Lambert quashes Count PI concerns

CountFinancial Servicesmanaging director Barry Lambert has strenuously denied claims the group operated without professional indemnity (PI) insurance cover after a number of planners departed alleging a breakdown in communication had lead them to believe their PI cover had expired without renewal.

The planners, who have declined to be named, were concerned when three weeks after the expiry of the group’s PI cover on March 31 they claimed they had not received any correspondence or advice from the dealer group regarding a renewal.

At Count’s annual conference it was announced that the group would commence a policy with a new insurer on April 28, which led a number of planners to believe they had acted for a period of four weeks without cover.

Lambert has denied the claims, stating that while the group did in fact change insurers, there was no period when they were without cover.

“We changed insurers earlier this year, because it seems QBE has pulled out of the market, but we had an extension to the previous policy, so there was no period when we weren’t covered,” he says.

Lambert adds that according to their legal advisers, the group was never without PI.

He also says Count planners received a copy of the original QBE offer document, and the information regarding the new policy was in the process of being updated on the company web site.

Lambert says that obtaining PI was not an issue, as the group received several offers of insurance, ranging from one to several million dollars.

“We can afford to pay it. The problem was with the premiums because with our risk and claims history, which is very low, it (the premiums asked) was a bit of a rort.”