Initial Disclosure Document
CLIENT AGREEMENT DOCUMENT FOR:
Kieron Bassett Financial Services
info@kieronbassett.com
30-32 Victoria Street, Morecambe, Lancashire, LA4 4AJ
01524 832057
INVESTMENT SERVICES
Kieron Bassett Financial Services is permitted to advise on and arrange (bring about) deals in investments.
With regard to investments which we have arranged for you, these will be kept under review unless you request us not to do so.
This review can be provided through the provision of our ongoing advice service or alternatively you may choose to contact us in future when you require a review.
If you agree to take our ongoing advice service this can be terminated at any time.
For any investment services provided we will be acting on your behalf unless otherwise stated.
Kieron Bassett Financial Services does not handle clients’ money. We never accept a cheque made payable to us or handle cash (unless it is payment in settlement of adviser charges or disbursements for which we have sent you an invoice). If you do send us money, this may delay your transaction as we may have to return this money to you.
REGULATORY STATUS
Kieron Bassett Financial Services is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our Financial Services Register number is 144667.
Our permitted business is advising on, arranging, and making arrangements with a view to investments.
You can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website – https://www.fca.org.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.
CLIENT CATEGORISATION
For Retail Clients
Unless you receive confirmation in writing to the contrary, in all our dealings on investment matters you will be treated as a Retail Client. This means that you are afforded the highest level of protection under the regulatory system and should have the right to take any complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Where we have categorised you other than as a ‘retail client’, you may request re-categorisation under a client category which benefits from a higher degree of protection. However, we reserve the right to agree to such a re-categorisation on a case-by-case basis, and where we agree to do so it does not necessarily mean that you will have a right of access to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Further information in respect of the Financial Ombudsman Service is available on their website at the address below:
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
OR
For Professional Clients
Unless you receive confirmation in writing to the contrary, in all our dealings on investment matters you will be treated as a Professional Client. This means that you may not be afforded the highest protection and may not be eligible to take all of your complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Where we have categorised you as a professional client, you may request re-categorisation under a category which benefits from a higher degree of protection. However, we reserve the right to agree to such a re-categorisation on a case-by-case basis and where we agree to do so, it does not necessarily mean that you will have a right a right of access to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Further information in respect of the Financial Ombudsman Service is available on their website at the address below:-http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
CAPTURING YOUR NEEDS
We are committed to providing you with a service that meets with your individual needs. To enable us to achieve this objective it is important that you are open and frank with us and provide us with all of the necessary information that we will need to deliver a service that reflects your needs, e.g. any existing mortgages or other loans you may have. This will enable us to identify products and services that best meet with your personal circumstances. It will also help us to identify any specific needs regarding the methods by which we deliver our services to you. This may include additional ways of communication to those that we usually use as set out in the next section entitled “means of communication”.
Further information on how we collect and use your personal data is set out in the separate Data Privacy Notice that we have issued to you.
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
We will enter into communication with you through whatever means are convenient to you including face-to-face, telephone, paper, e-mail and other acceptable electronic communication methods including audio. This information will be provided free of charge.
For any of our clients who are visually impaired, on request we will provide this information in a larger print format or braille
Our communications will be in English, both in respect of oral and written communications.
In addition where requested we can provide a translated version of this document.
You may at any time choose to request information in paper and free of charge that has previously been provided to you by means other than paper. For example, where a communication was originally sent by email.
You may at any time choose to change your preferences as to how we communicate with you. However, where you choose to do this, we will require you to confirm this change in writing to us.
RECORDS OF COMMUNICATIONS
We are required by our regulators (the FCA) to keep records of any telephone conversations or other electronic communications with our clients in relation to the arranging of transactions in investments that are categorised as financial instruments.
The term ‘electronic communication’ covers many categories of communications and includes (amongst others) video conferencing, email, SMS, business to business devices, chat, instant messaging and mobile devices applications.
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES & RESTRICTIONS
Following the issue of this document, any subsequent advice or recommendation offered to you will be based on your stated investment objectives, agreed level of risk you are prepared / able to take 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 identified during our discussions with you and confirmed within the suitability report that we will issue to you to confirm our recommendation(s). 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.
CLIENTS RISK
You are advised that because investments can fall as well as rise, you may not get back the full amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
HOW WE CHARGE YOU FOR OUR SERVICES
The method of paying for our services will depend on the type / level of service(s) provided.
We will discuss your payment options with you and answer any questions you may have.
We will agree the basis, frequency and method of any charges with you in writing before we carry out any work that you will be charged for.
Examples of the costs of our services are included within the ‘Services and Costs Disclosure Document’.
We will not charge you anything until you have agreed on how much we are to be paid.
We will inform you if you have to pay VAT.
Advised services
For advised services, you will be charged an adviser charge. The actual amount will depend on the service(s) provided to you and the amount will be agreed with you before we carry out any work that we will charge you for.
Our ‘Services and Payments Agreement’ that we will issue to you, will contain details of how much you will be charged and how payment is to be made.
Non-advised services
For non-advised services, if commission is available to us, you can choose to pay us by allowing us to keep the commission, or by paying us an adviser charge instead.
If you choose to pay via commission, we will tell you how much the commission is before the transaction is completed. If you choose to pay by adviser charge we will issue you with a ‘Services and Payments Agreement’ which will contain details of how much you will be charged and how payment is to be made.
Incentive Schemes
We operate incentive schemes in relation to life policies. Life policies include all insurance contracts with an investment content. This includes investment bonds, endowments, whole of life plans and personal pensions. Full details of the financial incentive schemes that we operate are contained in our ‘Service and Costs Disclosure Document’.
ACCOUNTING TO YOU
We will confirm to you in writing the basis of our service and the reasons for recommending any transactions transmitted or executed on your behalf. Where you agree to an ongoing service we will provide regular reports to you regarding that service. We will agree and confirm the frequency and timing of those reports based on your needs. The extent of any ongoing review will be determined by your needs.
We will also make arrangements for all your investments to be registered in your name unless you first instruct us otherwise in writing.
NOMINEE & SAFE CUSTODY SERVICES
We do not safeguard or administer client assets but we may arrange business through an online service commonly known as a platform, which will provide custody services for your assets. Where this is the case, the legal title of investments will be registered in the name of the third party’s nominee.
Transactions will be transmitted to the fund supermarket, investment wrap platform, or similar third party investment institution for them to execute. Money or transferred assets will be placed immediately with that third party for investment – we will never hold the assets for you. We will provide you with the relevant account opening details for the identified third party such as their Terms & Conditions, Nominee and Safe Custody Service, Best Execution Policy, Execution Venues and Conflicts of Interest Policy (or equivalent documents). The legal title of investments will be in the name of the third party’s nominee.
For non-platform business we will make arrangements for your investments to be registered in your name unless you first instruct us otherwise in writing.
RIGHT TO WITHDRAW
In the case of many retail investment products – such as life assurance contracts, personal pension schemes, investment bonds, and collective investment arrangements (e.g. unit trusts), a right to withdraw or cancel the contract within a specified period is normally provided. Details of such rights are ordinarily contained in the product literature (e.g. Key Features document) and/or we may provide details of such rights in a separate communication.
In the case of any non-retail investment products e.g. an ISA wrapper, 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.
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 services already provided / transactions already initiated, which will be completed according to the Client Agreement unless otherwise agreed in writing. You will be liable to pay for any transactions made and / or services carried out prior to termination and any adviser charges or other fees which may be outstanding.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Occasions may arise where the firm, an employee, or other associates of the firm has competing professional or personal interests which may prevent these services being provided to clients in an independent or impartial manner.
We will take all appropriate steps to prevent conflicts of interests from occurring in line with the firm’s conflicts of interest policy. However, there may be occasions where a conflict of interest cannot be prevented. Where this is the case, we will disclose to you the nature of the conflict and the steps that we will take to mitigate the risks that you will be treated unfairly as a result of any conflicts identified.
We will make you aware of any conflicts of interest before the provision of services to enable you to choose whether you still wish to proceed with services. A copy of the firms’ conflict of interest policy is available on request.
We may on occasion receive minor non-monetary benefits from third parties such as product providers e.g. food and drink provided at a provider training event. Where relevant, any minor non-monetary benefits received will not conflict with our duty to act in your best interests.
BEST EXECUTION POLICY
It is in the interests of our clients and the firm that we obtain the best possible result when placing orders with other firms (e.g. third party brokers) for the execution of client orders or when transmitting orders on behalf of clients for particular investments – e.g. shares. We are required under the Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority to take all sufficient steps to provide ‘best execution’ when carrying out such transactions.
Where we place or transmit orders for such investments on behalf of our clients, we may utilise the services of a third party broker and base our decision to place or transmit an order on the price and cost of execution of the order. For orders in collective investment schemes (e.g. unit trust), however, the price of units or shares in the scheme is normally set by the scheme operator or manager and as such we have little influence over the price available.
Full details of our best execution arrangements are provided in our Best Execution Policy, a copy of which can be provided on request.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
If you wish to register a complaint, please contact us:
…in writing: Write to Kieron Bassett, Kieron Bassett Financial Services, 30-32 Victoria Street, Morecambe, Lancashire, LA4 4AJ.
…by email: info@kieronbassett.com
…by phone: Telephone 01524 832057
If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
ARE WE COVERED BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME (FSCS)?
We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if either we or the providers with whom we arrange products were to go out of business. This depends on the type of product and the circumstances of the claim.
Investments
Most types of investment business is covered up to a maximum of £85,000.
Investment based insurance/Long term insurance provision e.g. pensions and investment bonds
The maximum level of compensation for claims against provider firms declared in default on or after the 3rd July 2015 is 100% of the claim with no upper limit.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS (www.fscs.org.uk).
Or by contacting
Financial Services Compensation Scheme PO Box 300 Mitcheldean GL17 1DY
Telephone number 0800 678 1100
International customers Telephone number +44 207 741 4100
DATA PRIVACY NOTICE
Please refer to the separate Data Privacy Notice that we have issued to you that sets out how we collect and use data about you.