Commission Summary Document

We, Hive Insurance Services act as intermediary (Broker) between you, the consumer, and the product provider with whom we place your business.

The Background

Pursuant to provision 4.58A of the Central Bank of Ireland’s September 2019 Addendum to the Consumer Protection Code, all intermediaries, must make available in their public offices, or on their website if they have one, a summary of the details of all arrangements for any fee, commission, other reward or remuneration provided to the intermediary which it has agreed with its product producers.

What is commission?

For the purpose of this document, commission is the payment earned by the intermediary for work undertaken on behalf of both the provider and the consumer.  The amount of commission is generally directly related to the quantity or value of the products sold. There are different types of commission models:

Single commission model: where payment is made to the intermediary shortly after the sale is completed and is based on a percentage of the premium paid/amount invested/amount borrowed.

Trail/Renewal commission model: Further payments at intervals are paid throughout the life span of the product.

General insurance products

Indemnity commission is the term used to describe a commission payment made before the commission is deemed to be ‘earned’. Indemnity commission may be subject to a clawback (see below) if the consumer lapses or cancels the product before the commission is deemed to be earned.

Other forms of indemnity commission are advances of commission for future sales granted to intermediaries in order to assist with set up costs or business development.

Indemnity commission

General insurance products, such as travel, are typically subject to a single or standard commission model, based on the amount of premium charged for the insurance product.

Profit Share arrangements

In some cases, the intermediary may be a party to a profit-share arrangement with a product provider and will earn additional commission.  Any business arranged with these product providers on a client’s behalf will be placed with the product provider because that product provider is at the time of placement, the most suitable to meet the client’s requirements, taking all the client’s relevant information, demands and needs into account.

Life Assurance / Investments / Pension products

For Life Assurance products commission is divided into initial commission and renewal commission (related to premium), fund based or trail relating to accumulated fund.

Trail commission, bullet commission, fund based or renewal commission are all terms used for ongoing payments. Where an investment fund is being built up though an insurance-based investment product or a pension product, the increments may be based on a percentage of the value of the fund or the annual premium. For a single premium/lump sum product, the increment is generally based on the value of the fund.

We are remunerated by commission and other payments from product providers. When assessing products, we will consider the different approach taken by product providers in terms of them integrating sustainability risks into their product offering. This will form part of our analysis for choosing a product provider.

Examples of products include Life Protection, Regular Premium Life Assurance Investments, Single Premium (lump sum) Insurance-based Investments, and Single Premium Pensions.

Sustainability Factors - Investment / IBIPS / Pension Advice

When providing advice, we consider the adverse impact of investment decisions on sustainability. As part of our research and assessment of products, we will examine the Product Providers’ literature to compare financial products and to make informed investment decisions about ESG products. We will at all times act in your best interests and keep you informed accordingly. The consideration of sustainability risks can impact on the returns of financial products.

Clawback

Clawback is an obligation on the intermediary to repay unearned commission. Commission can be paid directly after a contract is concluded but is not deemed to be ‘earned’ until after a specified period of time. If the consumer cancels or withdraws from the financial product within the specified time, the intermediary must return commission to the product producer.

Fees

The firm may be remunerated by means of a fee or a non-monetary benefit by the product producer, such as:

  • where we arrange premium finance on your behalf with Premium Credit Ltd, we may receive commission from the provider for doing this
  • attendance at, and participation in, conferences, seminars and other training events on the benefits and features of products or services we provide to consumers.

Click on a link below to access a list of the providers that our firm deals with.