Client classification
Unless we notify you in writing to the contrary, we will be treating you as a “retail client”. This means that you are afforded the highest level of protection under the regulatory system and should have the right to take any complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details of our complaints procedure are available on request.
Our relationship
Any advice or recommendation that we offer to you, will be based on your stated objectives, circumstances and take into account any restrictions that you wish to place on the type of products you would be willing to consider.
With very few exceptions, we will confirm to you in writing the basis of our reason for recommending the products arranged on your behalf.
Your stated objectives will be reiterated in the Suitability Report, which we will issue to you following our recommendation, along with details of any special risks associated with the product recommended.
As discussed, we offer products from the whole of the market. This means that we source the recommended mortgage from the range of mortgages available to “Intermediary” Firms. Certain lenders may offer products directly to the public, rather than via an Intermediary Firm, with more favourable terms. Accordingly our recommendation to you will be based on the most suitable mortgage product incorporated within the range available to Intermediary Firms.
If there is a particular mortgage product that you are aware of which is available directly from a Lender that you wish for us to review and comment upon, we are happy to do so but we may charge you a fee for providing advice in relation to this but would agree this with you at the time.
Full details of the products we may recommend to you including, for example, the minimum duration of the product, information on the right to cancel or whether no right to cancel arises, and any other early termination rights and penalties, will be covered in the relevant product disclosure information you will receive before conclusion of any contract.
Any products we have arranged for you will not necessarily be kept under review. Depending on the complexity of your financial affairs, if we intend to do so this will be agreed with you in writing (in our fee agreement / in our fees and services agreement and in our Suitability Report, following our recommendation). However, we may contact you in the future by means of an unsolicited promotion (by telephone or post) should we wish to discuss the relative merits of a particular product or service which we feel may be of interest to you.
Client Money
West Lothian Insurance Services IS permitted to handle client money in respect of General Insurance only AND we cannot accept a cheque made out to us unless it is in respect of an item for which we have sent you an invoice or handle cash.
For Risk transfer activities:
West Lothian Insurance Services will hold client money as agent of the insurer; and the agency agreement with the insurer includes all items of client money (ie premiums, premium funds and claims money) or is restricted in some way (eg to the receipt of premiums).
For segregation activities (non statutory trust & statutory trust):
1. No interest is payable to a retail customer;
2. Client money is held in a segregated client account with the Royal Bank of Scotland
3. West lothian Insurance is acting as agent for the insurer
Disclosure of charges/fees
All charges/fees will be fully disclosed to you. These will be disclosed in summary form before we undertake any work for you. The precise charges relating to any recommendations we make will be confirmed in your Suitability Report or relevant product disclosure information that is provided to you.
There is no additional cost to you for using a means of distance communication.
We obtain professional support services from threesixty services LLP, who provide us with regulatory and business advice. threesixty are supported by product providers, fund managers and platforms, through the provision of training resources and occasionally through commission payments made direct to them, which can be used to offset our own fees to them. In the event that threesixty is remunerated through commission, this will be disclosed in the literature provided to you, and in no way will it affect the charges you pay.
Conflict of interest
We will endeavour always to act in the best interests of our clients. However, circumstances can arise where we or one of our other customers may have some form of interest in business being transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other customers conflict with your interests, we will write to you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions, and detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.
Best execution
In executing or transmitting orders on your behalf to third parties, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that we obtain the best possible result for you in terms of best execution.
Risk warnings
Please be aware that investments can fall as well as rise, and that you may not get back the full amount invested. The price of investments we may recommend may depend on fluctuations in the financial markets, or other economic factors, which are outside our control. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. Specific warnings relevant to the investments, or investment strategies, we recommend will be confirmed to you in your Suitability Report.
Cancellation rights
In most cases you can exercise a right to cancel, by withdrawing from the contract recommended to you. In general terms you will normally have a 30 day cancellation period for a life, pure protection, payment protection or pension policy and a 14 day cancellation period for all other policies. In most instances, you will not be able to exercise a right to cancel a mortgage contract, unless the contract is concluded at a distance (i.e. no face to face advice), at which point you may have a 14 day cancellation period.
The start of the cancellation period will normally begin, for pure protection policies, when you are informed that the contract has been concluded or, if later, when you have received the contractual terms and conditions. In other cases, the cancellation period will begin on the day the contract is concluded or, if later, the day on which you receive the contractual terms and conditions. Instructions for exercising the right to cancel, if applicable, will be contained in the relevant product disclosure information which will be issued to you.
If you cancel a single premium contract, we may require you to pay for any loss you might reasonably incur in cancelling it which is caused by market movements. This means that, in certain circumstances, you might not get back the full amount you invested if you cancel the policy.
Documentation
We will endeavour to make arrangements for all your investments to be registered in your name unless you first instruct us otherwise in writing. All Policy Documents or Lender’s Offer Documents will be forwarded to you as soon as practicable after we receive them. If there are a number of documents relating to a series of transactions, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward them to you.
Data Protection
Your personal information is very important to us. We will endeavour to take all due care to protect this information. We would like to highlight below a few matters relating to your information that you should be aware of.
Some services are provided to West Lothian Insurance Services by third parties such as processing business or obtaining compliance or regulatory advice, which warrant the disclosure of more than just your basic contact details. You agree that personal information held by West Lothian Insurance Services may be disclosed on a confidential basis, and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, to any such third parties. You also agree that this information may be transferred electronically, e.g. email and you agree that ourselves, or any such third party, may contact you in future by any means of communication which we consider appropriate at the time.
Product Providers, Lenders and Investment Managers may administer your policy, any existing policies you may have with them and provide other services, from centres in countries outside Europe (such as India and the USA) that do not always have the same standard of data Protection laws as the UK. However, they are required to put a contract in place to ensure that your information is adequately protected, and they will remain bound by their obligations under the Data Protection Act even when your personal information is processed outside Europe.
We are required by the anti-money laundering regulations to verify the identity of our clients, to obtain information as to the purpose and nature of the business which we conduct on their behalf, and to ensure that the information we hold is up-to-date. For this purpose we may use electronic identity verification systems similar those used for credit checks and we may conduct these checks from time to time throughout our relationship, not just at the beginning.
Termination
You or we may terminate our authority to act on your behalf at any time, without penalty. Notice of this termination must be given in writing and will take effect from the date of receipt. Termination is without prejudice to any transactions already initiated which will be completed according to these terms of business unless otherwise agreed in writing. You will be liable to pay for any transactions made prior to termination and any fees outstanding, if applicable.
Your Consent
This is our standard client agreement upon which we intend to rely. For your own benefit and protection you should read these terms carefully before signing them. If you do not understand any point please ask for further information.
I authorise the transfer of information, on a confidential basis when warranted between any such third parties. I acknowledge that the Terms of Business Letter will come into effect from the date of issue and I acknowledge receipt of the Service Agreement & Fee Schedule about our services and costs document.
I also confirm that I AM / I AM NOT happy to give West Lothian Insurance Services my express consent to contact me by telephone to discuss advising on or arranging financial, mortgage or insurance products in future.
Customer Name(s)
Customer signature(s)
Date of issue of TOB/SCDD