Terms and Conditions
Regulator’s statement
Those who advise on life assurance, pensions or unit trust products are:
EITHERindependent advisersORrepresentatives of one company
Your adviser is independent and will act on your behalf in advising you on life assurance, pensions or unit trust products. Because your adviser is independent he or she can advise you on the products of different companies.
Charlwood Leigh Limited is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). We offer independent advice on and arrange life assurance, pensions, investments in authorised unit trusts, investment trusts, individual savings accounts and personal equity plans. If you make a valid claim against us in respect of these investments which we have arranged for you and we are unable to meet our liabilities in full, you may be entitled to redress from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme; details will be provided on request. Further information is available from the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
We are bound by Financial Services Authority’s rules.
1. This Terms of Business letter will be effective from the date of receipt.
2. Our services
We confirm that we will be happy to act on your behalf with your investment objectives. We are not tied to one insurance company and we are therefore able to survey the whole market in order to find the most suitable product for you. If an occasion arises where we or one of our other clients has an interest, or we become aware of such interests in the business we are arranging for you which may conflict with yours, we will disclose this interest to you in writing and obtain your consent before carrying out your instructions.
3. Our dealings with you
We normally ask our clients to give written instructions before we act for them but, at our discretion, oral instructions will also be acceptable provided they are confirmed in writing. Any advice we give you will normally be in writing, but if given orally, will be recorded in writing in your file.
Once we have arranged the investments for which you have given us instructions we will not provide you with further advice unless requested, at which time we will be happy to do so. For advice on shares, Charlwood Leigh Ltd will direct a client to an authorised stockbroker.
4. Termination
Our authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time, without penalty, by either of us giving the other written notice to that effect. Such termination will be without prejudice to either party’s obligations to complete transactions already initiated on your instructions whether written or oral.
5. Remuneration
We derive our income from commission paid to us by life assurance companies, individual savings accounts managers and unit trust managers with which investments are made. We shall advise you of the amount of commission payable to us on any such investment. We reserve the right to act as an agent for third parties and to share commission received with them.
If, where the work does not result in commission being received, we propose to charge you a fee. We will agree with you in writing beforehand how it will be calculated.
6. Discounts
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 need not quantify the amount unless you ask us to do so.
7. Transaction records
We will account to you for transactions effected on your behalf either by means of a contract note, or by providing documents of title or certificates evidencing title.
We will supply, on request, to you or your appointed agent contract notes, vouchers and copies of entries in our manual or electronic records relating to your transactions. We undertake to maintain such records for six years from the date of each transaction. We treat all client records as confidential.
8. Complaints
If you should have any complaint about the advice or services you have received please contact the Compliance Officer who will acknowledge the issue and send you a copy of our internal complaints procedure. Write to The Compliance Officer, Charlwood Leigh Limited Cameron House, Church Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8EF, UK or telephone 01372 374444.
If, following our investigation and response, you are not satisfied with the outcome, you may refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service and we will provide you with details on how to do this.
9. Client money
WE DO NOT HANDLE CLIENTS’ MONEY. We never accept a cheque made out to us (unless it is in settlement of charges for which we have sent you a bill) or handle cash.
10. Investment documents
All investments will be registered in your name unless you 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 are involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward them to you.
11. Investment Objectives and Restrictions
Following the issue of this letter any advice or recommendation offered to you will be based on your stated investment objectives, attitude to risk and any restrictions you wish to place on the type of investments or markets you are willing to consider. Details of your stated investment objectives will be included in the suitability letter we will issue to you to confirm our recommendation. Unless you confirm in writing to the contrary, we will assume that you do not wish to place any restrictions on the advice we give you.