Tel: 0845 600 8350 | advice@sb-am.co.uk
Terms Of Business
Scholes & Brown Limited
Scholes & Brown Limited is authorised to conduct investment business under the Financial Services & Markets Act 2000 and is regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Your adviser is independent and will act on your behalf in advising you on life assurance, pensions and investments from different companies.
INVESTMENT SERVICES
We are permitted to arrange (bring about) deals in investments and advise on investments. The particular investment types relate to life assurance, pensions, investments in authorised collective investment schemes, unit trusts, PEPs and ISAs.
With regard to investments which we have arranged for you, these will not be kept under review but we will advise you upon your request. However, we may contact you in the future by means of an unsolicited promotion to discuss the relative merits of an investment or service which we feel may be of interest to you.
CLIENT MONEY
WE DO NOT HANDLE CLIENT 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.
MATERIAL INTERESTS
We offer independent advice, but occasions can arise where we or one of our other clients will have some form of interest in business being transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your interests, we will write to you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions, and detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.
TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY
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 that may be outstanding.
FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME
If you make a valid claim against us in respect of the investments we arrange 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 of the cover provided by the Investors Compensation Scheme are given in a leaflet which will be sent to you at your request. Further information is available from the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
COMPLAINTS
If you have any complaints about the advice you receive or a product you have bought, please write to The Compliance Director at Scholes & Brown Limited, The Stables, St Thomas Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, NE1 4LE. 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.
RIGHT TO WITHDRAW
In the case of a non-packaged product ISA or PEP recommended we will inform you in writing of any right to withdraw or cancel you may have or, if it is the case, we will inform you in writing that no such rights will apply.
CLIENT RISK
You are advised that because some investments can fall as well as rise in value, you may not get back the full amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
DISCLOSURE OF CLIENTS’ PERSONAL DATA
Where investment business services are provided to us 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 us 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 ourselves or any such third party or any such company may contact you in future by any means of communication which we consider appropriate at the time.
PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY COVER
We maintain a Professional Indemnity Policy for the protection of our clients in the event of negligence by any employee of the Company and details of this, including the current limits of indemnity, are available on request.
CLIENT CLASSIFICATION
All clients must be identified as either Private or Intermediate Customers. In your case we will identify you as a Private Customer. Private Customers are by far the largest category of customer. These customers rely on the firm to provide investment advice and are therefore owed the highest duty of care by the financial adviser.
Intermediate Customers are customers who by their profession or investment experience may wish to be treated as an “expert” customer. If this is the case we will give a written warning that you will lose the benefit of the arrangements under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 which provides for the protection of private customers.
MONEY LAUNDERING
To meet our statutory requirements under the Financial Services Authority Money Laundering Regulations we will be required to obtain varying documentation to confirm identity and may instruct a search with a credit reference agency to confirm residency and registration on the electoral roll.
PAYMENT FOR SERVICES
We normally derive our income from commission paid to us by fund managers and life assurance companies and the operators of collective investment schemes through which investments are made. We shall tell you the amount of commission payable to us on any such investment.
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.
Alternatively, if you or we propose to operate on a fee basis, we will agree its basis, frequency and method with you in writing before we carry out any chargeable work. Should we receive commission from any third party in relation to transactions arranged for you, we will offset in full the amount received against any fees due.
ACCOUNTING TO YOU
Unless in exceptional circumstances, we will confirm to you in writing the basis or our reason for recommending the transaction executed on your behalf.
We will also make arrangements for all your investments 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 has 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.
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES & RESTRICTIONS
Following the issue of this letter any subsequent advice or recommendation offered to you will be 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 included in the suitability letter we will issue to you to confirm our recommendations. Unless confirmed in writing to the contrary, we will assume that you do not wish to place any restrictions on the advice we give to you.
CLIENT CONSENT
I/we understand and consent to the above terms and I/we hereby authorise the transfer of information as described above on a confidential basis when warranted between such third parties. I/we agree the Terms of Business will come into effect from the date of issue.
