Client Agreement document

Transcription

1 Client Agreement document for Burton and Fisher Financial Services Introduction This document is aimed at providing you with an overview of Burton and Fisher Financial Services and to introduce you to the services that we offer. It is also an agreement between you and the firm, setting out the terms and conditions of our advice and your commitments and obligations. At the start of the process we will issue you with a copy of this agreement for you to read, and then, if you agree to the terms contained within, to sign a copy when you are ready to commit to the terms of our agreement. Who are we? Burton and Fisher Financial Services is a trading style of Fisher and Company (Financial Services) Ltd of 33 Princes Crescent, Bare, Morecambe, LA4 6BY whom can be contacted on or [email protected]. Burton and Fisher Financial Services is a financial services company which provides independent advice for individuals, businesses and trusts. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The Financial Conduct Authority regulates the retail financial services industry in the UK and their address is 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HS. You can check our authorisation on the FCA s Register by visiting the FCA s website or by contacting the FCA on Our FCA No. is Our permitted business is advising on and arranging savings and investments products, pensions, personal pension transfers, equity release, long term care insurance, mortgages, home reversion mortgages, and non-investment Insurance contracts. What service do we offer? We provide independent financial advice. What this means is that we will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs. Our recommendation will be based on a comprehensive and fair analysis of the whole of the market. We offer you an initial discussion (without charge) at which we will describe our services more fully and explain the payment options. This initial discussion may be part of a longer meeting that then goes on to explore your financial needs. (This subsequent part of your meeting will then be chargeable as set out below.) We take an intermediary role in the provision of services to you. This means that we act between you and the provider of the investment/ pension product with a view to arranging the product. This process will include: 1) The gathering of information about you; 2) Carrying out research to find suitable investment/ pension options; 3) Providing you with reports, forecasts, etc.; 4) Recommending specific investment products to you, including the charges at which these can be arranged; 5) Acting between you and the product provider(s) with a view to arranging the product; 6) Where applicable, (e.g. during an on-going review service), to monitor the product and your circumstances to ensure that the products continue to meet your requirements. We may explain to you that you have certain needs that we have identified during the process but for which we cannot make recommendations. In this instance we would therefore limit our advice to a specific area of your finances. Client Agreement document for Burton and Fisher Financial Services

2 What will you have to pay us for our services? Following our initial discussion there will be a cost for ours services. Initial costs Investment and pension advice: Our initial costs for providing advice to you will be 4% of the sum being advised upon (minimum 375) if you go ahead with our recommendations. E.g. If we are advising you on an investment of 50,000 then the 4% fee will be 2,000. A large fund discount will apply if or more is invested with the firm. Not all of our advice involves investing a lump sum. In the case of regular contributions to a savings or pension plan then a fee of 375 will be charged E.g. If we are advising on a regular premium pension/ saving of 300 per month then the fee will be 375. Mortgage advice: We can be paid by fee or a combination of fee and commission. If you choose the fee option we will charge a fee of 349 payable at application plus 0.35% of the loan amount payable on completion of the mortgage offer. If you choose the commission and fee option, we will charge a fee of 349 payable at application and receive commission from the lender. There could be an additional fee of 100 for each additional mortgage application in addition to the first (if your first mortgage is cancelled for some reason). Refund of fees on mortgages: When we charge you a fee and your mortgage does not go ahead then you will not receive a refund of the application fees stated above. Commercial/Self Build mortgage advice: A fee of is payable when the application is agreed in principle. We will also be paid commission from the company that lends you the money. Equity release advice: A fee of 499 is payable at completion. We will also be paid commission from the company that lends you money. Long term care advice: Our initial costs for providing advice to you will be 4% of the premium being advised upon (minimum fee of 375) if you go ahead with our recommendations. E.g. If we are advising you on a long term care policy with a premium of 50,000 then the 4% fee will be 3,000. A large fund discount will apply if invested funds are or above. Insurance advice: We will not charge a fee for advice on Term Assurance, Income Protection insurance, Whole of Life insurance, Accident Sickness and Unemployment insurance. (You will receive a quotation which will tell you about any other fees relating to a particular insurance policy). We will receive commission from the providers and tell you about the amounts involved prior to your commitment. General queries: If you do not have an arrangement for us to provide you with ongoing service and advice (detailed below) or if we have provided advice on a one-off basis then you will be charged a standard rate of 175 per hour for time spent dealing with general queries (this will include meetings, telephone conversations, research, producing letters/ reports etc.). We will tell you if VAT is chargeable.

3 Payment for on-going services We charge 1% per annum for ongoing advice and servicing relating to the value of your investments/pensions. E.g. If the value of your pension fund (or investment) is 50,000 this annual charge will be 500. We can offer: For certain types of pension and investment portfolios, private secure online access to fund valuations via company wealth management portfolio system available 365 days a year Telephone access/ access to your personal adviser to provide ongoing advice as required throughout the year (on a fair use basis.) Advice on tax wrappers and tax efficiency Choice of active, passive or discretionary fund management to suit your personal requirements. Personalised fund portfolio report provided on request or at review An offer of at least an annual portfolio review meeting and rebalance to ensure that funds are performing in line with personal requirements and circumstances. Implement advice relating to your funds Deal with queries and changes relating to these investments (e.g. change of address or name, withdrawal requests, fund switches etc.) Help to complete trust and personal tax returns if required. N.B. Some services not available on all types of portfolio If you do not join, or opt out of the review service then you understand that your funds will not be kept under review but you may prompt us to review your arrangements (which will incur additional costs at the time that we will explain to you.) Your payment options Settling your adviser charge by a single payment The providers of the financial products that we recommend may facilitate adviser charging. In this case our fees will be deducted from your investment amount and paid to us by the provider. This will be the default means of payment if it is available. Ongoing advice charges will also be collected in this way. We will agree separately the timing and the disinvestment options available for each provider to pay your charges. If adviser charging is not available or you request a service that does may not involve a transaction of a financial product then we will provide you with an invoice. You will be required to settle the payment of your adviser charge on completion of our work in 14 days. We accept same day bank transfers, cash or cheque payments. We do not accept payment by debit or credit card. You will be provided with a receipt upon payment. According to HMRC guidance, our normal advice process means the charges we make for our services will be exempt of VAT. If you ask us to provide advice outside of these arrangements we will tell you if you have to pay VAT. There may be other fees and taxes due We do not offer any method of settling charges in regular instalments. Timing of fees and charges The initial fees become due at the conclusion of the advice process. For clarity, this means when we have provided the advice and you have committed to our recommendations by signing the proposal. The ongoing fees are paid at the rate of 1/12 th of the annual amount each month and begin at the end of the first month.

4 Your aims and objectives Each client is categorised as to identify the level of regulatory protection. We propose to classify you as Retail Client for Investment purposes and a consumer for non-investment insurance purposes unless we inform you otherwise. This means that you are afforded the highest level of protection under the regulatory system and should have the right (subject to certain statutory limitations) to take any complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. We prefer our clients to give us instructions in writing to avoid possible disputes. If we accept oral instructions from you, we will confirm them in writing to you. We may, at our discretion, refuse to accept instructions although such discretion shall not be exercised unreasonably. We may accept your instructions by electronic means such as as long as we are able to verify the authenticity of such instructions. 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, investment strategies or other products we recommend will be confirmed to you in the suitability report. What does our research of the whole of market include? We research the whole of the financial market which includes UK based savings, insurance, investments and pensions. Any advice or recommendation that we offer to you, will only be given after we have assessed your needs and considered your financial objectives and attitude to any risks that may be involved. We will also take into account any restrictions that you wish to place on the type of products you would be willing to consider. We may consider non-uk based investments, products that may not be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and some specialised investments. We will only recommend such potentially higher risk investments if we obtain your explicit permission. Our normal advisory process may exclude higher risk investments at an early stage in the process when we have assessed your needs. We may also consider certain investments to be suitable for you but may not be able to arrange these for you, in which case we will make an appropriate referral to a third party. (e.g. The buying and selling of stocks and shares, in which case we may refer you to a stockbroker.) Some of the services provided by us or the products that we recommend may not be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority since they are not included within the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (e.g. tax advice, certain product types, National Savings products, etc.) Where we intend to provide advice in relation to unregulated activities, we will confirm to you what these services are and the fact that they are not regulated. Client money & documentation We do not handle clients money or hold on to client title deeds/ policy documents. We never accept a cheque made out to us unless the cheque is in settlement of charges, fees or disbursements for which we have sent you an invoice. 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. Your right to cancel We may give you advice about policies or investments, which you may (for a short period) be able to cancel. In general terms you will normally have a 30 day cancellation period for life, pure protection, payment protection or pension policy and a 14 day cancellation period for all other policies. If you cancel a single premium contract, you may be required 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.

5 Additional protection In the event you are dissatisfied with a recommendation we have made (or the service you have received) you may be entitled to make a complaint. If you wish to register a complaint, please contact us at our office listed on the front page of this agreement. If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR. Tel Their web site can be found at We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation scheme (FSCS) if we cannot meet out our obligations. This is dependent upon the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Deposits with banks (etc.) are covered for 85,000; most types of investment business are covered up to a maximum limit of 50,000. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim without any upper limit. For further information about this compensation scheme arrangement and the limits that apply to the different areas we advise on please contact the FSCS at Conflict of Interest We will act honestly, fairly and professionally and this is known as conducting business in the Clients best interest. 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 Conduct 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.

6 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 for 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 FCA 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. Some services are provided to Burton and Fisher Financial Services by third parties such as processing business or obtaining compliance or regulatory advice, which warrant the disclosure of more than just your basic details. You agree that personal information held by ourselves may be disclosed on a confidential basis, and in accordance with the Act, to any such third parties. Primarily, we use your data and data about your family s circumstances to provide advice to you and complete transactions on your behalf. We analyse and assess your data to maintain and develop our relationships with you. Depending on the instructions we receive from you, we may pass your data to other professional advisers to enable us to provide advice most suited to your circumstances. Usually, this would be referrals to local accountants, solicitors, tax advisers and sometimes to specialist advisers in the financial and insurance industry where we do not feel we have appropriate expertise. Product providers, lenders and investment managers may administer your policy, any existing policies you may have with them and provide services, from centres 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 Act even when your personal information is processed outside Europe. 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 (or that of your family); the commission or alleged commission 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. We will retain your data according to the statutory requirements for regulatory products. For instance, if you are given specialist pension advice, the data will be retained indefinitely. If you want details of the statutory retention periods for various product types please contact us and we will obtain the latest legal position on your behalf. 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 at our address. 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 purposes. 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. Prevention of Financial Crime We are required to verify your identity and residency in accordance with anti-money laundering regulations and collect information regarding the purpose and nature of the business that we are arranging for you. Until this has been undertaken we are unable to complete any financial transactions on your behalf. We may use electronic identity verification systems and in signing this agreement you give your permission for such checks to take place. These Terms of Business are governed and shall be construed in accordance with English Law and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

7 Termination The authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time 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 charges that are due for completed transactions and have not yet been collected will be invoiced to you. Declaration & Consent I hereby authorise the transfer of information, as described above on a confidential basis when warranted between such third parties. This Client Agreement will come into effect from the date of issue. Please tick this box if you do not wish for us or any company associated with us to contact you for marketing purposes by , telephone, post or text This is an agreement between Burton and Fisher Financial Services, the Firm, and: Client Name(s) Of Client address Date of Issue to client Date of client signature accepting terms SIGNED BY CLIENT: In signing this document the Firm agrees to provide you with the services explained above and you agree to pay us for our services. This is our standard client agreement on which we intend to rely. For your own benefit and protection you should read these terms carefully before signing them. If there are any terms within this agreement that you do not understand, please ask for further information, as by signing you consent to the terms within. Client Signature SIGNED ON BEHALF OF THE FIRM: Adviser Signature Version9; with effect from 19 th March 2015 Message from the Financial Conduct Authority regarding Lifetime mortgages (equity release mortgages) Think carefully about this information before deciding whether you want to go ahead. If you are at all unsure about which equity release transaction is right for you, you should ask your adviser to make a recommendation.