Our Client Agreement for Investments, Mortgages and Insurance
This agreement is issued on behalf of Abacus Financial Planning Consultants Limited of 33 Neidpath Place, Dunfermline, Fife, KY12 0XJ who can be contacted at info@abacusifa.com or by phone 01383 731537.
Authorisation Statement
Abacus Financial Planning Consultants Limited is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority. The Financial Services Authority regulates the financial services industry in the UK and their address is 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HS. You can check this on the FSA’s Register by visiting the FSA’s website www.fsa.gov.uk/register FSA No. 232121 or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.
Client Categorisation
Each client with whom the firm does business is categorised to identify the level of regulatory protection to be applied. We believe in providing our clients with full regulatory protection and we propose to classify you as Retail Client for Investment purposes, ‘Customer’ for Mortgage business, and classify you as a ‘Consumer’ for Insurance business.
Communications
We will communicate with you in English both verbally and in writing for the sending and reception of orders. To avoid any doubt instructions should be issued in writing.
Services to be provided
With regards to investments that we have arranged for you, these will not be kept under review but we will advise you upon your request. However, we may contact you in the future by means of an unsolicited promotion should we wish to contact you to discuss the relative merits of an investment or service which we feel may be of interest to you.
On issue of this letter any subsequent advice or recommendation offered to you will be based upon your stated investment objectives, acceptable level of risk and any restrictions you wish to place on the type of investments or policies you are willing to consider. We will issue you a suitability report to confirm our recommendation. Unless confirmed we will not place any restrictions on our recommendations.
Abacus Financial Planning Consultants Limited does not handle clients’ money. We never handle cash or accept a cheque made out to us, unless the cheque is in settlement of charges or disbursements for which we have sent you an invoice.
We will also make arrangements for all your investments to be registered in your name unless you first instruct us otherwise in writing. We will forward you all documents showing ownership of your investments as soon as practicable after we receive them, where a number of documents are due involving a series of transactions, we normally hold each document until the series is complete, then forward them to you.
Mortgage and Insurance Objectives
Following the issue of this letter, any subsequent advice or recommendation offered to you will be based on your stated objectives, acceptable level of risk and any instructions you wish to make regarding the type of mortgage or insurance policies you are willing to consider. Details of your stated objectives will be included in the Suitability or Needs and Demands Letter we issue to you confirming the reasons for our recommendations.
Restrictions
Unless advised to the contrary, we will assume that you wish to place no restrictions on the types of investment we may recommend and in which you may subsequently invest. We will assume that you wish to place no restrictions on the markets in which transactions are to be executed. A full listing of products is available from your adviser upon request.
Advice and Instructions
Any advice given to you by us shall be in writing. We prefer our clients to give us instructions in writing, to aid clarification and avoid future misunderstandings. We will, however, accept oral instructions provided they are confirmed in writing. We may, at our discretion, refuse to accept instructions although such discretion shall not be exercised unreasonably. We will record all transactions on our files which, along with copies of relevant documentation, will be retained by us for a period of not less than six years. You have a right to inspect copies of contract notes, vouchers and entries in our books or computerised records relating to your transactions. We reserve the right to withhold copies of these records if information to other parties would be disclosed.
Material Interest
We will act honestly, fairly and professionally, known as conducting business in ‘Client’s best interest’ regulations. Occasionally situations may arise where we, or one of our other clients, have some form of interest in business transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your interest, 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.
In accordance with the rules of our regulator, The Financial Services Authority, we are prohibited from accepting any payment (commission or other non-monetary benefits) which is likely to conflict with the duty of the firm to its clients.
Right to Cancel
We will inform you of your statutory right to cancel. The Distance Marketing Directive normally grants you 30 days in which you may cancel a life or pension contract. However there will be occasions where no statutory rights are granted, however this will be explained before any contract is concluded.
Data Protection
The information you have provided is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “Act”). By signing this document you consent to us or any company associated with us processing, both manually and by electronic means, your personal data for the purposes of providing advice, administration and management.
“Processing” includes obtaining, recording or holding information or data, transferring it to other companies associated with us, product providers, the Financial Services Authority or any other statutory, governmental or regulatory body for legitimate purposes including, where relevant, to solicitors and/or other debt collection agencies for debt collection purposes and carrying out operations on the information or data.
In order to provide services to you we may be required to pass your personal information to parties located outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) in countries that do not have Data Protection Laws equivalent to those in the UK. Where this is the case we will take responsible steps to ensure the privacy of your information.
We may also contact you or pass your details to other companies associated with us to contact you (including by telephone) with details of any other similar products, promotions, or for related marketing purposes in which we think you may be interested.
The information provided may also contain sensitive personal data for the purposes of the Act, being information as to your physical or mental health or condition; the committing or alleged committing of any offence by you; any proceedings for an offence committed or alleged to have been committed by you, including the outcome or sentence in such proceedings; your political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, sexual life; or your membership of a Trade Union.
If at any time you wish us or any company associated with us to cease processing your personal data or sensitive personal data, or contacting you for marketing purposes, please contact The Data Protection Officer on 01383 731537 or in writing at 33 Neidpath Place, Dunfermline, Fife, KY12 0XJ.
You may be assured that we and any company associated with us will treat all personal data and sensitive personal data as confidential and will not process it other than for a legitimate purpose. Steps will be taken to ensure that the information is accurate, kept up to date and not kept for longer than is necessary. Measures will also be taken to safeguard against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss or destruction or damage to the data.
Subject to certain exceptions, you are entitled to have access to your personal and sensitive personal data held by us. You may be charged a fee (subject to the statutory maximum) for supplying you with such data.
Law
This Client Agreement is governed and shall be construed in accordance with Scottish Law and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish Courts.
Force Majeure
Abacus Financial Planning Consultants Limited shall not be in breach of this Agreement and shall not incur any liability to you if there is any failure to perform its duties due to any circumstances reasonably beyond its control.
Termination
The authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time without penalty by either party giving seven days notice in writing to that effect to the other, but without prejudice to the completion of transactions already initiated. Any transactions effected before termination and a due proportion of any period charges for services shall be settled to that date.
Mortgage Fee Agreement
BETWEEN Abacus Financial Planning Consultants Limited, 33 Neidpath Place, Dunfermline, Fife, KY12 0XJ.
and
This agreement is designed to outline the basis on which we charge for our services in relation to the investigation, research and placement of a mortgage on your behalf and is to confirm and formalise our recent conversation regarding the mortgage service which we provide. It is supplementary to the Terms of Business letter/Initial Disclosure Document we issued earlier.
We will require you to provide up to date and accurate information of your personal circumstances and financial objectives.
Having established your needs we will then source a suitable mortgage product for you.
We will then report to you in writing clearly documenting our recommended course of action. Our recommendations will be made on the basis of the written information provided by you and will take into account the objectives stated by you.
Please be aware that there could be potentially other fees that will be required to be paid by you, such as arrangement fee to the lender we may recommend. All such fees will be disclosed in writing to you.
All information given to us, and the recommendations and advice provided by us to you will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone, except as we agree in writing or to whom we are regulatory obliged to. You may, however, request that a copy of your details may be made available to your Accountant or Solicitor.
When you receive your written report, it will be your decision alone to implement the recommendation. In order that there may be no future misunderstanding, it is for our mortgage services that you will pay a fee under this agreement.
A fee of £795.00 less any allowance for commission and less the initial administration fee of £100 will be invoiced to you to meet the cost of our research. You should be aware that Abacus FPC Limited are not authorised to hold client money. By signing this agreement, you are confirming your agreement to us holding funds in this manner, if required.
This agreement may be terminated at any time by any party giving notice in writing.
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© Abacus Financial Planning Consultants Ltd. 2012