Terms of Business - O'Donovan Insurances
CONSUMER INFORMATION:
O’Donovan Insurances (“The Firm”) is a Multi Agency Intermediary regulated by the Financial Regulator pursuant to the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995 (as amended) and as a mortgage intermediary under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act 1995 (as amended). To provide insurance and investment and mortgage services to customers.
Under the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995 we may receive and transmit orders in investment instruments to each insurance company (product producer) listed hereunder from whom a letter of appointment is held. O’Donovan Insurances is bonded through its membership of the Irish Brokers Association for €200,000.00 Euro with an inner limit of €65,000.00 Euro per client and holds professional indemnity insurance as required by the Financial Regulator.
REMUNERATION POLICY NON-LIFE ASSURANCE:
O’Donovan Insurances is remunerated by a combination of commission received from product producers to whom orders are transmitted and an administration charge of up to 30% of the premium. These charges cover: sourcing of product, administration costs, risk management, claims handling assistance and advice. In determining the application of any such charge factors such as specialist skills, complexity, value, risk and urgency will be taken into account. Where broker to broker schemes are used the source broker may also be charging a brokerage fee.
ALTERATIONS, CANCELLATION & TEMPORARY SUBSTITUTION CHARGES
Charges made be made by insurers /or by us for any mid term alteration to your policy i.e. duplicate documents, transfers, change of sums insured etc. This charge will be upto 30% of the alteration premium subject to a minimum alteration charge of €50.00.
LIFE ASSURANCE:
O’Donovan Insurances in the case of life assurance / investments contracts where the firm is not in receipt of commission, will charge a service fee, agreed with the clients, in advance of the provision of the service, depending on the complexity the transaction, the time spent and nature and extent of the transaction.
MORTGAGE BUSINESS:
O’Donovan Insurances is in receipt of mortgage commissions from lenders as a rate of up to 1% of the value of the amount borrowed. A list of lenders from whom O’Donovan Insurances hold appointments is contained elsewhere in this document. In the case of mortgage agreements where the Firm is not in receipt of commission, we will charge a service fee, agreed with the clients, depending on the complexity the transaction, the time spent and nature and extent of the transaction.
SOFT COMMISSION:
O’Donovan Insurances may be in receipt on soft commissions from the following insurance undertakings and mortgage lenders – Axa Broker, Caledonian Life Eagle Star and Hibernian Life
HANDLING CLIENTS’MONEY
O’Donovan Insurances will accept payments in cash, cheque bank draft, and postal order in respect of all classes of insurance in circumstances permitted under section 25G of the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995.
In conformity with current legislation O'Donovan Insurances cannot pay premiums to product producers, which have not been paid to it by clients. Premiums must be paid at inception date, or, on or before renewal date, or as invoiced to you as there are NO DAYS OF CREDIT. In the event of default by the client in failing to pay, the product producer will be informed and cancellation of cover may result.
O’Donovan Insurances are not authorised to accept cash or negotiable instruments in any other circumstances.
DEFAULT ON PAYMENT BY CLIENT:
O’Donovan Insurances will exercise its legal right to receive payments due to it from Clients for investment business 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. Insurers and other 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.
RECEIPTS
O’Donovan Insurances shall issue a receipt for each non-negotiable or negotiable instrument or payment received. This is required pursuant section 30 of the “Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995”. These are issued with your protection in mind and should be stored safely.
INVESTOR COMPENSATION: The Investor Compensation Act 1998 provides for the establishment of a compensation scheme and payment, in certain circumstances, of compensation to certain clients (known as eligible investors) of authorized investment firms, as defined in the 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 the scheme. Compensation may be payable where money or investment instruments owed or belonging to Clients and held, administered or managed by the firm cannot be returned to those clients for the time being and there is no reasonably foreseeable opportunity of the firm being able to do so.
A right to compensation will arise only:
a. If the Client is an eligible investor as defined in the Act; and : b. 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
c. to the extent that the Client’s loss is recognized for the purposes of the Act.
Where an entitlement to compensation is established, the compensation payable will be the lesser of: 90°/s of the amount of the Client’s loss which is recognized for the purposes of the Investor Compensation -Act 1998: or
Compensation of up to €20,000.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
We at O'Donovan insurances wish to avoid conflict of interest when providing services to you our clients. We will endeavour at all times to make every effort to avoid conflicts of interest, Where an unavoidable conflict arises we will advise you of this in writing before providing any business service. If you have not been informed of any such conflict you may assume that none arises.
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE:
We will acknowledge each complaint received in writing within 5 business days of the complaint being received.
We will provide the complainant with the name of the Complaints Officer as the main point of contact in respect of their complaint until their complaint is resolved or cannot be processed any further.
We will provide the complainant with a regular written update on the progress of the investigation of the complaint at intervals of not greater than 20 business days.
We will attempt to investigate and resolve the complaint within 40 business days of having received the complaint. When the 40 days has elapsed, if the complaint is not resolved, we will inform the complainant of the anticipated timeframe within which we hope to resolve the complaint. At this point we will inform the complainant of their right to refer the matter to the Financial Services Ombudsman’s Bureau www.financialombudsman.ie or the Pensions Ombudsman www.pensionombudsman.ie.
Where we resolve the complaint, we will advise the complainant in writing, within 5 business days of the completion of the investigation of the complaint, the outcome of the investigation and where applicable explain the terms of any offer or settlement being made. We will also inform the complainant of their right to refer the matter to the Financial Services Ombudsman’s Bureau or the Pensions Ombudsman.
We will maintain an up to date record of all complaints including all relevant correspondence, records and any action taken.
Financial Services Ombudsman's Bureau Office of the pensions Ombudsman
3rd Floor, 36 Upper Mount Street,
Lincoln House, Dublin 2,
Lincoln Place,
Dublin 2
Lo Call: 1890 88 20 90
Tel:01 6620899 Tel+ 00 353 1 6471650
Fax:01 6620890 Fax+ 00 353 1 6769577
DATA PROTECTION:
Data Protection is the safeguarding of the privacy rights of individuals in relation to the processing of your personal data. For the purpose of data protection, organisations of individuals who control the contents use of personal data are known as data controllers. These rights empower you to ensure that your information is accurate is only made available to those that should have it and is only used for specifies purposes. In the event that you have any difficulty enforcing your rights, you can avail of the assistance of the Data Protection Commissioner. Further information on your rights is available from
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner,
Block 6, Floor3, Irish Life Centre,
Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1.
LoCall: 1890-2522312 or their website: www.dataprotection.ie
MONEY LAUNDERING:
Client Identification - we are required to identify our clients for the purposes of the anti-money laundering legislation. (Criminal Justice Act 1994 as amended). We are likely to request from you and retain, some information and documentation for these purposes..
AGENCIES:
We currently hold written letters of appointment with the following insurance companies/product producers, with whom we can arrange all classes of non-life risks e.g. motor, property, liability, marine etc.
Non-life:
AON markets, AXA Broker, Allianz Ireland Plc, Allianz corporate, Alan B Kidd & co Ltd, ARB Underwriting ltd, Benchmark underwriting ltd, Brian J Pierse Ltd, Coyle Hamilton Ltd, Crest Underwriting ltd, Das Legal Expenses Ins Co, dolmen insurance brokers, Eagle Star Insurance Co, Europa General Insurance Co Ltd, Fingal Insurance Brokers Ltd, Finsure insurance services, Hickey Clarke & Langan, Hibernian General Insurance Co Ltd, Hooper Dolan Insurance Ltd, Insurance Underwriting Ltd, Prestige Underwriting services, Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Co Plc, The St.Paul Insurance Co, Thoroughbred Insurance Services, Sertus underwriting ltd, Quinn direct insurance, ACE Europe, O’Riordan insurances, J Campbell & sons, Wrightway underwriting ltd, Yachtsman insurance services.
Mortgage lenders: IIB Homeloans Ltd, Acc Bank, ICS Building Society, Irish Life & Permanent Plc.
Life: BCP, Caledonian Life, Canada Life, Eagle Star, Friends First, Hibernian Life, Irish Life, New Ireland, Standard Life, Scottish Provident.