Client Agreement
REGULATOR'S STATEMENT
From the 1st December 2004 it is possible for firms to offer financial advice in the following ways:
*Covering the whole of the market,
*From a limited number of providers or
*From a single provider.
Falcon Group Plc offer advice covering the whole of the market.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS
Under the rules of our regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) we are required to provide you with our Terms and Conditions of Business. A copy is for you to keep. Please sign and return the duplicate to Falcon Group Plc. Once Falcon Group Plc is in receipt of the duplicate signed copy, the Terms and Conditions will become effective and each party will be bound by these terms and conditions until terminated by either party. 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 immediately upon receipt of the notice. Termination will not prejudice the completion of transactions already initiated on your behalf or any rights or obligations already arising.
Falcon Group Plc are Independent Financial Advisers and are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (the FSA) and are bound by the FSA's rules. Falcon Group Plcs FSA Firm registration number is 114661 and this can be viewed on the FSAs firm register at www.fsa.gov.uk or by contacting the FSA on 0845 6061234.
Falcon Group Plc are authorised as Investment Advisers and Investment Intermediaries. We will act on your behalf to arrange, effect and provide independent advice on all packaged products, including advice on and arranging deals in Unit Trusts, Open Ended Investment Companies, Investment Trusts, Personal Equity Plans / Individual Savings Accounts and other regulated schemes along with providing a Discretionary Management Service and PEP / ISA Plan Management. We are also authorised to advise on and arrange deals in Life Assurance, Pension Products and Mortgages according to your objectives and covering the whole of the market.
As Falcon Group Plc are not tied to one company's products we are therefore able to be impartial when arranging, effecting and providing independent advice on all packaged products, life, pensions and other investment contracts according to your objectives. You will be provided with a Key Facts document About our services and this will be explained to you before any work is undertaken.
We may also advise on products such as bank and building society deposits, buy to let mortgages, offshore investments and unregulated collective investment schemes, which are not regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Except for deposits, these are not offered protection by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Not all firms charge for advice in the same way. We will discuss your payment options with you and answer any questions you have. We will not charge you anything until you have agreed how we are to be paid. The following are the payments options that we offer:
Paying by fee. Whether you buy a product or not, you will pay us a fee for our advice and services. If we also receive commission from the product provider when you buy a product, we will pass on the full value of that commission to you in one or more ways. For example, we could reduce our fee; or reduce your product charges; or increase your investment amount; or refund the commission to you.
Paying by commission (or product charges). If you buy a financial product, we will normally receive commission on the sale from the product provider. Although you pay nothing up front, that does not mean our service is free. You still pay us indirectly through product charges. Product charges pay for the product providers own costs and any commission. These charges reduce the amount left for investment. If you buy direct, the product charges could be the same as when buying through an adviser, or they could be higher or lower. We will tell you how much the commission will be before you complete an investment, but you may ask for this information
earlier.
Paying by a combination of commission and fee. In some circumstances, we also charge a fee on top of any commission we might receive.
For regulated transactions our fee information will be communicated to you via our Key Facts About the Cost of Our Services.
Where we arrange a contract on your behalf we will agree with you at outset any continuing services, such as contract reviews, valuations and further advice you may expect to receive and how much these services may cost.
As stated above, we offer independent financial advice, but occasions can arise when we, or one of our other clients, will have some form of interest in business that we are transacting for you. If this happens, or we become aware that our interests or one of our other clients conflict with your interests, we will inform you in writing and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions.
In order to advise you properly, we must obtain certain information from you about your financial and personal circumstances, to assess your suitability for particular products and services. We will identify your investment objectives where there are any and we will confirm our recommendations to you in writing.
When we have arranged any investments for you for which you have given instructions, we will not give you any further advice unless you request it, but will be glad to advise you at any time you ask us to do so.
We prefer instructions to be given to us in writing to avoid any possible disputes. If any instructions are given orally then they should be confirmed in writing.
Where we have arranged a contract for you and you subsequently contact that contract provider directly to alter the products or services you receive from them, we may, as the servicing agent receive payment from that provider in relation to any change you make. We will not be held responsible for any contract alteration where you have acted without our advice. We will confirm any payment we receive to you in writing at the appropriate time.
We keep records of all your investment transactions for at least 6 years. You, or your appointed agent, have the right to inspect the records at a mutually convenient time. As we treat all our client records as confidential, we reserve the right to give you copies of your records where in certain circumstances releasing the original would compromise other clients confidentiality. Unless you tell us otherwise, where we may arrange investments for couples or joint parties we will assume that information can be passed freely between us and those parties involved with the contract.
We will register all investments in your name unless otherwise agreed in writing. All contract notes and documents of title in respect of your investment will be forwarded to you, unless otherwise instructed in writing, as soon as practicable after being received by us. Where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions are involved, we will normally retain the documents until the series is complete and then we will forward them to you.
All monies belonging to clients are held in a separate account. This is a designated client account and all client account monies are segregated from the company's money. Where money is held on the client's account and for some reason has not been committed for investment, arrangements will be made for it's prompt return to the client by crossed cheque pending their further instructions. In usual circumstances interest will not be payable on any credit balance on the client account. We never handle cash.
Falcon Group Plc also maintain Professional Indemnity Insurance.
Falcon Group Plc takes care to provide the highest standards of service. However, in the event that you should have a complaint, please contact The Complaints Officer on 0117 9291012 or in writing to the address given at the foot of this agreement. Your complaint will be formally acknowledged and you will be sent a copy of our formal complaints procedure. The matter will be investigated in line with our procedures and in accordance with the rules and our findings will be reported to you. If you are still unhappy with the outcome you will have the right to take any eligible complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service and details of how to do so will be provided at this stage.
If you make a valid claim against the company 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; The Financial Services Compensation Scheme provides protection against an authorised investment firm going out of business. Limits of protection will be disclosed to you via a Key Facts About our services document. Further information is available from the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
By signing these terms and conditions of business:
1. You Agree that the information we hold about you can be held on computer and/or paper files.
2. You agree that information which you give us may be disclosed to third parties (e.g. credit reference agencies and product providers) for the purpose of processing your application or to another firm upon sale of all or part of our business.
3. You agree that we may use the information that we hold about you to contact you from time to time by post, fax, e-mail or telephone to bring to your attention additional products or services which may be of benefit to you.
4. We agree that any consent given by you under paragraph 3 above may be withdrawn by you at any time by contacting us in writing at the address below.
These terms of business will come into effect once signed by you.
I / We acknowledge receipt of the following documents (please tick as applicable):
1. Terms and Conditions of Business Letter (Version 10 Falcon/ DMD 01/09/06)
2. Initial Disclosure Document (Key Facts About our Services)
3. Menu (Key Facts About the Cost of our Services)
and by my / our signature(s) confirm that I / we have read and understood the same and agree to be bound by them.
Signed
Signed
Print Name:
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Address:
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Date
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