Terms & Conditions
1. This Terms of Business Letter sets out the basis on which we will conduct business with you and on your behalf. It is an important document and we would ask that you read it carefully, and if you are unsure of any terms please contact us immediately for an explanation.
2. Dennehy Weller & Co Ltd is authorised and regulated buy the Financial Services Authority (FSA), registration number 114360. This can be checked on the FSA register by visiting the FSA website at www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0300 500 5000.
3. Investment Objectives. If you require personal advice and recommendations suitable to your personal and financial circumstances we will undertake a “Fact Find” to gather the appropriate information. We will then be able to set out clearly your investment objectives. If you do not require personal advice and recommendations, we will act on either a “direct offer” or “execution only” basis. The basis of advice will be made clear to you before any transactions are undertaken.
4. If you have chosen to select your own investment recommendation and are not receiving advice from us on its merits (execution only), you take responsibility for the investment’s suitability to your circumstances. If you are making an investment following an offer presented to you with consideration of your specific circumstances (direct offer) you will also be taking responsibility for the investment’s suitability for your circumstances.
5. Our Relationship: We act as your agent in advising you and arranging investments. We never own the investments that you buy through us. The advice we provide to you will be independent and based on a fair analysis of the market.
6. 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.
7. Client Classification: Unless we notify you in writing to the contrary, we will treat you as a “retail client”. This means 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.
8. We will only provide advice on investments within our authorisation and that we believe are suitable for you. We will not provide any service on futures, options or contracts for differences. We provide investment advice, and arrange transactions in life assurance, pensions, unit trusts, OIECS, and other collective investment schemes, ISAs, Personal Equity Plans, and other securities. In line with common industry practice we no longer offer advice on the suitability or merits of contracting in or out of the State Second Pension. We will upon request provide you with information in order to assist you in this decision process: we do however reserve the right to charge a fee for this service and will make you aware of any costs prior to providing this service.
9. 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.
In respect of any regular premium policy which we arrange for you, should you subsequently cease to pay premiums on the policy and in consequence we are obliged to refund the commission that has been paid to us, we reserve the right to charge you a fee representing the amount we have to repay, for a period of up to four years after the commencement of the policy. We will not charge any such fee if you exercise your right to cancel in accordance with any cancellation notice sent to you by the life insurance company.
There is no additional cost to you for using a means of distance communication.
10. We require our clients to give us instructions in writing, to avoid possible disputes. This will usually be in the form of a proposal form or application form. We will, however, accept oral instructions in certain circumstances provided they are subsequently confirmed in writing.
11. For your protection WE DO NOT HANDLE CLIENTS’ MONEY. We never accept a cheque made out to us (unless it is a cheque in settlement of charges or disbursements for which we have sent you an invoice) or handle cash.
12. We will make arrangement for all your investments to be registered in your name unless you have instructed us otherwise in writing.
13. We will forward to you all documents showing ownership of your investments as soon as practicable after we receive them. Where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions are involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward them to you.
14. Where both partners in a marriage or other relationship are clients, we will send joint valuations and give information to one party with regard to the other’s holdings unless we are advised in writing that each partner should be treated as a separate client.
15. Cancellation Rights: You will not have any cancellation rights for ISAs and PEPs which are not invested in packaged products. Neither for execution only transactions in authorised unit trusts whether or not in an ISA or PEP.
Where you do have a right to cancel, in general terms, you will have a 30 day cancellation period for a life, pure protection, or pension policy, and a 14 day cancellation period for other policies. 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 that 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, in certain circumstances you may not get back the full amount invested due to market movements.
16. Conflicts of interest: We will always endeavour to act in the best interests of our clients. However, occasions can arise where we, or one of our other clients, may have some form of interest in business which we are transacting for you. If this happens, or if 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. There may be occasions when we will be unable to act for one of the parties.
17. Risk warnings: Non readily realisable investments will generally have a restricted market, and therefore it may be difficult to deal in that investment or to obtain reliable information about its value. The value of investments may go down as well as up, and you may not get back the amount invested. Levels of income from investments may fluctuate, and/or affect the capital value of the investment. 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. Full details of the products we may recommend to you including, for example, your rights and obligations, the minimum duration of the contract, information relating to the right to cancel, or if no right to cancel exists and any other early termination rights and penalties will be covered in the relevant product disclosure information you receive before conclusion of the contract.
18. Complaints: If you should have any complaint about the advice you receive or a product you have bought please write to the Compliance Officer at the above address. Your complaint will be investigated in accordance with the firm’s complaints handling procedure, a copy of which will be supplied to you. If you are not happy with the way we have carried out our investigation or the result you may be entitled to complain directly to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
19. Termination: You, or we, may terminate our authority to act on your behalf at any time, without prejudice to the completion of any transactions already initiated, and without penalty. Notice of this termination must be given in writing and will take effect from the date of receipt. You will be liable to pay for any transaction made prior to termination and any fees outstanding if applicable.
20. Reviews: Any products we have arranged for you will not be kept under review unless we agree as part of our services. Should our business relationship be terminated in the future, reviews will no longer take place from the date of termination by either party. We may contact you in the future by means of an unsolicited promotion (by telephone, email 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.
When we have arranged any investments for you we will not give you further advice unless you request it, but will be glad to advise you at any time you ask us to do so.
21. 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 us 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 the information held by us may be disclosed on a confidential basis, and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 to any such third party. You also agree that this information may be transferred electronically, for example by 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 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 controls in place to ensure that your information is adequately protected, and they will remain bound by the obligation under the Data Protection Act even when your personal information is processed outside Europe.
We confirm that we cannot be held responsible for the information held on your file becoming inaccurate due to your change in circumstances if you fail to inform us of those changes.
22. Records: We keep records of your business transactions for at least six years and indefinitely for pension transfers, pension opt-outs, and Free Standing Additional Voluntary Contributions. You may inspect copies of all documents on your client file. We treat all clients’ records as confidential so we reserve the right to give you copies of your particular records rather than allow access to files containing records about other clients. We maintain the highest standards of confidentiality with regard to information we hold about our clients.
23. We are required to verify your identity in accordance with Money Laundering regulations, and no investment will be made until such verification has been obtained.
24. 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. 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 will supersede any previously agreed terms and acknowledge receipt of our Services and Costs Disclosure Document “Keyfacts about our Services and Costs”.
I also confirm that I am happy to give Dennehy Weller & Co my express consent to contact me by telephone, post or email to discuss advising on or arranging financial products in future.
August 2009
Dennehy Weller & Co,
2nd Floor
3 High Street
Chislehurst
Kent
BR7 5AB
Tel: 020 8467 1666
Fax: 020 8467 6883