Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”)

Sustainability Factors – Investment/IBIPS/Pension Advice.

When providing advice, the firm does not consider the adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability. The firm will review this approach on an annual basis in March.

Effective March 2021

Castle View Financial Services Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland

Terms of Business

Castle View Financial Services Limited

Address : Clifden Kilkenny R95 AH58
Telephone : 056 7726052
Mobile : 0872515094
Email : gerry@cvfs.ie
Web : www.cvfs.ie

These Terms of Business set out the general terms under which our firm will provide business services to you and the respective duties and responsibilities of both the firm and you in relation to such services.

Please ensure that you read these terms thoroughly and if you have any queries, we will be happy to clarify them. These terms of business will remain in force and shall apply to any business service provided to you now or at a future date. Should the firm change any of its business terms at a future date I will advise you at our next meeting.
Authorisation with the Central Bank of Ireland.

Castle View Financial Services Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland – reference no C173943 – as an Insurance Intermediary under the European Communities (Insurance Distribution)) Regulations, 2018. A copy of our Certificate of Registration is available on request. You may also verify our authorisations by contacting the Central Bank on 1890 77 77 77 or alternatively visit their website at www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.

Codes of Conduct

We are subject to the following codes and standards
– Consumer Protection Code,
– Minimum Competency Code
– Fitness & Probity Standards

These codes and standards are laid down by the Central Bank of Ireland and offer protection to consumers. These Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie

Our Services

Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to the following – – Life Policies – Pensions and A(M)RF’s – Buy Out Bonds – Annuities – PRSA’s – Investment Bonds – Income Protection – Serious Illness Cover – Mortgage Protection
Castle View Financial Services Limited does not hold a shareholding in any insurance undertaking. In addition, no insurance undertaking holds an interest in our firm.

Castle View Financial Services Limited holds written appointments with a number of product producers. A full list is available on request.

We will offer advice on a fair and personal analysis basis in relation to all the above. This means we will research the marketplace and providers we hold agencies with and recommend the best product to suit your needs and you have the option to pay in full for our services by means of a fee.

We provide life assurance and pensions on a fair and personal analysis basis i.e. providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available in the market to enable us to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your 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 reasonably be 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:

– Your needs as 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.

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.

Disclosure of Information

Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void.

Non-Life

We do not provide advice on or arrange non-life products.

Mortgages

We do not advise on Mortgages.

Statement of Charges

We are remunerated by commission and other payments from product producers on the completion of business. As stated above 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 4 hrs.

In certain circumstances, it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided. These are listed below. 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. Where it is not possible to provide the exact amount, we will provide you the method of calculation of the fee. 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. Schedule of Fees. For all services outlined above and Investment consultations – €125 per hour.

i Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency. We will give an estimate of this rate in advance of providing you with services. 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 us unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.

Ongoing suitability

The firm’s services do not include ongoing suitability assessments.

Sustainability Factors – Investment/IBIPS/Pension Advice.

When providing advice, we do not consider the adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability. The firm will review this approach on an annual basis. Next review – March 2022.

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.

Disclosure of Information

Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void.

New Business & Renewal

If you have taken out a life insurance contract, you may cancel the contract by giving notice in writing to us within 30 days after the date you were informed the contract is on cover.

The giving of notice of cancellation by you will have the effect of releasing you from any further obligation arising from the contract of insurance. The insurer cannot impose any costs on you other than the cost of the premium for the period of cover. This right to cancel does not apply where, in respect of life insurance the contract is for a duration of six months or less.

You are under a duty to pay your premium within a reasonable time, or otherwise in accordance with the terms of the contract of insurance.

Post-Contract Stage and Claims

An insurer may refuse a claim made by you under a contract of insurance where there is a change in the risk insured, including as described in an “alteration of risk” clause, and the circumstances have so changed that it has effectively changed the risk to one which the insurer has not agreed to cover.

Any clause in a contract of insurance that refers to a “material change” will be interpreted as being a change that takes the risk outside what was in the reasonable contemplation of both you and the insurer when the contract was concluded.

You must cooperate with the insurer in an investigation of insured events including responding to reasonable requests for information in an honest and reasonably careful manner and must notify the insurer of the occurrence of an insured event in a reasonable time.

You must notify the insurer of a claim within a reasonable time, or otherwise in accordance with the terms of the contract of insurance.

If you become aware after a claim is made of information that would either support or prejudice the claim, you are under a duty to disclose it. (The insurer is under the same duty).

If you make a false or misleading claim in any material respect (and know it to be false or misleading or consciously disregards whether it is) the insurer is entitled to refuse to pay and to terminate the contract.

Where an insurer becomes aware that a consumer has made a fraudulent claim, they may notify the consumer advising that they are voiding the contract of insurance, and it will be treated as being terminated from the date of the submission of the fraudulent claim. The insurer may refuse all liability in respect of any claim made after the date of the fraudulent act, and the insurer is under no obligation to return any of the premiums paid under the contract.

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. A full copy of our conflicts of interest policy is available on request.

Default on payments by clients

We will exercise our legal rights to receive payments due to us from clients (fees and insurance premiums) for services provided.

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.

Product providers are entitled to withdraw benefit or cover on default of any payments due under any products arranged for your benefit. It is therefore critical to the guaranteed continuance of your insurance that your premium is paid in full.

Complaints

Any complaints must 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 of 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. If 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

We are subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We wish to be transparent on how we process your data and show you that we are accountable with the GDPR in relation to not only processing your data but ensuring you understand your rights as a client.

The data will be processed only in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was given and as outlined in our Data Privacy Notice; this will be given to all our clients at the time of data collection.

We will ensure that this Privacy Notice is easily assessible.

Please refer to our website (www.cvfs.ie), if this medium is not suitable, we will ensure you can easily receive a copy by hard copy.

Please contact us at gerry@cvfs.ie if you have any concerns about your personal data.

Credit Policy

Credit cannot be extended to clients in respect of premiums, initial, renewal or additional. Initial or first premiums must be paid at inception of cover and renewal premiums before the policy renewal date.

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.