Terms of Business

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General Insurance

James Ryan Thornhill Ltd
41 Wollaton Road, Beeston, Nottingham. NG9 4RN
Tel: 0115 922 8181 Fax: 0115 922 4212
e.mail: compliance.officer@jrtltd.co.uk

These terms of business are effective from 14th January 2005 and supersede all previous versions.

SECTION 1 Regulation.

We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Our FSA Register number is 306095 and you may check our membership and our permitted business by contacting the FSA, telephone 0845 606 1234, or via Internet site www.fsa.gov.uk/register/.

Our full legal title, status and contact particulars are shown on the letter heading of these terms of business.

SECTION 2 Our service

In arranging insurance for our customers, we will usually act independently as an intermediary. However there may be occasions when facilities or arrangements that we hold with a specific insurer, or group of insurers, will be proposed to meet your needs.

Our service includes advising you on your insurance needs, arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your requirements and helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make. We can also assist you with making a claim.

We sell and advise on a wide range of both personal and commercial insurance products. Where we provide advice or recommendation it is on the basis of a fair analysis of the market from a wide range of insurers. Where we feel it is appropriate to your needs we may offer facilities or arrangements that we hold with a specific insurer or group of insurers, and will advise you that we are offering a choice that we believe is representative of the market.

With certain classes of insurance you will be asked to complete a proposal form. We will be happy to provide advice and assistance in order to help you with this, but you are responsible for the absolute accuracy of all answers given. Other contracts may be arranged electronically, or using a simple Statement of Facts. In these circumstances also the accuracy and completeness of all answers given is wholly your responsibility. We refer to the following section concerning your duty of disclosure.

Please note that we may offer services that are not an insurance product and therefore not covered by Financial Services Authority (FSA) Regulations. We will give you full details of any such arrangements before you make any commitment on any product we offer you.

SECTION 3 Duty of Disclosure

It is your responsibility as a proposed insured to disclose to insurers all material information when obtaining cover, whether or not a proposal form is applicable or completed. There is no duty upon the insurer to make enquiries and the burden falls upon you as the insured.

Information is material if it would have an effect on an insurer's judgement in what rate or terms to offer, or whether to offer cover at all. If any information is incorrect, misrepresented, or omitted then insurers may have the right to void the policy. The effect of this is that the policy was never in effect; your insurance policy could be invalid or covers not operate fully.

This duty of disclosure arises when the insurance is first arranged and at each subsequent renewal or alteration. An insurer may include a policy condition that you advise of changes through the term of the policy. The duty of disclosure also arises when you complete a claim form.

If you are in any doubt about whether information is material, it should be disclosed.

You are reminded that it is an offence under the Road Traffic Act to make any false statements or withhold any relevant information to obtain an Insurance Certificate.

SECTION 4 Information about the Insurance.

We will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that:

We provide you with adequate information in a timely way to enable you to make an informed decision about the proposed insurance. For retail customers this means providing information in a manner prescribed by the FSA.
We explain to you the differences between, and the relative costs, of the types of insurance that we think will meet your needs.
We explain the key features of the insurance proposed including the essential cover and benefits, any significant or unusual restrictions, exclusions, conditions or obligations, and also the period of cover.
We will explain the differences between the insurance proposed and your stated requirements, if we are unable to meet those requirements.
We advise you of how long quotations and renewal terms are valid for.

Note that quotations are subject to change in respect of the amount of premium indicated, and/or the terms and conditions that are applied.

SECTION 5 Confirmation of Cover

We will provide you with cover notes or written confirmation that cover has been effected and the terms that are applicable, as well as the identity of the insurer(s) concerned.

You agree that you will review the information provided upon receipt and advise us immediately if any of the information does not meet with your approval or requirements, or does not reflect the instructions given by you, and particularly if the cover you require is excluded.

Where a full policy wording is required we shall provide this as soon as practicable.

You should read through all policy terms, conditions and warranties shown on your policy documentation to ensure that you understand them and are able to follow their requirements exactly. If not, you should advise us immediately, as a breach of any terms, conditions or warranties may enable your insurer to terminate your policy from the date of that breach, and/or repudiate a claim under your policy.

SECTION 6 Payment of Premium.

We will advise you of premiums due at the time of providing a quotation and at each subsequent renewal. The premium is due on or before the attachment of cover and in order that we may settle our account with insurers we will require payment within the terms specified in our correspondence or invoice to you. Where no terms are specified payments is due immediately.

Other taxes or costs, or both, may exist in relation to the products and services offered by us, which are not paid through, nor imposed, by us.

Note that we shall not be able to process a claim if the premium for the relevant period of cover has not been paid and reserve the right to offset claims payments received against premiums outstanding.

You agree that prompt payment of the premium is your responsibility. We may offer credit terms or accept payment by certain credit/debit cards, and shall advise you of these options when we discuss your insurance in detail. In order to be able to offer you credit facilities, we are registered under the Consumer Credit Act, registration 484341.

Return premiums that arise during the currency of your policy will usually be credited to your account, or paid to any premium finance company in accordance with the terms of their agreement. We operate a rolling account basis whereby such refunds are held over to credit against future transactions.

In good time before the renewal of your policy, we shall contact you with the renewal premium and terms for the coming year. Where your premium is paid by monthly instalment using credit facilities, we shall renew the policy automatically on your behalf and revise your direct debit instruction accordingly.

If you do not wish to renew the policy, please let us know as soon as possible. You should also cancel your direct debiting instruction with your bank prior to renewal date.

We shall send your new certificate of insurance to you as soon as payment is received or processed.

SECTION 7 Cancellation Rights (Mediation Contract)

This section is only applicable to retail customers. A retail customer is defined by the FSA as an individual who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business or profession

The Mediation Contract is the agreement between you and us for the provision of insurance mediation services in respect of your insurance requirements.

Once you have entered into the Mediation Contract with us, you are entitled to a period of reflection during which you may decide whether to proceed with the purchase of the Mediation Contract. The duration of this cancellation period is 14 days and commences from either:

The day of conclusion of the Mediation Contract; or
The day on which you receive the full terms of the Mediation Contract detailing the full contractual terms, conditions and information of the contract whichever is later.

To cancel this Mediation Contract within the cancellation period, please write to us at the above address. If you do cancel this Mediation Contract within the cancellation period, you may be charged by your insurer for the cover provided and a proportion of any of our fees that you have incurred.

Either party can cancel this Mediation Contract at any time by giving 14 days notice in writing. If you wish to give notice of cancellation, please write to us at the above address. If we wish to cancel this Mediation Contract we shall write to you at the last known address we have for you on our records.

SECTION 8 Financial Matters.

Premiums that we collect from you are held in accordance with regulations determined by the FSA, in a statutory trust account. The terms of this trust are to protect customers' money in the event of insolvency and regulations dictate the type of bank and nature of account(s) that we may hold.

Retail clients should note that we might forward premium payments to other authorised intermediaries or agents operating specialist schemes or facilities and agree that we have your consent for this. In managing and operating this account we incur handling costs, which we offset against the interest we may, from time to time, earn. It is not our policy to account to individual clients for this interest and it is agreed that we have consent for this.

We will clearly identify the premium cost of each insurance policy we arrange, and not impose any additional charge or fee without clearly disclosing the amount and purpose of this before you incur any obligation to us. We do charge for mid term alterations to reflect the work they require. Our standard fees are; duplicate documents £25.00, policy cancellation £25.00, other mid term change £25.00 or as may be from time to time amended. These may be reduced at our discretion. We repay commission on refund premiums to your insurer and this amount will be deducted from the final amount refunded to you.

We remind all clients that we earn commission from insurers for arranging insurance at the time that cover attaches. In the event of subsequent cancellation of cover we shall retain the full amount of commission due, in addition to the fee detailed above.

Full details of our commission earnings are available to customers upon request.

We earn additional income from other aspects of the conduct of our business, such as commission from premium finance companies, additional commission from insurers for account performance such as profitability or prompt settlement, introducers' fees from claims management transactions. These are frequently difficult to attribute to an individual clients business but we will use reasonable efforts to estimate these upon request.

SECTION 9 Claims

In claims matters we have no authority to handle claims for an insurer. In the event of any incident occurring that may give rise to a claim under your policy, you should notify the insurer in accordance with the directions contained in your policy document, as soon as possible. If you require help or guidance please contact us by telephone 0115 922 8181, fax 0115 022 4212 or at 41 Wollaton Road, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 2RN; Please note our regular office hours.

When we receive notification of an incident that might give rise to a claim under your policy, we will inform the insurer without avoidable delay. We shall use our best endeavours when acting on your behalf in relation to a claim, to handle all elements of the claim with due care, skill and diligence.

We will advise you promptly of insurers' requirements concerning claims, including any request for information required to establish the nature and extent of a loss.

If there is any conflict of interest, we shall only handle a claim on your behalf after we have disclosed to you all information you require, to enable you to decide whether to give your informed consent, and once you have confirmed that consent in writing.

We reserve the right to request payment of all outstanding premiums in the event of a claim.

We reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee for our services if you wish us to handle claims after you cease to be a client, and we agree to such appointment.

SECTION 10 Documentation & Records.

We will maintain records of insurance contracts arranged, and claims presented, in accordance with good industry practice. We will automatically destroy these after these periods have elapsed unless you advise otherwise. For continued storage we may require a fee.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that all information, documentation or other client property is securely held.

SECTION 11 Market Security.

In selecting an appropriate insurer a wide range of factors is considered, including the financial standing and security of that insurer. We are unable to guarantee the future ability of an insurer to meet obligations to policyholders and, therefore, any final decision to accept the security of the insurer offered rests with the client.

SECTION 12 Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)

We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim.

Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £2000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of insurance, insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without any upper limit.

Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.

SECTION 13 Confidentiality, data protection and data use.

We will treat any personal (or other) information we receive from you with utmost confidentiality and respect, and in accordance with Data Protection legislation - where this is applicable.

We will only use and disclose the information we have about customers in the normal course of arranging and administering their insurances, and will not disclose any information to any other parties without their written consent. Unless we are notified of any changes, we shall assume the personal and sensitive data we hold about our customers is correct, and shall use it to provide quotations (and alternative quotations, where appropriate) when policies fall due for renewal.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, individuals have a right to see personal information about them that we hold in our records. A charge may be made for this service. If you wish to exercise this right, or have any other related queries, you should write to us at the above address.

From time to time we may disclose information we hold to other companies within our Group in order that they, or we, may inform you of other services that may be of benefit or interest to you. If you prefer not to receive further information would you please write to us at the address heading this terms of business document.

SECTION 14 Fraud Registers

Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register and Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud Register

Insurers pass information to the Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register operated by Database Services Ltd and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud Register compiled by the Association of British Insurers. The objective is to check information provided and to prevent fraudulent claims. Motor insurance details are also added to the Motor Insurance Database operated by the Motor Insurers' Information Centre (MIIC), which has been formed to help identify uninsured drivers and may be accessed by the Police to help confirm who is insured to drive. In the event of an accident, this database may be used by Insurers, MIIC and the Motor Insurance Bureau to identify relevant policy information. Other insurance related databases might also be added in the future.

SECTION 15 Complaints

It is our intention to always try to provide you with excellent service.

However, if, at any time you are dissatisfied with the service we provide, we have a formal complaints procedure. You should, therefore, take the following course of action:

In the first instance you should discuss your complaint with the member of staff with whom you have been dealing.

If you remain dissatisfied, please write to or telephone us at the address and telephone number shown above. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and advise you who is conducting the investigation into the matters that you have raised. We will provide a formal response within 20 working days from initial receipt of the complaint. If the complaint cannot be resolved within this timescale we will explain why and specify the likely timescale for resolution.

If we cannot settle your complaint, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. We will advise you if you are able to refer any complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.

SECTION 16 Governing law

The laws of England and Wales shall govern this Agreement and the parties agree herewith that any dispute arising out of it shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Financial Services

James Ryan Thornhill Ltd
41 Wollaton Road, Beeston, Nottingham. NG9 4RN
Tel: 0115 922 8181 Fax: 0115 922 4212
e.mail: compliance.officer@jrtltd.co.uk

Customer Classification

The firm proposes to classify you as a Private Customer.

Investment Objectives and 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 estrictions 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 recommendation. Unless confirmed in writing, to the contrary, we will assume that you do not wish to place any restrictions on the advice we give you.

Investments Services

The firm is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to advise on and arrange Life Assurance, Pensions, Collective Investments, Personal Equity Plans, Individual Saving Accounts and Financial Planning. We are bound by the rules of the FSA

James Ryan Thornhill Ltd is an independent adviser and will act on your behalf in advising you on products from the whole market.

With regard to investments we have arranged for you, these will not be kept under review unless we have been specifically asked to do so by you. However, we may contact you in the future by means of an unsolicited promotion should we wish to contact you to discuss the relative merits of an investment or service which we feel may be of interest to you.

Written Instructions

We will normally require you to give written instructions in order for us to carry out transactions on your behalf. However, in cases of emergency we will act upon spoken instruction subject to confirmation in writing.

Remuneration

We derive income from commission paid to us in respect of transactions in Life Assurance. PEP/ISA, Unit Trusts and other Regulated Collective Investment Schemes and in Investment Trust Companies' shares held in a PEP/ISA or regular savings scheme. We shall tell you the amount and the frequency of commission payable to us on any such investment.

If we receive 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. We reserve the right to share any commission or fees received by us with other introducing agents.

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 the amount received against any fees due.

Accounting to Customers

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 as 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.

Conflicts of Interest

We offer independent advice but occasions can arise where we, or one of our customers, 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 those of one of our other customers conflict with your interests, we will inform you in writing and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions.

Client Money

The firm does not handle clients 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.

Making a Complaint

If you should have any complaint about the advice you receive or a product that you have bought please write to the Compliance Officer at James Ryan Thornhill Ltd, 41 Wollaton Road, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 2RN. If you feel that your complaint has not been sufficiently handled you may subsequently complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SR, Tel: 0207 676 1000.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Most types of investment business are covered for 100% of the first £30,000 and 90% of the next £20,000, so the maximum compensation is £48,000. Further information about the compensation arrangements is available from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme

Data Protection

The information you have provided is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 (the "Act"). By signing this document you consent to us or any company associated with us for processing, both manually and by electronic means, your personal data for the purposes of providing advice, administration and management.

"Processing" includes obtaining, recording or holding information or data, transferring it to other companies associated with us, product providers, the FSA or any other statutory, governmental or regulatory body for legitimate purposes including, where relevant, to solicitors and/or other debt collection agencies for debt collection purposes and carrying out operations on the information or data.

We may also contact you or pass your details to other companies associated with us to contact you (including by telephone) with details of any other similar products, promotions, or for related marketing purposes in which we think you may be interested.

The information provided may also contain sensitive personal data for the purposes of the Act, being information as to your physical or mental health or condition; the commission or alleged commission of any offence by you; any proceedings for an offence committed or alleged to have been committed by you, including the outcome or sentence in such proceedings; your political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, sexual life; or your membership of a Trade Union.

If at any time you wish us or any company associated with us to cease processing your personal data or sensitive personal data, or contacting you for marketing purposes, please contact The Data Protection Officer on 0115 9228181 or in writing at 41 Wollaton Road, Beeston, Nottingham. NG9 2RN.

You may be assured that we and any company associated with us will treat all personal data and sensitive personal data as confidential and will not process it other than for a legitimate purposes. Steps will be taken to ensure that the information is accurate, kept up to date and not kept for longer than is necessary. Measures will also be taken to safeguard against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss or destruction or damage to the data.

Subject to certain exceptions, you are entitled to have access to your personal and sensitive personal data held by us. You may be charged a fee (subject to the statutory maximum) for supplying you with such data.

Termination of this Agreement

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. The termination will be without prejudice to the completion of transactions already initiated, if this is the case.

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