover for ‘safe or strongroom’. | 04 Sep 2021 |
| Extensions of Cover to Section 1 | 26 - 31 | |||
| Queensland Electrical Contractors Cover (Consumer Protection) | 26 - 28 | Clarification | Updated to reflect to current regulation. | 05 Apr 2021 |
| 28 | Reduction | Notification period of cancellation by us reduced from 30 days to the standard 3 days. | 04 Sep 2021 | |
| Victorian Plumbers Warranty Cover (Warranty) | 28 - 31 | Clarification | Updated to reflect to current regulation. | 05 Apr 2021 |