Client Terms of Business Agreement

 Please read this document carefully.  It sets out the basis on which we will provide our services to you
and clarifies our regulatory status.  It also contains certain responsibilities that you have to us and to
insurers.

We specifically draw your attention to the following headings:

 

The Financial Services Authority

KBI Insurance Limited is an independent broker located at:
4 Lords Court, Cricketers Way, Basildon, Essex SS13 1SS
Telephone: 0845 8730455
Facsimile: 0845 8730456

We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Under FSA Register number
477482.  You may check this on the FSA’s register by visiting the FSA website, www.fsa.gov.uk/register or
by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.

 

About Our Service

Our FSA permitted business activities are advising, arranging, dealing as agent and assisting in the administration and performance of general (non-investment) insurance contracts.

We are an independent insurance intermediary and offer a range of products and services from selected insurers to match your insurance needs.  Our service includes advising you on your insurance needs, arranging your insurance cover, helping you with and processing any changes you have to make.  We can also assist you with making a claim.  A list of insurers from which we offer insurance is available on request.  We will advise you of any inability to place your insurance.

If you are an individual who is acting for purposes which are outside his or her trade, business or profession, we will treat you as a “Retail Customer” for purposes of the FSA Rules.  Otherwise, we will treat you as a “Commercial Customer” for purposes of the FSA Rules.

Insurance Quotations

Before your insurance arrangements are concluded or you become liable to pay a fee (whichever is earlier), you will receive a quotation, which will tell you the total price to be paid, and any fees, local taxes or other charges.  Full payment of premium, taxes and fees or other charges is due before cover commences, or as otherwise stated under terms of credit, or in the debit note, invoice or statement sent to you. 

We will also give you a statement of demands and needs setting out our understanding of your demands and needs for the insurance policy, whether we have personally recommended the policy and an explanation of the reasons for any recommendation.  If we have not personally recommended the policy, a statement of demands and needs may instead be set out in the standard policy documentation.

Quotations may be valid for a specified period and may be subject to requests for additional information as required by insurers, for example, a satisfactory proposal form. Consequently, quotations may be subject to change in respect of the amount of premium indicated and/or the terms and conditions that are applied.

Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for providing complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out a policy, throughout the life of a policy, when you renew a policy and when you make a claim.  This means you must give complete and accurate answers to any questions put to you in connection with any proposal for insurance cover or at renewal and throughout the life of a policy.  Please note that if you fail to disclose any material fact or other information material to the insurance, this could invalidate the policy and mean that claims may not be paid.  Material facts are those that your insurance company would regard as likely to influence the assessment and acceptance of your insurance.  If you are unsure what facts are material, you should still give us the information.  You should check all details on any proposal form, claim form or Statement of Facts and pay particular attention to any declaration you may be asked to sign. You do not need to tell us about convictions that are regarded as “spent” under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.  You are advised to keep copies of any correspondence you send to us or direct to your insurer.

You should inform us immediately of any changes in circumstances that may affect the services provided by us or the cover provided by your policy.  If you are unsure about any matter please contact us for guidance

Policy Documentation

You should read all insurance policy documents sent to you.  Please ensure you understand the policy terms, conditions and warranties in them and are able to follow their requirements exactly.  If there is anything you do not understand, please advise us immediately so that we can explain it to you, 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.

Notification of Incidents and Claims

You should take note of the required procedures in the event of a claim, which will be stated in the policy
documentation.  Generally, insurers require immediate notification of a claim or circumstances that might
lead to a claim.  You must therefore notify us or your insurers as soon as possible of a claim or of any
circumstances which may give rise to a claim.  You should make this notification to us whether you believe
you are liable or not.

Renewal of your policy

In good time before the expiry of your policy, we shall endeavour to contact you regarding the renewal of your policy and to advise you of the renewal premium and terms for the coming year identifying any changes.  When we send the renewal terms to you we will explain how you can renew your insurance contract and how the premiums can be paid.  If you do not wish to renew the policy, please let us know as soon as possible.  If you pay by instalments you should also cancel your direct debiting instruction with your bank prior to the renewal date.

Cancellation of Insurances

 Your policy documents will detail your rights to cancel any insurance you have taken out.  Depending upon the policy, you may be entitled to a 14 days or 30 days ‘cooling off’ period during which you may decide whether to proceed with the purchase of the insurance contract. This period commences from either the day of conclusion of the contract or the day on which you receive the full policy, terms and conditions, whichever is the latter.

To cancel this insurance contract within the cooling off period, please write to us at the above address, and return any relevant certificate of insurance to us.  If you do cancel this insurance contract within the cooling off period, you may be charged a proportion of any of our fees that you have incurred.
The insurance contract can be cancelled at any time by either party in writing by giving notice in accordance with the policy terms.  If you wish to give notice of cancellation, please write to us at the above address and return any relevant certificate of insurance to us.  If we or insurers wish to cancel this insurance contract we/they shall write to you at the last known address we/ they have for you on our/ their records.

In the event that you fail to pay the premiums by the due date, the insurance may be cancelled forthwith or by insurers giving notice of the cancellation.

Return Premiums

Return premiums may arise if an insurance risk is reduced or a policy cancelled.  A return premium may be allowed by insurers depending on the precise policy terms and conditions.  Insurers may not allow a return premium if any claims have been made under the current insurance contract.

Security (Solvency of Insurers)

We do not guarantee the solvency of any insurer we place business with.  If an insurer with which you have a policy becomes insolvent, you may still be liable for any unpaid premiums you owe it and we may be unable to collect any return premiums that might be due to you.

Payment for our Services

Our remuneration may be as a fee or as brokerage, which is a percentage of the insurance premium paid by you and allowed by the insurer with whom the insurance is placed.  Brokerage and fees are earned for the policy period and we will be entitled to retain all fees and brokerage in respect of the full policy period in relation to policies placed by us.  For avoidance of doubt this means that we will retain full commission in respect of all premium refunds and charge the appropriate fee as outlined below.

Before your insurance arrangements are concluded you will receive a quotation which will tell you the total price to be paid, showing any fees, taxes and charges separately from the premium.  If you would like to know the amount of commission that we are paid in respect of your insurance contract this information is available on request.

We may in certain circumstances be paid other remuneration which may include a profit commission, payable in arrears and dependent on the profitability of the insurer account, or, in respect of premium financing, we may derive additional income from a finance provider depending upon the total amount of premiums financed by it.  This does not affect our position in relation to our responsibilities under the law of agency.

Specific Fees and Charges

In addition to the premiums charged by insurers the following are the maximum amounts that we would charge to cover administration of your insurance:

Instalment Fees ( non Direct Debit )                       £10.00 per instalment
Mid term adjustments / cancellations                     £15.00
Uncleared cheques                                                £ 20.00
Lost / Duplicate certificates                                    £15.00

Credit Facilities

We normally accept payment by guaranteed cheque, or certain credit/debit cards.  You may be able to spread your payments through insurers’ instalment schemes, a credit scheme with a third party finance provider, or a facility we have arranged ourselves.  We will give you full information about our payment options when we discuss your insurance in detail.

We may keep certain documents, such as your insurance policy document or Certificate, while we are waiting for full payment of premiums.  In these circumstances we will ensure that you receive full details of your insurance cover and will provide you with any documents that you are required to have by law.

Premium Finance

If you elect to pay the policy premium by using a finance facility offered by us, you will be provided with full terms and conditions of the finance facility separately, including any charges levied for using this method and your responsibilities.  Please be aware that the finance company may make an additional charge if the facility needs to be reinstated following either a default of payment or if you cancel the arrangement.  Please read the cancellation clause in your policy documentation carefully as a return premium may not be payable
following cancellation for certain classes of insurance.  If the premium is paid under a Direct Debit arrangement in such circumstances, you will be responsible for settling any outstanding premium amount.

Client Money

Except for premium payments held for insurers under risk transfer agreements (see below), we will treat any money which we receive from you or hold for you in the course of or in connection with the services we provide under these Terms of Business as Client Money in accordance with the FSA’s Client Assets Sourcebook.  We shall cease to treat money as Client Money, if it is paid:

Premiums Held for Insurers (Risk Transfer)

We have agreed with certain insurers to collect and hold premiums from you as agents of the insurers.  Therefore, once we have collected premiums from you, under the terms of our agreements with insurers those premiums are treated as being paid to the insurer.  Money held by us in this way will be treated as belonging to the insurer; it will not be client money.  We will remit the premiums to insurers, after deduction of any commission due to us, in accordance with the terms of our agreements with insurers.

Client Money Segregation (Non-statutory Trust Client Account)

Unless you tell us not to, the Client Money that we hold for you will be segregated into and held in our Non-statutory Trust Client Account.  This account is set up as a trust governed by FSA rules and held at a bank in the UK.  We may agree to extend credit to other customers using client money from the Non-statutory Trust Client Account.  We will have in place and maintain systems and controls adequate to ensure that we are able to monitor and manage client money transactions and any credit risk arising from the operation of the trust arrangement.  We may also maintain in our Non-statutory Trust Client Account money that we hold for insurers. 

We may invest money held in the Non-statutory Trust Client Account in a range of permitted designated investments prescribed by the FSA.  In the event that there is any shortfall in our client money resource attributable to falls in the market value of any of these permitted designated investments, we shall make provision for, and bear the cost of, any such shortfall.

If we become insolvent, the terms of the trust dictate that customers will have a prior claim on the client money in the Account according to the respective interests in the client money.  The costs relating to the distribution of client money may have to be borne by the trust.

You may notify us in writing at the address above if you do not want your Client Money to be held in our Non-statutory Trust Client Account, and we will instead hold your Client Money in our Statutory Trust Client Account (see below).

Client Money Segregation (Statutory Trust Client Account)

Where you have notified us in writing that you do not consent to us holding your Client Money in our Non-Statutory Trust Client Account, this money will be segregated into and held in our Statutory Trust Client Account.  The client money will be held by us as trustee on your behalf in a bank account in the UK set up as a trust governed by FSA rules.  This means once the client money is segregated into the Statutory Trust Client Account, it falls into our legal ownership but remains in the beneficial ownership of customers whose money is deposited in the Account.  If we become insolvent, the terms of the trust dictate that customers will have a prior claim on the client money in the Account according to the respective interests in the client money.  The costs relating to the distribution of client money may have to be borne by the trust.

Interest

Any interest earned on client money held by us and any investment returns on any segregated investments will be retained by us for our own use.

Client Money Passed to another Person outside the UK

In managing and/or arranging your insurance requirements, we may transfer Client Money that you have paid us, to another insurance intermediary who may be operating outside of the United Kingdom.

We have a duty under the FSA regulations to inform you that:

You may notify us in writing at the address above if you do not want your money to be passed to another intermediary in a different jurisdiction.

Confidentiality of Personal Data

All personal information is treated by us as confidential and is processed in accordance with the relevant legislation.  We will not use or disclose personal information without your consent, other than in the normal course of arranging or administering your insurances, except where we are required by law or regulation to disclose such information, including disclosure to regulators or law enforcement agencies.  In such instances your personal information held by us may be disclosed in accordance with the legal or regulatory requirement to such third parties. 

Unless we are notified of any changes, we shall assume the personal and sensitive data we hold about our customers is correct and may use it to provide terms when policies fall due for renewal.

We may pass information about you to credit reference agencies for the purpose of arranging payments by instalments and may also pass to them details of your payment record with us.

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 related queries, you should write to us at the above address.

Access to your Records by Insurers

Under the terms of the majority of insurers’ agency agreements, we may be obliged to provide insurers with access to records and/or documents we maintain and hold on your behalf. You acknowledge this situation and consent to the provision of such information to Insurers where they have a contractual right to it unless you advise us to the contrary by writing to us at the above address.

Motor and Home Insurance Anti Fraud Registers

Insurers share information with each other via the Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register, and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft register, to aid the prevention of fraudulent claims.  In the event of a claim, the information you supply on the claim form, together with any other information relating to the claim may be put on the registers.

Motor Insurer Information Centre (MIIC)

Insurers are legally required to provide details of motor insurance policies to the MIIC.  The information describing your insurance cover will be added to the Motor Insurance Database (MID), to which the policy and other government agencies have access.  This helps the pursuance of claims following accidents and aids detection of those who are in contravention of the law by not taking out insurance.

Motor Insurance Database (MID)

You should at all times co-operate with your insurers in supplying any information to them, and in the timescales required by them, in order for them to fulfil their statutory obligations to the Motor Insurance Database.

Data Processed for Marketing Purposes

You may exercise your right to give notice to stop data being processed for marketing purposes by contacting us at any time.  Please contact us by writing to us at the above address.

Money Laundering/Proceeds of Crime Act

UK Money laundering regulations require us to obtain evidence of the identity of clients for whom we act at the start of a business relationship.  This might, for example, be sight of a current signed passport and two utility bills.  For companies (other than listed ones) evidence of identity will usually comprise of certificate of incorporation, a list of directors, a list of shareholders and the registered address.

We are obliged to report to the National Criminal Intelligence Service any evidence or suspicion of money laundering at the first opportunity and we are prohibited from disclosing any such report.

Claims payment will be made in favour of you.  If you require a payment to be made to a third party then you must confirm the required payee name and details and provide a brief explanation for your request.

Conflict of Interests

Occasions can arise where we or one of our associated companies, clients or product providers will have a potential conflict of interest with business being transacted for you.  If we become aware that a potential conflict exists, 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.  Where it is not possible for us to manage the conflict by, for example, disclosing it to you and obtaining your informed consent, we may withdraw from acting for you and/or for the other party.

Termination of Authority

Our authority to act on your behalf may be terminated by one of us giving 14 days notice to the other, or as otherwise agreed, 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 or adjustments effective prior to termination and we will be entitled to retain any and all fees or brokerage payable in relation to policies placed by us prior to the date of termination. Governing Law

This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales and the parties agree herewith that any dispute arising out of it shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Complaints and Compensation

We aim to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times, but if you are not satisfied, contact us and we will respond in accordance with our complaints procedure, which is available on request.

To register a complaint, please contact us in writing or by telephone, fax or email at:
The Compliance Officer, KBI Insurance Limited, 4 Lords Court, Cricketers Way, Basildon, SS134 1SS
Telephone: 0845 8730455
Fax: 0845 8730456
Email: complaints@wisesure.co.uk

If you are still not satisfied, you may refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (except in the case of commercial customers with a group annual turnover of £1m or more, charities with an annual income of £1 million or more and trustees with a net asset value of £1m or more).  You may contact The Financial Ombudsman Service at South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR, telephone 0845 080 1800, fax 020 7964 1001.
We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).  You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations.  This depends on the type of insurance, size of business (if a commercial customer) and the circumstances of the claim.  Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS at 7th floor Lloyds Chambers, Portsoken Street, London E1 8BN, telephone 020 7892 7300, fax 020 7892 7301, email enquiries@fscs.org.uk.