Terms of Business
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1. We offer independent financial advice, but occasions can arise where we, or one of our other customers, will have some form of interest in business that we are transacting 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 inform you in writing and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions.
2. If we arrange for you to take out a life policy we will not normally charge you a fee for our services because we will receive commission from the life office.
If you subsequently cease to pay premiums on the policy and in consequence we are obliged to refund commission that has been paid to us, we reserve the right to charge you a fee based on the number of hours spent in advising you and arranging the policy, but we will not charge a fee if you exercise your right to cancel the policy in accordance with the cancellation notice sent to you by the life office.
If we recommend to you any policy to which this paragraph applies, we will at the same time inform you in writing of the maximum amount of any such fee and of the latest time at which we would charge it.
3. When we have arranged any investments for which you have given instructions, we will not give you any further advice unless you request it, but will be glad to advise you at any time you ask us to do so.
4. We prefer instructions to be given to us in writing to avoid any possible disputes. If any instructions are given orally then they should be confirmed in writing. We may refuse at our discretion to accept certain instructions, although such discretion will not be exercised unreasonably.
5. We keep records of all your investment transactions for at least six years. You, or your appointed agent, have the right to inspect the records at a mutually convenient time. As we treat all our clients' records as confidential, we reserve the right to give you copies of your records where in certain circumstances to release the original would compromise other clients' confidentiality.
6. We will register all investments in your name unless otherwise agreed in writing. All contract notes and documents of title in respect of your investment will be forwarded to you, unless otherwise instructed in writing, as soon as practicable after being received by us. Where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions are involved, we will normally retain the documents until the series is complete and then we will forward them to you.
7. We maintain professional indemnity insurance.
8. You, or we, may terminate our authority to act on your behalf under these terms of business at any time, without penalty. Notice of this termination must be given in writing and will take effect immediately upon receipt of the notice. Termination will not prejudice the completion of transactions already initiated on your behalf or any rights or obligations already arising.
9. We do not handle clients' money.
We never accept a cheque made out to us (unless it is a cheque in settlement of our charges or disbursements for which we have sent you a fee note) or handle cash.
10. These terms of business exclude any rights which may be conferred upon third parties by the Contracts (Third Party Rights) Act 1999.
12. In order to advise you properly, we must obtain certain information from you about your financial and personal circumstances, to assess your suitability for particular products and services.
You have the right of access under the Data Protection Act 1988 to your personal records held on our files.
By signing these Terms and Conditions of Business:
o You agree that the information we hold about you can be held on computer and/or paper files