Terms of Business – Effective from Feb 2023
Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a Irelandinsurance/Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com
Please find enclosed our Terms of Business, please read carefully, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
FINANCIAL PLANNER TECHNOLOGY LTD T/A IRELANDINSURANCE/FINANCIAL PLANNER/IRELANDMORTGAGES.COM
These terms of business set out the general terms under which our firm will provide business services to you and the respective duties and responsibilities of both the firm and you in relation to such services. Please ensure that you read these terms thoroughly and if you have any queries we will be happy to clarify them. If any material changes are made to these terms we will notify you.
AUTHORISATION WITH THE CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND
Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a Irelandinsurance/Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an insurance intermediary registered under the European Communities (Insurance Mediation) Regulation 2005 and as a Mortgage Intermediary authorised under the Consumer Credit Act 1995. Copies of our regulatory authorisations are available on request. The Central Bank of Ireland holds registers for regulated firms. You may contact the Central Bank of Ireland on 1890 777 777 or alternatively visit their website at www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.
CODES OF CONDUCT
Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a Irelandinsurance /Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com are subject to the Consumer Protection Code, minimum Competency Code and Fitness & Probity Standards which offer protection to consumers. These codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie.
OUR SERVICES
Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a Irelandinsurance /Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com are member of Brokers Ireland. As a member of Brokers Ireland, we must be able to place insurance with a least five insurers of the relevant from (life/non-life) and therefore can give customers greater choice than agents and tied agents. Our principle business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to life/pension/mortgages and general insurance products. A full list of insurers, product providers and lending agencies with which we deal with is available must be sufficiently large to enable intermediary to recommend a product that would be adequate to meet a client’s needs.
The number of providers that constitutes “sufficiently large” will vary depending on the number of providers operating in the market for a particular product or service and their relative importance in and share of that market. The extent of faire analysis must be such that could be reasonably expected of a professional conducting business, considering the accessibility of information and product placement to intermediaries and the cost the search. In order to ensure that the number of contracts and providers is sufficiently large to constitute a fair analysis of the market, we will consider the following criteria below on request.
Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a Irelandinsurance /Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com acts as an independent Broker which means that a) the principle regulated activities of the firm are provided on the basis of a fair analysis of the market; and b) you have the option to pay in full for our services by means of a fee.
FAIR ANALYSIS
The concept of fair analysis is derived from the Insurance Mediation Directive. It describes the extent of the choice of products and providers offered by an intermediary within a category of life assurance, general insurance, mortgages and/or a specialist area. The number of contracts and providers considered.
The needs of the customer
The size of the customer order
The number of providers in the market that deal with brokers.
The market share of each of those providers
The number of relevant products available from each provider
The availability of information about the products
The quality of the product and service provided by the provider
Cost and
Any other relevant consideration
LIFE & PENSIONS
Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a Irelandinsurance/Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com providers life assurance and pensions on a fair analysis basis i.e. providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available on the market to enable us to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your needs.
We will aid you for any queries you may have in relation to the policies, or in the event of a claimduring the life of the policies and we will explain to you the various restrictions, conditions and exclusions attached to your policy. It is, however, your responsibility to read the policy documents, literature and brochures to ensure that you understand the nature of the policy cover, particularly in relation to PHI and Serious Illness policies.
Specifically on the submit of permanent health insurance policies it is our policy to explain to you a) the meaning of disability as defined in the policy b) the benefit available under the policy c) the general exclusions that apply to the policy and d) the reductions applied to the benefit where there are disability payments from other sources. For a serious illness policy, we will explain clearly to you the restrictions, conditions and general exclusions that attach to that policy.
Our company does not charge a fee to arrange a policy on your behalf as we received commission from the life companies however in the event of a policy being cancelled within the first 12 months of premiums being paid the life company will claw back commission paid to our firm. In this instance our firm will charge the client an arrangement fee equalling the claw backed commission. Therefore, we would ask our clients to contact us in advance of cancelling any policy so that we can either review your plan or come to an agreed fee.
NON LIFE
Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a Irelandinsurance/Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com can refer general insurance to another broker. Financial Planner partners can provide advice on and arrange products from the following range: household, motor, commercial, public liability, employer liability and travel insurance. Brokers can tailor this to include any extra services offered.
MORTGAGES
Through the lenders or other undertakings with which we hold an agency, Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a Irelandinsurance/Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com can provide advice onthe arrange mortgage products from the following range: fixed-rate loans, variable rate mortgages, capital & interest mortgages, interest only mortgages, endowment mortgages, pension mortgages and residential and residential investment property.
Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a I Irelandinsurance/Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com provides mortgage advice on a fair analysis basis (providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available on the market to enable the firm to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your needs).
We will need to collect enough information from you before we can offer any advice on housing loans. This is because a key issue in relation to mortgage advice is affordability. Such information should be produced promptly upon our request.
Disclosure of Information
Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void. Financial Planner is remunerated by commission and other payments from product producers or lenders on the completion of business. You may choose to pay in full for our services by means of a fee. In certain circumstances, it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided. In other circumstances where fees are chargeable or where you choose to pay in full for our service by fee, we will notify you in advance and agree the scale of fees to be charged. Our fees will not necessarily be offset against any commission that we may receive. Where we receive recurring commission, this forms part of the remuneration for initial advice provided.
ADVISORY FEES
You may elect to deal with us on a fee only basis; we have a minimum fee of €250 per consultation thereafter an hourly rate applies which could range from €100-€200 per hour. Each client will be notified in advance of our fee for an advisory service. Additionally, fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency.
If you do not wish to engage our firm on a fee only basis, we are remunerated by commission income from product procedures on the completion of business.
In certain circumstances it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided in order to ensure we provide expert independent advice. If you do not wish to proceed with a product or service where we have been engaged by you, appropriate fees will apply. A minimum fee of €100 per hour will apply in these circumstances to be determined by our firm.
If we received commission from the product provider and a fee for our service in this case if we are to offset the fee against commissioned earned, we will advise in advance.
FEE STRUCTURE (THIS IS DETERMINED WITH THE CLIENT AHEAD OF ENGAGEMENT DEPENDING ON THE LEVEL OF ADVISOR REQUIRED)
OUR CP116 RENUMERATION DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE ON ALL OUR WEBSITES, ON REQUEST AND DISPLAYED IN OUR OFFICE.
CLAWBACK
Please note in the first 4 years of the policy if it is cancelled our company is clawed back on a pro- rata basis. So, in this instance we reserve the right to charge a fee equal to the loss of renumeration taken by back by the provider. This fee is chargeable to cover our time and expertise in advising and arranging the insurance plan. This fee will depend on the type of policy and how long it is in force. Also we will take into consideration the circumstances of cancellation and will work with our clients to agree a favorable fee to both parties.
REGULAR REVIEWS
It is in your best interest that you review on a regular basis the products which we have arrange for you. As your circumstances change your needs will change, you must advise us of those changes and request a review of the relevant policy so that we can ensure that you are provided with up to date advice and products best suited to your needs. Failure to contact us of changes in your circumstances or request a review may result in you having insufficient insurance cover and/or in appropriate investments.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
It is the policy of our firm to avoid conflict of interest in providing services to you. However, where an unavoidable conflict of interest arises, we will advise you of this in writing before providing you with any services.
DEFAULT ON PAYMENTS BY CLIENTS
Our firm will exercise its legal rights to receive payments due to it from clients (fees and insurance premiums) for services provided. In particular; without limitation of the generality of the forgoing, the firm will seek reimbursement for all payments made to insurers on behalf of the clients where the firm has acted in good faith in renewing a policy of insurance for the client.
Product Producers may withdraw benefits or cover in the event of default on payments due under policies of insurance or other products arranged for you. We would refer you to policy documents or product terms for the details of such provisions.
Mortgage lenders may seek early payment of a loan and interest if you default on your payments. Your home is at risk if you do not maintain your agreed repayments.
COMPLAINTS
We ask that you make any complaint against our firm relating to services provided by us in writing. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 business days, and we will fully investigate it. On completion of our investigation, we will provide you with a written report of the outcome. In the event that you are still dissatisfied with our handling of or response to your complaint, you are entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman at Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2, D02 VH29, 01 567 7000 or info@fspo.ie. A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.
DATA PROTECTION
Financial Planner complies with the requirements of the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003. The data which you provide to us will be held on a computer database and paper files for the purpose of arranging transactions on your behalf. We would also like to keep you informed of mortgage, insurance, investment and any other services provided by us or associated companies with which we have a formal business arrangement and which we think may be of interest to you. We would like to contact you by way of letter, email or telephone call. If you do not wish to receive such marketing information, please tick the box in the client acknowledgement section. We may receive referrals from such firms and may advise them of any transactions arranged by you.
We are subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018. Financial Planner Technology Ltd t/a Irelandinsurance/Financial Planner/Irelandmortgages.com is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We wish to be transparent on how we process your data and show you that we are accountable with the GDPR in relation to not only processing your data but ensuring you understand your rights as a client. The data will be processed only in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was given and as outlined in our Data Privacy Notice; this will be given to all our clients at the time of data collection.
We will ensure that this Privacy Notice is easily assessible. Please refer to our website www.financialplanner.ie if this medium is not suitable we will ensure you can easily receive a copy by hard copy, or telephonic environment. (pre-recorded). Please contact data protection officer at info@financialplanner.ie if you have any concerns about your personal data.’
COMPENSATION SCHEME
Financial Planner is a member of the Investor Compensation Scheme operated by the Investor Compensation Company Ltd. See below for details.
INVESTOR COMPENSATION SCHEME
The Investor Compensation Act 1998 provides for the establishment of a compensation scheme and the payment, in certain circumstances, of compensation to certain clients (known as eligible investors) of authorised investment firms, as defined in that Act.
The Investor Compensation Company Ltd (ICCL) was established under the 1998 Act to operate such a compensation scheme and our firm is a member of this scheme.
Compensation may be payable where money or investment instruments owed or belonging to clients and held, administrated or managed by the firm cannot be returned to those clients for the time being and where there is no reasonably foreseeable opportunity of the firm being able to do so.
A right to compensation will arise only:
- If the client is an eligible investor as defined in the Act; and
- If it transpires that the firm is not able to return client money or investment instruments
- owned or belonging to the client of the firm and
- To the extent that the client’s loss is recognised for the purposes of the Act
- Where entitlement to compensation is established, the compensation payable will be the lesser of 90% of the amount of the client’s loss which is recognised for the purposes of the Investor Compensation Act 1998 or compensation of up to €20,000
For further information contact the Investor Compensation Company Ltd (01) 2244955. If you do not wish to receive such marketing information, please tick the box in the Terms of Business acknowledgement letter.
I have read and agree to the terms and conditions set out in the above terms of business.
Brendan Kelly, Financial Advisor, 2023