Privacy Statement

Our Client Agreement

If you decide to take advice from us, you will be asked to sign a copy of our Client Agreement. This will be provided to you at your initial meeting with one of our executives, but you can also download the latest version here:

CLIENT AGREEMENT

OUR RELATIONSHIP

Unless we notify you in writing to the contrary, we will be treating you 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. Details of our complaints procedure are available on request.

Any advice or recommendation that we offer to you, will be based on your stated objectives, circumstances and take into account any restrictions that you wish to place on the type of products you would be willing to consider.

With very few exceptions, we will confirm to you in writing the basis of our reason for recommending the products arranged on your behalf.

Your stated objectives will be reiterated in the Suitability Report, which we will issue to you following our recommendation, along with details of any special risks associated with the product recommended.

Full details of the products we may recommend to you including, for example, the minimum duration of the product, information on the right to cancel or whether no right to cancel arises, and any other early termination rights and penalties, will be covered in the relevant product disclosure information you will receive before conclusion of any contract.

Any products we have arranged for you, 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 (by telephone or post) should we wish to discuss the relative merits of a particular product or service which we feel may be of interest to you.

We strongly recommend you contact us for advice when there are any changes in your personal circumstances, such as a change of employment, to ensure previous advice is still appropriate.

INSTRUCTIONS

We normally ask our clients to give us written instructions, to avoid possible disputes. We may, however, accept your oral instructions provided they are subsequently confirmed in writing.

PERSONAL INTERESTS

We will endeavour always to act in the best interests of our clients. However, occasions can arise where we, or one of our other clients, will have some form of interest in business that we are transacting for you. If this happens, or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your interests, we will inform you in writing and will obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions.

RISK WARNING

Please be aware that investments can fall as well as rise, and that you

may not get back the full amount invested. The price of investments we may recommend may depend on fluctuations in the financial markets, or other economic factors, which are outside our control. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. Specific warnings relevant to the investments, or investment strategies, we recommend will be confirmed to you in your Suitability Report.

BEST EXECUTION

In executing or transmitting orders on your behalf to third parties, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that we obtain the best possible result for you in terms of best execution.

CANCELLATION RIGHTS

Cancellation rights may apply. Usually 30 days for life, protection or pension and 14 days for all other policies. Details will be provided to you in writing prior to any transaction taking place. In most instances you will not be able to exercise a right to cancel a mortgage contract, unless the contract is concluded at a distance (i.e., not face to face advice) at which point you may have a 14 day cancellation period.

The start of the cancellation period will normally begin, for pure protection policies, when you are informed that the contract has been concluded, or if later, when you have received the contractual terms and conditions. In other cases, the cancellation period will begin on the day the contract is concluded, or if later, the day on which you receive the contractual terms and conditions. Instructions for exercising the right to cancel, if applicable, will be contained in the relevant product disclosure information, which will be issued to you.

If you cancel a single premium contract, you may be required to pay for any loss reasonably incurred in cancelling it, which is caused by market movements. This means that, in certain circumstances, you might not get back the full amount you invested if you cancel the policy.

TERMINATION OF THIS CLIENT AGREEMENT

Our authority to act on your behalf may be terminated by you or us at any time, without penalty or prejudice, by written notice. If there are any transactions already in progress, we will clarify your instructions at the time of termination. You will be liable to pay for any transactions made prior to termination and any fees outstanding, if applicable.

DOCUMENTS

All investments will be registered in your name unless you first instruct us otherwise in writing. We will forward to you all documents showing ownership of your investments as soon as practicable after we receive them. Where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions is involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete then forward them to you.

YOUR MONEY & INVESTMENTS

Kellands (Gloucester) Limited and its representatives do not handle clients' money. We never accept cheques made out to us (unless it is in settlement of charges for which we have sent you an invoice) or handle cash. All cheques for premiums or investments must be made payable to the Product Providers.

RECORD KEEPING

We keep records of all our business transactions for at least five years.

You or your Agent may inspect contract notes, vouchers and entries in our books or computerised records relating to your transactions. As we treat all client records as confidential we reserve the right to provide copies of your records rather than allow access to records containing information on other clients.

DATA PROTECTION

Some services are provided to Kellands (Gloucester) Limited by third parties such as processing business or obtaining compliance or regulatory advice, which warrant the disclosure of more than just your basic contact details. You agree that personal information held by Kellands (Gloucester) Limited may be disclosed on a confidential basis, and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 to any such third parties. You also agree that this information may be transferred electronically, eg email and you agree that ourselves, or any such third party, may contact you in future by means of communication which we consider appropriate at the time.

Product Providers, Lenders and Investment Managers may administer your policy, any existing policies you may have with them and provide other services, from centres in countries outside of Europe (such as India and the USA) that do not always have the same standard of data protection law as the UK. However they are required to put a contract in place to ensure that your information is adequately protected, and they will remain bound by their obligations under the Data Protection Act even when your personal information is processed outside Europe.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information relating to you held by us in our records in return for payment of a small fee. You also have the right to require us to correct any inaccuracies in your information.

COMPLAINTS & CLAIMS

You expect a first class service from us and that is what we aim to provide. However, sometimes you may not be happy with a financial product or service. This may be our fault or may simply be because of the nature of the product or service. If there is a problem or if you are not happy about the service you have received please tell us and we will try to put things right. If you don’t understand something or you think that there is a problem, ask us for an explanation. We need to know and understand what the problem is. If we do we can often resolve matters quickly and easily. But if you are not happy with the answers we give you, you may need to make a formal complaint.

What is a Complaint?

We deem a complaint to be any expression of dissatisfaction from or on behalf of a customer, whether oral or written and whether justified or not. Please note that we may handle disputes about regulated business in a different way to non regulated disputes.

What do we do if we receive a complaint?

All complaints will be referred to: The Compliance Officer, Kellands (Gloucester) Limited, The Mustard House, 13/14 Barton Street, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire GL20 5PP, Tel: 01684 850088. A dispute may be about a regulated product or service or a non-regulated activity. In either case we undertake to resolve the matter in a timely manner and will keep you informed of our progress.

Regulated complaint

A complaint about a regulated investment activity is defined as:

* the issue is raised by or on behalf of an eligible complainant (i.e. a private customer)
* the dispute relates to regulated activity
* the dispute involves an allegation that you have suffered, or may suffer, financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience
* the dispute has not been resolved by close of business on the day following receipt.
* If a dispute does not fall within the above definition then it will be treated as a dispute about a non-regulated activity.

Acknowledging the dispute

We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 days. Our letter will set out our understanding of the dispute and invite you to let us know if our understanding of the nature of your complaint is incorrect. This will also set out who is dealing with the complaint.

The acknowledgement letter will outline the result of the investigation if it has been completed by then. If it has not been completed, we will:-

investigate the issue and respond with Final Response within 4 weeks;

highlight that if the investigation is not completed within 4 weeks following the initial receipt of the complaint, you will be informed of the reasons for the delay and will be given an indication of the expected timescale to provide a final response (another four weeks – ie. eight weeks in total) ;

and point out that on completion of the investigation you will be informed of the outcome and the options available to you.

If the complaint is against another authorised firm we will forward the complaint on to that firm promptly and advise you of the fact giving you details of how to contact the firm. We will write to you giving you our final decision and advising you that if you are dissatisfied with the outcome that you may refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of the letter. The letter will include the name, address and telephone number of the Ombudsman and a leaflet about the Ombudsman’s arrangements.

If the complaint is against another firm and us we will investigate the part against us and will forward details of your complaint to the other firm. We will send you the contact details of the other firm. If the complaint is against a firm that was but is no longer authorised we will refer the matter to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and provide you with the contact details.

If you make a valid claim against us in respect of the investments we arrange for you and we are unable to meet our liabilities in full, you may be entitled to redress from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme Ltd. This will depend on the type of business and the circumstances of any claim. Most types of investment business are covered for 100% of the first £30,000 and 90% of the next £20,000, so the maximum compensation is £48,000. Long-term Insurance (eg pensions, life assurance & investment bonds) is covered for 100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit. Mortgage advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £30,000 and 90% of the next £20,000 so the maximum compensation is £48,000. Further information about the compensation arrangements are available from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

JURISDICTION

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law and is subject to the jurisdiction of the English Courts.