These Terms of Business are set out on the basis on which AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd. t/a CK Financial Solutions will provide business services to you as an individual client of the firm. Please take a moment to read through these and familiarise yourself with our Terms of Business. If you have any questions we will be more than happy to answer them. If any material changes are made to these terms we will notify you.
• The full name and address of the firm and contact details are set out at the top of this document.
• Ck Financial Solutions is a Reg’d trade name of AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd.
Authorisation with the Central Bank of Ireland
AAA CK Life Pensions & Mortgages Limited trading as CK Financial Solutions C50814 is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an Insurance Intermediary registered under the European Communities (Insurance Mediation) Regulations, 2005; as an Investment Intermediary authorised under the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995, as a Mortgage Credit Intermediary under the European Union (Consumer Mortgage Credit Agreements) Regulations 2016 and as a Debt Management Firm authorised under Part V of the Central Bank Act, 1997 (as amended by the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act, 2013 Copies of our regulatory authorisations are available on request. The Central Bank of Ireland holds registers of regulated firms. You may contact the Central Bank of Ireland on 1890 777 777 or alternatively visit their website at www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.
Codes of Conduct
AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd. are subject to the Consumer Protection Code, the Authorisation Requirements and Standards for Debt Management Firms, Minimum Competency Code and Fitness & Probity Standards which offer protection to consumers. These Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie
Our Services
AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd trading as CK Financial Solutions is a member of The Professional Insurance Brokers Association (PIBA). As a member of PIBA we must be in a position to place insurance with at least five insurers of the relevant form and therefore can generally give consumers greater choice than agents and tied agents.
Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to life & pensions/mortgages products and debt management. A full list of insurers, product producers and lending agencies with which we deal is available on request.
AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd. acts as a Broker which means that:
a) the principal regulated activities of the firm are provided on the basis of a fair analysis of the market; and
b) You have the option to pay in full for our services by means of a fee.
Fair Analysis
The concept of fair analysis is derived from the Insurance Mediation Directive. It describes the extent of the choice of products and providers offered by an intermediary within a particular category of life assurance, general insurance, mortgages, and/ or a specialist area. The number of contracts and providers considered must be sufficiently large to enable an intermediary to recommend a product that would be adequate to meet a client’s needs.
The number of providers that constitutes ‘sufficiently large’ will vary depending on the number of providers operating in the market for a particular product or service and their relative importance in and share of that market. The extent of fair analysis must be such that could be reasonably expected of a professional conducting business, taking into account the accessibility of information and product placement to intermediaries and the cost of the search.
In order to ensure that the number of contracts and providers is sufficiently large to constitute a fair analysis of the market, we will consider the following criteria:
the needs of the customer,
the size of the customer order,
the number of providers in the market that deal with brokers,
the market share of each of those providers,
the number of relevant products available from each provider,
the availability of information about the products,
the quality of the product and service provided by the provider,
cost, and
Any other relevant consideration.
Deposits AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd offer deposits on a Limited Analysis. “Limited analysis of the market” means providing services on the basis of a limited number of contacts and product producers available on the market, i.e. while not tied to one product producer the services are not provided on the basis of a fair analysis of the market. We can place deposits through Permanent TSB Bank and Investec Bank Plc (Irish Branch).
Life and Pensions/Investments
AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd provides life assurance, specified illness cover, permanent health insurance (PHI) investment and pensions on a fair analysis basis i.e. providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available on the market to enable us to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet the your needs.
We will provide assistance to you for any queries you may have in relation to the policies or in the event of a claim during the life of the policies and we will explain to you the various restrictions, conditions and exclusions attached to your policy. However, it is your responsibility to read the policy documents, literature and brochures to ensure that you understand the nature of the policy cover; particularly in relation to PHI and serious illness policies.
Specifically on the subject of permanent health insurance policies it is our policy to explain to you
a) The meaning of disability as defined in the policy;
b) The benefits available under the policy;
c) The general exclusions that apply to the policy; and
d) The reductions applied to the benefit where there are disability payments from other sources.
For a serious illness policy, we will explain clearly to you the restrictions, conditions and general exclusions that attach to that policy.
Mortgages
Through our mortgage agency with PIBA (Professional Insurance Brokers Association) Mortgage Services, AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd. can provide advice on mortgages from the following range: fixed-rate loans, variable rate mortgages, capital & interest mortgages, interest only mortgages, endowment mortgages, pension mortgages and residential investment property.
AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd. provides mortgage advice on a fair analysis basis (providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available on the market to enable the firm to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your needs). We hold an agency with PIBA mortgages that has access to a range of mortgage providers.
We will need to collect sufficient information from you before we can offer any advice on housing loans. This is due to the fact that a key issue in relation to mortgage advice is affordability. Such information should be produced promptly upon our request.
Disclosure of Information
Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void.
AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd. are remunerated by commission and other payments from product producers or lenders on the completion of business. You may choose to pay in full for our services by means of a fee. Where we receive recurring commission, this forms part of the remuneration for initial advice provided. We reserve the right to charge additional fees if the number of hours relating to on-going advice/assistance exceeds 5 hrs.
In certain circumstances, it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided. These are listed below for life, non-life business and Standard PRSAs. In other circumstances where fees are chargeable or where you choose to pay in full for our service by fee, we will notify you in writing in advance and agree the scale of fees to be charged if different from fees outlined below.
If we receive commission from a product provider, this will be offset against the fee which we will charge you. Where the commission is greater than the fee due, the commission will become the amount payable to the firm unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.
AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Limited t/a CK Financial Solutions may also receive a trail income on an annual basis from Life, pension and investment business.
Life Assurance Fees:
You may elect to deal with us on a fee basis.
Senior Advisers €200 per hour
Support staff €125 per hour
In addition to the applicable above fee, Travel time will be charged at half of this fee
Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency. We will notify you in advance of providing you with these services, our scale of fees for such work range from a minimum of €200 per hour to a maximum of €300 per hour.
Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) – Fees:
Where advice is requested for PRSAs, the following hourly fees will apply:
Senior Advisers: €200 per hour.
Support staff: €125 per hour.
Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency We will notify you in advance of providing you with these services, our scale of fees for such work range from a minimum of €200 per hour to a maximum of €300 per hour.
If we receive commission from a product provider, this will be offset against the fee which we will charge you. Where the commission is greater than the fee due, the commission will become the amount payable to the intermediary unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.
Debt Management Services
AAA C K Life Pension and Mortgages Limited is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland to provide the services of a debt management firm. We provide advice about the discharge of debts (in whole or in part), including advice about budgeting in connection with the discharge of debts. We will also negotiate with a person’s creditors for the discharge of debts (in whole or in part).
Debt Management Fees:
You may elect to deal with us on a fee basis.
Directors: €200 per hour
Senior Adviser: €125 per hour
Support Staff: €75 per hour
In addition to the applicable above fee, Travel time will be charged at half of this fee.
Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency. We will notify you in advance of providing you with these services, our scale of fees for such range from a minimum of €200 per hour to a maximum of €300 per hour.
Mortgages
We have a direct client fee associated with arranging applications and providing advice. We charge a fee of 1% of the mortgage amount sought for submission of a mortgage application to a mortgage provider, subject to a minimum fee of €1,500. This is not in any way an indication of mortgage/loan approval. Our fee will be notified to the lender who will include this fee into the calculation of the APRC (Annual Percentage Rate Change). PIBA Mortgage Services charges a broker fee of €250 per application. The €250 is to cover the direct application processing costs and is non-refundable. This €250 fee is included in our minimum fee of €1,500 mentioned above. For example: If you are seeking a mortgage for €150,000, we charge a fee of 1% of €150,000 = €1,500. The total fee due is paid up front.
In addition, we may receive up to 1% of the loan as a commission payment from the lender for arranging mortgage finance. All commission earned on the mortgage is passed on to the firm in full. The actual amount of commission will be disclosed at a later stage in the ESIS (European Standardised Information Sheet) which will be forwarded to you. Information on the variation in levels of commission payable by the different creditors providing credit agreements being offered are available on request.
Please note that lenders may charge specific fees in certain circumstances and if this applies, these fees will be specified in your Loan Offer. You have the right to pay a fee separately and not include it in the loan. Typically, this situation arises in relation to specialist lending.
Regular Reviews
It is in your best interests that you review, on a regular basis, the products which we have arranged for you. As your circumstances change, your needs will change. You must advise us of those changes and request a review of the relevant policy so that we can ensure that you are provided with up to date advice and products best suited to your needs. Failure to contact us in relation to changes in your circumstances or failure to request a review may result in you having insufficient insurance cover and/or inappropriate investments.
Conflicts of interest
It is the policy of our firm to avoid conflicts of interest in providing services to you. However, where an unavoidable conflict of interest arises we will advise you of this in writing before providing you with any service.
Default on payments by clients
Our firm will exercise its legal rights to receive payments due to it from clients (fees and insurance premiums) for 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.
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.
Mortgage lenders may seek early repayment of a loan and interest if you default on your repayments. Your home is at risk if you do not maintain your agreed repayments.
Complaints
Whilst we are happy to receive verbal complaints, it would be preferable that any complaints be made in writing. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 business days and we will fully investigate it. We shall investigate the complaint as swiftly as possible, and the complainant will receive an update on the complaint at intervals or not greater than 20 business days starting from the date on which the complaint is made. On completion of our investigation, we will provide you with a written report of the outcome. In the event that you are still dissatisfied with our handling of or response to your complaint, you are entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Services Ombudsman or the Pensions Ombudsman. A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.
Data Protection
AAA CK Life Pensions and Ltd. comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003.
The data which you provide to us will be held on a computer database and paper files for the purpose of arranging transactions on your behalf. The data will be processed only in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was given. We would also like to keep you informed of mortgage, insurance, investment and any other services provided by us or associated companies with which we have a formal business arrangement; which we think may be of interest to you. We would like to contact you by way of letter, email or telephone call. If you do not wish to receive such marketing information please tick the box in the Terms of Business acknowledgement letter.
We may receive referrals from such firms and may advise them of any transactions arranged for you.
Compensation Scheme
We are members of the Investor Compensation Scheme operated by the Investor Compensation Company Ltd. See below for details.
Investor Compensation Scheme
The Investor Compensation Act, 1998 provides for the establishment of a compensation scheme and the payment, in certain circumstances, of compensation to certain clients (known as eligible investors) of authorised investment firms, as defined in that 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 this 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 where there is no reasonably foreseeable opportunity of the firm being able to do so.
A right to compensation will arise only:
If the client is an eligible investor as defined in the Act; and
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
To the extent that the client’s loss is recognised for the purposes of the Act.
Where an entitlement to compensation is established, the compensation payable will be the lesser of:
90% of the amount of the client’s loss which is recognised for the purposes of the Investor Compensation Act, 1998; or
Compensation of up to €20,000.
For further information, contact the Investor Compensation Company Ltd. at (01) 224 4955.
Client Acknowledgement
By signing this document you are confirming that you have read this document and that you understand the basis on which AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd. t/a CK Financial Solutions will provide business services to you as an individual client of the firm.
I confirm having read the paragraphs in relation to Data Protection in the Terms of Business and above, – and consent to AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd. – making contact with me by letter, phone, email, or SMS text in relation to the range of services provided by AAA CK Life Pensions and Mortgages Ltd. or its associated or partnership companies and to the sharing of relevant information as indicated.
If you do not wish to avail of these services, please tick here.
June – 2016
