by Terms of Business
John Richardson
T/A Richardson Financial Services
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.
Contact Details
John Richardson T/A Richardson Financial Services
Main Street
Ennistymon
Co. Clare
Tel : (065) 7072714
Email : jrichardsonfs@hotnmail.com
Website : www.richardsonfinance.ie
Authorisation with The Central Bank of Ireland
John Richardson T/A Richardson Financial Services is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as a Multi-Agency Intermediary authorised under the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995. Copies of our regulatory authorisations are available on request. The Central Bank of Ireland holds registers of 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. Our Central Bank number is C35316.
John Richardson T/A Richardson Financial Services is subject to the Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code, Fitness & Probity Standards and Handbook of Prudential Requirements for Investment Intermediaries which offer protection to consumers. These Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie
Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to life & pensions & investment products. A full list of insurers, product producers with which we deal is available on request. John Richardson T/A Richardson Financial Services acts as an Independent Broker which means that:
- the principal 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. For a serious illness policy, we will explain clearly to you the restrictions, conditions and general exclusions that attach to that policy.
Sustainability Factors
When providing advice , we consider the adverse impact of investment decisions on sustainability. As part of our research and assessment of products, we will examine the product provider’s literature to compare financial products and to make informed investment decisions about ESG products. We will at all times act in the client’s best interests and keep clients informed accordingly. The consideration of sustainability risks can impact on the returns of financial products.
Our Services
Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to life & pensions & investment products. A full list of insurers, product producers with which we deal is available on request. John Richardson T/A Richardson Financial Services acts as an Independent Broker which means that:
a) the principal 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. For a serious illness policy, we will explain clearly toyou the restrictions, conditions and general exclusions that attach to that policy.
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 particular category of life assurance, pensions and/ or a specialist area. The number of contracts and providers considered must be sufficiently large to enable an 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 fair analysis must be such that could be reasonably expected of a professional conducting business, taking into account the accessibility of information and product placement to intermediaries and the cost of 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:
Life & Pensions
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.
John Richardson T/A Richardson Financial Services provides 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 provide assistance to you for any queries you may have in relation to the policies or in the event of a claim during the life of the policies and we will explain to you the various restrictions, conditions and exclusions attached to your policy. However, it is 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 subject 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 benefits 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.
Disclosure Of Information
Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void.
Remuneration
John Richardson T/A Richardson Financial Services is remunerated by commission and other payments from product producers on the completion of business. You may choose to pay in full for our services by means of a fee. Where we receive recurring commission, this forms part of the remuneration for initial advice provided. We reserve the right to charge additional fees if the number of hours relating to on-going advice/assistance exceeds 3 hrs.
In certain circumstances, it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided. These are listed below for life, non-life business and Standard PRSAs. 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 writing in advance and agree the scale of fees to be charged if different from fees outlined below.
If we receive commission from a product provider, this will be offset against the fee which we will charge you. Where the commission is greater than the fee due, the commission will become the amount payable to the firm unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.
Life Fees
You may elect to deal with us on a fee basis. (It is common to distinguish on the basis of the seniority of the person and between advisers and support staff.)
e.g.: Principles / Directors €200 per hour Support staff €50 per hour
Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency.
Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (Prsas) – Fees
Where advice is requested for PRSAs, the following hourly fees will apply: Advisor fees: €200 per hour. Support staff: €50 per hour.
Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency. We will give an estimate of this rate in advance of providing you with services. If
we receive commission from a product provider, this will be offset against the fee which we will charge you. Where the commission is greater than the fee due, the commission will become the amount payable to the intermediary unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.
Regular Reviews
It is in your best interests that you review, on a regular basis, the products which we have arranged 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 in relation to changes in your circumstances or failure to request a review, may result in you having insufficient insurance cover and/or inappropriate investments.
Conflicts of Interest
It is the policy of our firm to avoid conflicts 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 service.
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 foregoing, the firm will seek reimbursement for all payments made to insurers on behalf of 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.
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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 Ombudsman or the Pensions Ombudsman. A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.
Data Protection
John Richardson T/A Richardson Financial Services complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection
Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018..
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. 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 and Data Protection policy.
You have the right at any time to request a copy of any ‘personal data’ within the meaning of the GDPR that our office holds about you and to have any inaccuracies in that information corrected. Please contact us if you have any concerns about your personal data.
Compensation Scheme
We are members 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 owned or belonging to clients and held, administered 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 in a position to return client money or investment instruments owned or belonging to the clients of the firm; and to the extent that the client’s loss is recognised for the purposes of the Act. Where an 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. at (01) 224 4955.
John Richardson T/A Richardson Financial Services also hold Professional Indemnity Insurance as required under the Insurance Distribution Directive.
Anti-Money Laudering
The provision of investment business advice is a business in the regulated sector under the Criminal Justice ( Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing ) Act 2010 and the Criminal Justice Act 2013 to 2019. If as part of our normal work we have knowledge or suspicion , or have reasonable grounds to know or suspect , that a criminal offence giving rise to any direct or indirect benefit from criminal activity has been committed we are required to make a report to the Gardai and the Revenue Commissioners. In such circumstances , we will be unable to discuss such reports with you because of the restrictions imposed by the tipping off provisions of the anti-money laundering legislation.
Client Identification
As with other professional services firms , we are under stringent requirements to identify our clients for the purposes of the anti-money laundering legislation. We may request from you , and retain , some information and documentation for these purposes and/or to make searches of appropriate databases. If satisfactory evidence of your identity is not provided within a reasonable time , there may be circumstances in which we are not able to proceed with the provision of services.
These Terms of Business shall be governed by and construed with the law of the Republic of Ireland and are valid until further notice.
