Discretionary Mutual Fund podcast series
Business ManagementA Discretionary Mutual Fund is an alternate risk financing strategy for the benefit of growers, pack houses and cool stores. According to industry expert Justin Niven, they offer industry the long-term opportunity to both reduce costs through the sharing of risk and to incentivise better risk management across industry.
APAL has developed a six-part podcast to discuss the creation of a DMF – check them out below:
Part 1: What is a DMF? with Justin Niven, KJ Risk Group
Insurance is a high cost of doing business, setting up a Discretionary Mutual Fund (DMF) gives industry an opportunity to take control of the combined insured investment and benefit from this major risk purchase. In this episode, DMF specialist Justin Niven will talk about a DMF, including the structure of a mutual and the Board composition.
Part 2: Layers of risk in insurance with Justin Niven, KJ Risk Group
In general, insurance works by spreading the cost of unexpected risks among a large number of people in the same region who share similar risks. The money paid on an insurance policy is pooled with the premiums paid by other policy holders. Once a claim is made by those policy holders, the pool of funds is used to pay the person claiming up to the limit selected on their policy.
In this podcast, Justin explains a little about each of the layers of risk and what this would look like from a Discretionary Mutual Fund (DMF) perspective.
These diagrams show the layers of risk in insurance and highlight which layer the Discretionary Mutual Fund (DMF) would specifically cover.
Part 3: Claim process in a DMF with Justin Niven, KJ Risk Group
Claims are a key part of any insurance policy and not all claims are straight forward. In this episode, Justin talks about the logical claim process acknowledging members can seek support from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) if there is ever a claim-related dispute.
Part 4: How will the variety of insurance policies be covered? With Justin Niven, KJ Risk Group
Setting up a Discretionary Mutual Fund (DMF) doesn’t mean every insurance policy would be a ‘fit’ for the mutual. In this episode, Justin explains how current insurance policies would be distributed and managed using a central administrator.
Part 5: Data collection and privacy policy with Justin Niven, KJ Risk Group
Investigation into whether a Discretionary Mutual Fund (DMF) is a feasible option for the apple and pear industry can only be done with insurance-related data provided by businesses. But what is done with this data and how is it both used and stored?
Part 6: Workers compensation with Tom Patterson, Sure Risk
Workers compensation is a compulsory form of insurance for all employers across Australia but did you know there are group buying opportunities for businesses in Tas, WA, ACT and NT? In this podcast, APAL speaks with Managing Director of Sure Risk and workers compensation expert Tom Patterson about how apple and pear growing businesses in these states could benefit from collectively purchasing their insurance.
If you’re interested in learning more about pooling insurance-related resources to save on your premiums, get in touch with APAL’s Future Business team by contacting Richelle Zealley: [email protected] or 03 9329 3511.
