Terms of Business

Authorisation Statement,

Churchill Securities (UK) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. The Financial Services Authority regulates the financial services industry in the UK and their address is 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HS. You can check this on the FSA’s Register by visiting the FSA’s website www.fsa.qov.uk/reqister FSA No. 192650 or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.

Permitted Business

Our permitted business is advising on and arranging savings and investments products, pensions, mortgages and non-investment insurance contracts.

Client Classification

Each client with whom the firm does business is categorised as to identify the level of regulatory protection.

Communications

We will communicate with you in English both verbally and written for the sending and reception of orders.

Scope of Service

We operate independently and therefore provide savings and investments, pensions, mortgages and non-investment insurance contracts from the whole market.

Services to be Provided

With regards to investments which we arrange for you, these will not be kept under review but we will advise you upon your request. 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.
On issue of a client agreement any subsequent advice or recommendation offered to you will be based upon your stated investment objectives, acceptable level of risk and any restrictions you wish to place on the type of investments or policies you are willing to consider. We will issue you a suitability letter to confirm our recommendation. Unless confirmed we will not place any restrictions on our recommendations.
Churchill Securities (UK) Limited does not handle clients’ money. We never accept a cheque made out to us unless the cheque is in settlement of charges or disbursements for which we have sent you an invoice or handle cash.
We will also make arrangements for all your investments, life assurance policies and other plans to be registered in your name unless you first instruct us otherwise in writing. We will forward you all documents showing ownership of your investments and other plans as soon as practicable after we receive them but where a number of documents are due involving a series of transactions we normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward all of them to you.

Paying for Services

Not all firms charge for advice the same way. We will discuss your payment options with you and answer any questions you may have. We will not charge you anything until you have agreed how we are paid.

We Can Be Paid By Fee

Whether you buy a product or not, you will pay us a fee for our advice and services. If we also receive commission from the product provider when you buy a product, we will pass on the full value of that commission to you in one or more ways. For example, we could reduce our fee; or reduce your product charges; or increase your investment amount; or refund the commission to you.

We Can Be Paid By Commission (Or Product Charges)

If you buy a financial product, we will normally receive commission on the sale from the product provider. Although you pay nothing up front, that does not mean our service is free. You still pay us indirectly through product charges. Product charges pay for the product provider’s own costs and any commission. These charges reduce the amount left for investment. If you buy direct, the product charges could be the same as when buying through an adviser, or they could be higher or lower. We will tell you how much the commission will be before you complete an investment, but you may ask for this information earlier.

We Can Be Paid By a Combination of Commission and Fee

In some circumstances, we also charge a fee on top of any commission we might receive.

Our fee option
We will agree the rate we will charge before beginning work. We will tell you if you have to pay VAT. Our typical charges are:

Adviser £165 per hour
Administrator £50 per hour

You may ask us for an estimate of how much in total we might charge. You may also ask us not to exceed a given amount without checking with you first. We are able to quote a fixed fee for a specific project, please ask us to for more information. It is the policy of Churchill Securities (UK) Limited to ask clients to sign a fee agreement prior to undertaking any chargeable work; this is to avoid any confusion at a later date.

Our commission option
We will confirm the actual amount to you before you buy a product. The table following demonstrates our normal rates of commission. However, if it is proposed that the amount to be charged is greater than this amount written confirmation will be provided.

Regular Contributions - Example Commissions Based on £100 per Month

Collective Investment

3% of all payments plus 0.5% of your fund value each year from year 1

Whole of Life

150% of the first 12 months payments plus 2.5% of all payments from month 13

Personal and Stakeholder Pension

60% of the first 12 months payments plus 1% of your fund value each year from year 1

Lump Sum investment - Example Commissions Based on £10,000 Invested

Collective investment

3% of the amount you invest plus 0.5% of your fund value each year from year 1

Investment Bonds

3% of the amount you invest plus 0.5% of your fund value each year from year 1

Personal and Stakeholder Pension

3% of the amount you invest plus 0.5% of your fund value each year from year 1

Annuities

1.5% of the amount you invest

Income Drawdown

4% of the amount you invest plus 0.5% of your fund value each year from year 1

Ongoing Investment Commission

In addition to any initial commission paid, Churchill Securities (UK) Limited may also receive a nominal ongoing commission from a product provider. This ‘trail’ commission is generally 0.5% of the fund value and is used to assist in covering the back-office administration costs, such as providing valuations and changing addresses. As an example, an ISA valued at £7000 would pay £35 over a 12-month period.

Material Interest

We will act honestly, fairly and professionally known as conducting business in ‘Clients best interest’ regulations. Occasionally situations may arise where we or one of our other clients have some form of interest in business transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your interest, 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.

Rights to Cancel

We will inform you of your statutory right to cancel. The Distance Marketing Directive normally grants you 30 days in which you may cancel a life or pension contract. However there will be occasions where no statutory rights are granted, however this will be explained before any contract is concluded.

Complaints

In you wish to register a complaint, please write to Compliance Officer, Churchill Securities (UK) Limited, 55a Oxford Street, Weston-Super-Mare BS23 1TR.  Telephone 0845 230 4990.
If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Compensation Scheme

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation scheme (FSCS) if we cannot meet out our obligations. This is dependent upon the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Most types of investment business are covered by 100% of the first £50,000 and 90% of the next £20,000 so the maximum compensation is £68,000. Further information about this compensation scheme arrangement is available from the FSCS. www.fscs.org.uk

Data Protection

The information you have provided is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “Act”). By signing an agreement 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 at Churchill Securities (UK) Limited, 55a Oxford Street, Weston-Super-Mare BS23 1TR. ~ 0845 3230 4990
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.

Law

These Terms of Business are governed and shall be construed in accordance with English Law and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Termination

The authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time without penalty by either party giving seven days notice in writing to that effect to the other, but without prejudice to the completion of transactions already initiated. Any transactions effected before termination and a due proportion of any period charges for services shall be settled to that date.