Terms of Business
2 Place Farm, Wheathampstead, Herts, AL4 8SB. 01582 839280 PIFA Ltd t/a Bluebond Investments is authorised and regulated by the Financial
Services Authority. FSA Register number 230704. PIFA Ltd is registered in England and Wales No
4810989. Registered office as above.
Terms of Business Letter
1. This document 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 you to read it
carefully and if you are unsure of any of its terms please ask.
2. These Terms come into force immediately on issue and remain in force until further
notice.
3. PIFA Ltd is authorised & regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The FSA can be contacted at 25 the North Colonnade, Canary Wharf,
London, E14 5HS.
FINANCIAL PLANNING OBJECTIVES
4. In order to provide you with personal advice and recommendations suitable for your
particular circumstances we will undertake a fact find to gather the appropriate
information. We will then be able to set out clearly your financial planning objectives
based on 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. Details of your stated investment objectives will be set out in a Suitability
Report which we will issue to you to confirm our recommendation. Unless confirmed in
writing, to the contrary, we will assume that you do not wish to place any restrictions
on the advice we give you.
5. You hereby acknowledge that in the event of PIFA Ltd assisting you in the completion
of any investment application or policy proposal forms that you will in any event
continue to bear full responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the
information entered on such forms. Therefore you understand that inclusion of
incorrect information or omission of any material facts may result in the investment or
policy to which the application or proposal relates to being adversely adjusted, made
void and/or any claim’s made against it being refused.
6. We will forward to you all documents showing ownership of your investments/
contracts as soon as practicable after we receive them. All such documents may be
sent by post and is done so at the clients risk.
7. Unless you inform us whether there are any restrictions as to the type of investment,
general insurance or mortgage or their markets on which you want advice, we will only
provide that advice on investments, general insurance or mortgages within our
authorisation and that we believe are suitable for you. We will not provide any service
relating to futures, options or contracts for difference.
8. We are permitted to advise on investments, general insurance and mortgages and
arrange transactions in these products. We may also include unregulated
collective investment schemes where these are suitable for you.
9. With the exception of funds held in our AAA Investment management system, when
we have arranged any Investments, general insurance or mortgage contracts for you,
we will not review or give you further advice unless you request it or an agreed
retainer is being paid by you explicitly for this purpose. However, we will
be glad to advise you at any time you ask us to do so. A formal review service is
available by separate agreement of which we shall be pleased to advise you. Any
received renewal or fund based commission will not qualify as a retainer fee for this
purpose. In conducting insurance mediation activity the firm does not act
contractually on behalf of, or for, its customers & consequently the rules for distance
non Investment mediation contracts do not apply.
10. The advice we provide to you on all contracts is INDEPENDENT on products from the
whole market.
CUSTOMER CLASSIFICATION
11. The firm proposes to classify you in accordance with FSA rules, as a Retail Client.
PAYMENT FOR SERVICES
12. Before providing advice for mortgages you will receive from us an Initial Disclosure
Document , detailing a Fees & Commission Menu , in accordance with FSA rules.
This document sets out how we will be remunerated, This will be by means of a fee
which will be declared to you in writing before any work is carried out on your behalf.
13. You will receive from the life office or operation in question information about any
commission we receive. We will also tell you the amount of commission payable to us
on all contracts. All trail or renewal commission payable by providers belongs to the
Company. We may share commissions with third parties who introduce business to
us.
14. In respect of any plan or policy which we may recommend, 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
commencement of the policy. We will not charge the fee if you exercise your right to
cancel in accordance with the cancellation notice sent to you by the life company.
Details of the commission payable will be notified to you in a specific key features
illustration prior to any transaction proceeding.
15. We require our clients to give us instructions in writing, to avoid possible disputes.
This will usually be in the form of a proposal or application form. We will, however,
accept oral or email instructions in certain instances provided they are subsequently
confirmed in writing.
16. If we receive a commission or other form of benefit from the issuer of a security or
from another intermediary, we will inform you, but we will not tell you its amount
unless you ask us to do so.
17. If you wish to pay for our services by way of a fee, we will provide you with a fee
agreement in relation to any work we undertake in accordance with our Treating
Customers Fairly culture. This agreement will be provided and signed by you in
advance of carrying out any work for you.
CLIENT MONEY
18. For your additional security we do not handle clients money. In respect of
premiums, we never accept a cheque made out to us or handle cash. 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.
ACCOUNTING TO YOU
19. Unless in exceptional circumstances, we will confirm to you in writing the basis of
our reason for recommending the transaction executed on your behalf. We will
make arrangements for all your investments/contracts to be registered in your
name unless you first instruct us otherwise in writing. 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 is involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is
complete and then forward them to you.
20. Unless you specifically request otherwise we may telephone or visit you during
normal social hours to offer you further advice or inform you of products and
services in which you may be interested. We may also contact you by mail or
e-mail. If you do not want to receive such information, please let us know.
FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME
21. We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. You may be
entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This
depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Most types
of investment business are covered for 100% of the first £50,000 per claimant to a
maximum of £50,000 per claimant. Further information about compensation
arrangements is available from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
COMPLAINTS
22. If you should have any complaint about the advice you receive or a product you
have bought please write to the Complaints Officer at 2 Place Farm,
Wheathampstead, Herts, AL4 8SB. If following our subsequent
investigation and response you are still not satisfied you may contact the Financial
Ombudsman Service. Full details are contained within our internal complaints
procedure, which is available to you on request at any time.
CANCELLATION RIGHTS
23. You will not have any cancellation rights for ISAs which are not invested in
packaged products. Nor will you have cancellation rights for execution only
transactions authorised unit trusts & OEIC s whether or not in an ISA. The effect
of cancelling the last component of an ISA has the effect of cancelling the entire
ISA agreement & may also delay you from entering into another ISA agreement
until the next tax year. Where the ISA results from a transfer you may also lose
that ISA allowance.
MATERIAL INTERESTS
24. 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, which 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. There
may be occasions when we will be unable to act for one of the parties.
25. As a consequence of such potential conflicts arising, we have put arrangements in
place to ensure our clients are treated fairly. We have also implemented a
conflicts of interest policy to help us manage such risks, which you may access on
request.
RISK WARNINGS
26. 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. We
cannot be held liable for any depreciation in the value of investments arranged
for you. 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.
TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY
27. 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 which may be outstanding.
DATA PROTECTION
28. We are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998. It is understood that we
keep personal and financial information with regard to your circumstances on file
(electronic and/or paper based) as required to be able to advise you as to your
financial planning needs. We confirm that this information will not be used, or
transferred by us to any other firm or company with the exception of CATS Ltd,
who carry out compliance related file checks for us.
29. We confirm that we cannot be held responsible for the information held on your file
becoming inaccurate due to your change of circumstances if you fail to inform us
of those changes.
30. Where investment business services are provided to PIFA Ltd by third parties then
circumstances may arise which warrant the disclosure of more than just your basic
contact details. On these occasions such as processing business, and obtaining
compliance and regulatory advice you agree that personal information held by
PIFA Ltd may be disclosed on a confidential basis, and in accordance with the
Data Protection Act 1998, to such third parties. You agree that this information
may be transferred electronically, e.g. email. You also agree that we, or any such
company, may contact you in future by any means of communication which we
consider appropriate at the time.
31. We keep records of our business transactions for at least five years. We are
required to verify your identity in accordance with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
and the Money Laundering Regulations 2003. We reserve the right to approach
third parties and to delay any applications until adequate verification of identity
has been obtained.
32. We reserve the right to amend these Terms at our discretion where changes in
regulation, law etc necessitate by giving you notice in writing. These terms of
business shall be governed by and construed according to English Law. Any
disputes shall be determined in the English Courts.
CLIENTS CONSENT
33. I/We understand and consent to the above terms and I hereby authorise the transfer
of information, as described above, on a confidential basis when warranted between
such third parties.
I/We authorise you to liaise with my other professional advisers in exchanging
relevant personal information pertinent to my/our financial planning requirements and
to rely on any such information provided.
I/We agree that these Terms of Business will come into effect from the date of issue.
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