Exclusive Banking and Insurance Services Deliver Added Value
As part of the FirstService family of companies, FirstService Financial offers best-in-class financial services to our condominium, cooperative, and homeowner association communities. A range of cash management, debt placement, and insurance services are available and designed exclusively to meet the needs of FirstService Residential clients. While it is not mandatory for our clients to utilize these services, we have found that many of our associations have chosen to do so because of the added value that is delivered.
Cash Management
FirstService Financial provides clients with banking solutions to streamline, maximize, and monitor. Their dedicated, highly-trained in-house team of financial professionals provide a full range of cash management, treasury and investment solutions that help our clients navigate the complex association banking landscape.
Streamline
Account Onboarding and Maintenance
FirstService Financial assists in the bank account opening and administering process to ensure accuracy and eliminate confusion. In addition, they continually review and monitor all accounts to ensure operational efficiency with minimal expense.
Payment/Remittance Processing
FirstService Financial provides FirstService Residential clients with an integrated and enhanced receivables solution that is tailored for the community association industry. The platform enables residents to pay their regular, special or miscellaneous fees to their community through multiple payment channels when and how they want.
Payables Solution
Their streamlined payables platform is a fully-integrated accounting system solution that captures vendor invoices, allows for board and property manager invoice approval, and can issue vendor payments.
Maximize
Investment
With billions in administered funds across North America, FirstService Financial leverages our scale to eliminate unnecessary bank fees while providing increased interest rates. With an integrated approach to long-term reserve fund management, they provide multiple investment options through various institutions and products to ensure that our clients’ liquidity needs are met while maximizing interest yield and protecting principal.
Monitor
Deposit Security
FirstService Financial recognizes that our clients have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that their community’s funds are safe, so they have partnered with high-quality banking institutions across North America to provide the peace-of-mind our clients’ desire. Through deposit insurance and quarterly reviews of the soundness and stability of their banking partners, they ensure that our clients’ principal is never at risk.
Fraud Prevention
In addition to their internal fraud monitoring technology and protocol, our banking partners are at the leading-edge of theft prevention and detection.
Lending
For nearly two decades, FirstService Financial has arranged and structured best-in-class lending products for our clients. Their commitment to excellence and dedication to results has been the cornerstone of success in facilitating over $2 billion in financing transactions.
As community association specialists, FirstService Financial’s team has experience with transactions of all sizes and offers oversight of the entire lending process—analysis, underwriting, negotiation, documentation, closing, and funding—to ensure a seamless and efficient process. By combining a national presence with capital markets expertise, we provide unparalleled benefits that support the lending needs of our clients. Furthermore, our senior-level relationships with capital sources allow us to negotiate the best pricing and terms available for the complex, customized solutions specific to the needs of our industry.
Insurance Distribution
FS Insurance Brokers, a subsidiary of FirstService Financial, merges industry leading, in-depth insurance and risk management knowledge with the property management expertise of FirstService Residential. As the FirstService licensed insurance brokerage, they are the in-house subject matter experts with an understanding of the importance of protecting our clients’ property, as well as all other potential perils.
The challenges of securing and maintaining a comprehensive, cost-effective program have led FirstService Financial to continually work with program managers, brokers, and carriers to increase the number of participants competing in the marketplace, and to develop new products that meet the needs of our community association clients. The goal is to simplify the process and assist our clients in making sound business decisions, thereby creating a bridge of understanding between complex, technical insurance jargon and the need for adequate coverage. Going beyond just policy placement, FirstService Financial offers education, safety and loss prevention programs, policy review and analysis, and support throughout the renewal process.
Insurance Programs & Products
FS Insurance Brokers’ objective is to utilize their relationships with highly rated insurance carriers to provide programs and products for all FirstService Residential managed communities. They focus on aggregating the purchasing power of more than 7,500 associations, representing over 1.6 million homes and $140 billion in insurable value throughout North America. This significant cross section of homeowner associations, condominium associations, and co-operatives across varying geographies allows them to develop unique programs and proprietary insurance offerings that reduce cost and enhance coverage levels for our clients.
Insurance Programs
Extensive industry experience and strong relationships with top insurance carriers enables FS Insurance Brokers to design, negotiate, and implement many unique, regional property programs. By utilizing data that demonstrates better-than-market long term claims experience within the FirstService Residential portfolio, they are able to favorably impact the underwriting process to allow for enhanced coverages on these programs while still maintaining competitive pricing.
FS Insurance Brokers also provides training and educational opportunities to FirstService Residential. Through these programs, we are able to reinforce loss prevention and mitigation as a part of our daily property management routine.
Insurance Products
FS Insurance Brokers also offers insurance products to FirstService Residential managed properties provided by their in-house underwriting team or through a highly rated carrier. Coverage has been specifically designed to meet the needs of our clients. Current enhanced products offered include:
Crime/Fidelity
Provides protection against the theft of association funds, and against employee dishonesty, fraud, forgery and electronic theft.
Workers’ Compensation
Provides “if any” workers’ compensation coverage for all Board members, committee members, and volunteers working on behalf of the association. The programs also provides coverage to manage the association’s risk and comply with regulatory requirements.
Directors and Officers Liability
Provides coverage with enhancements to protect the duly elected or appointed directors, officers, or members of duly constituted committees for claims brought against them alleging wrongful acts while performing in the capacity of their respective positions. This program also offers protection to the association in the event of claims asserted against it as an entity.
Learn more about how FirstService Residential’s banking and insurance services can benefit your association.