Terms of Business

Lloyd Bolam Insurance Brokers Ltd is an independent intermediary, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our FCA registration number is 306883.

DEFINITIONS

The words ‘we’, ‘our’ and ‘us’ mean and refer to Lloyd Bolam Insurance Brokers Ltd.

Please read this document carefully. It sets out the terms on which we agree to act for you and contains details of our regulatory and statutory responsibilities.

OUR CUSTOMERS BEST INTERESTS

Our primary aim is to ensure, for any customer (or potential customer) to act honestly, fairly and professionally and in the customers best interest including giving customers information they might need to understand the relevance of any information we provide as well as objectively giving that information when it is most useful to a customer to enable informed decision making.

OUR SERVICES AND PERMITTED BUSINESS

We act on your behalf in arranging your insurance. Our permitted business is arranging general insurance contracts.

Our services include:

advising you on your insurance needs
arranging your insurance cover with Insurers to meet your requirements
helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make
assisting you with any claim you need to make

You can check Lloyd Bolam Insurance’s permitted business by visiting the FCA website https://register.fca.org.uk/ or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768 or 0300 500 8082.

The FCA has authorised us to advise, arrange, deal in and assist with the placing and administration of all types of General Insurance policies. However, we do not offer advice on Pure Protection policies such as, but not limited to: Term Assurance, Private Medical Insurance, Payment Protection Insurance, Permanent Health Insurance, Key Person Insurance or Shareholder Protection Insurance. We are also authorised to undertake certain Consumer Credit activities.

Please note that risk management services are not an insurance product, and is not regulated by the FCA.

METHOD OF COMMUNICATION

Whilst you do have a choice in the way we communicate with you; we will principally provide you with information using electronic means (usually this will be e-mail or some other means to enable you to access information electronically). During the process of dealing with us you will be given an option to receive information in this way, meaning if you would like information in a paper format, we will be happy to provide it.

REQUIREMENT TO DISCLOSURE

It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the life of your policy, and when you renew your insurance. It is important that you ensure all statements you make on proposal forms, claim forms and other documents are full and accurate.

YOUR DUTY TO MAKE A FAIR REPRESENTATION OF THE RISK (COMMERCIAL CLIENTS)

For policies incepted or renewed/amended after 12 August 2016, before the insurance policy takes effect you have a duty to make a fair presentation of the risks to be insured under the insurance policy. A fair presentation of the risk is one:

which discloses to the Insurer every material circumstance which you know of, or ought to know of; or
gives the Insurer sufficient information to put the Insurer on notice that it will need to make further enquiries for the purpose of revealing those material circumstances;
which makes that disclosure referred to above in a manner which is reasonably clear and accessible to the Insurer; and
in which every material representation as to a matter of fact is substantially correct, and every material representation as to a matter of expectation or belief is made in good faith.

A material circumstance is one that would influence the Insurer’s decision as to whether or not to agree to insure you and, if so, the terms of that insurance. If you are in any doubt as to whether a circumstance is material, you should disclose it to the insurer. By not giving enough information you will provide the insurer with various opportunities to reduce their exposure which may include avoidance of the policy.

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

We will advise and make recommendations for you after we have assessed your needs.

Our selection usually involves presenting to a reasonable number of insurance companies that will insure for the risk at hand, and this is called a fair and personal analysis of the market.

Sometimes we may only approach two or three insurers and this is a limited analysis, or in some cases, we may only approach one insurer, in either case, we will tell you the basis as part of our selling process. You can also request a list of the companies that form the panel we have approached.

EVIDENCE OF COVER/POLICY DOCUMENTATION

We will arrange for appropriate documentation to be forwarded to you which will provide you with formal confirmation/evidence of the insurance and the amount of premium due. We advise you to check this documentation carefully when you receive it to ensure it meets with your stated requirements.

INFORMATION ABOUT PREMIUMS, COSTS AND OUR REMUNERATION

We reserve the right to make charges (including administration fees) in addition to any insurance premiums for the arranging, amending, renewing and cancellation of any policy of insurance. These charges will always be advised to you in advance, will not be refundable and will be shown separately on any invoice we issue to you.

It is normal practice for some Insurers not to allow premium refunds following mid-term cancellation. Whilst it is always subject to their discretion, consideration of a refund may be given providing no claim or circumstance has been notified to them prior to such a cancellation.

We will give you full information about your payment options when we discuss your insurance in detail.

We are remunerated in several ways for the distribution services we provide (including the contract of insurance we provide to you). This remuneration ranges from the fees you pay us, the commission that providers of insurance (i.e. your insurance company) pays to us, and any amounts we may receive from any premium finance provider for our credit broking activities (i.e. arranging for you to pay by instalments). From time to time we may also receive remuneration for passing introductions to other professional firms.

Commission and fees are earned for the policy period on placement 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.

You are entitled, at any time, to request information regarding any commission which we may have received as a result of placing your insurance business.

INSURANCE PREMIUMS AND PAYMENT TERMS

In relation to insurance premiums our payment terms are:

New policies: immediate payment on or before the inception date of the policy
Mid-term adjustments to existing policies: immediate payment on or before the effective date of the change
Renewals: due in full before the renewal date.

Should you receive your debit note after the timescales stated above, payment is expected within 14 (fourteen) days from the date of the debit note. Receiving payment in that timeframe allows us sufficient time to forward premium(s) to your Insurer(s) by the date(s) they have stipulated.

We reserve the right to offset any returns of premium against unpaid premiums due to your Insurers or ourselves. We will not offset any monies anticipated from a claim against the ‘due’ premium.

Where an Insurer includes a premium payment warranty in their policy it is imperative premiums are received by the Insurer by the date stipulated or your policy may be automatically cancelled. We cannot be held responsible for the consequences of late payments or breaches of warranties if monies are received from you any later than the timescales noted above.

CLAIMS

If you have occasion to claim on your policy, you must notify us as soon as is reasonably practicable. We will promptly advise you about the process that should then be followed. If appropriate we will issue you with a claim form and pass all details to your Insurer. You should not admit liability nor agree to any course of action, other than emergency measures carried out to minimise the loss, until you have agreement from your Insurer.

Many policies require Insurers to be notified of a possible claim, or circumstances which may lead to a claim, before any formal claim is made on you by a third party. You should ensure that you are familiar with the provisions of your policy concerning the notification of claims or circumstances which may lead to these claims, and should adhere strictly to them, as failure to do so may entitle Insurers to refuse to meet the claim.

Unless otherwise agreed, we will provide a claims handling service for as long as you remain a client of Lloyd Bolam Insurance Brokers or as required by contract, and we will provide you with reasonable guidance in pursuing your claim.

CLIENT MONEY

We will hold money that you pay to us (in accordance with the regulator’s rules) in a statutory trust client bank account.

A statutory trust client bank account only allows us to use the money held in trust on behalf of a customer for paying that customer’s premium to an insurance company and to pay premium refunds or claims we receive from that insurance company to the customer, once the premium has been received from that insurance company. We cannot use that customer’s money to pay another customer premium or refund. We do not pay any interest on premiums held by us in the course of arranging and administrating your insurance, unless, in the case of consumer transactions we receive more than £20 per transaction, and then we will ask for your permission to retain the interest. Unless you tell us otherwise, you are consenting to us holding your money in this way.

By holding your money in this way, it means that in the event that this firm becomes insolvent your money remains protected.

In arranging your insurance, we may employ the services of other intermediaries who are regulated by the FCA and your premium may be passed to these intermediaries for payment to insurers. These firms are also required to hold clients’ money in a separate trust account. We will also inform you if at any time we are required to pass your premium to firms that operate outside the UK where the protection may be different. Should you not wish us to pass premiums to firms outside of the UK, please inform us.

INSURER SECURITY

We will only place insurance with insurers who have been subject to a satisfactory review by us or whom you have specifically approved for use in relation to your business. We endeavour to review accurately the information we obtain to protect the interests of our clients. Whilst reasonable skill and care is used in the review of the insurers by us the review is neither an audit nor a guarantee. The financial standing of any insurer can of course, change after the insurance contract has been incepted.

MANAGING YOUR DATA

We take the protection of our customers’ data seriously and as such we intend to comply with our legal obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation in respect of data privacy and security. In sourcing, arranging and administering your insurance policies we will need to collect personal information and keep it up to date. We also need to share information with other parties such as Insurers, wholesale brokers, loss adjustors and claim handling companies.

We may also use the data we hold about you to provide you with information about other products and services which we feel are appropriate.

Our Privacy Notice provides details of how we use and share your information as well as your rights and how to exercise them. You can access it at www.lloydbolam.co.uk/privacy-policy or contact us if you would like us to send you a copy.

COMPLAINTS

It is our intention to provide you with a high level of service at all times. If you wish to make a complaint about our service, we have a formal complaints procedure. In the first instance you should contact us in writing, by phone or at our e-mail address.

Please address your complaint to: The Managing Director, Lloyd Bolam Insurance Brokers Ltd, 9 King Edward Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 1AQ. Telephone: 01625 669000. E-mail:info@lloydbolam.co.uk

If you are not happy with our response, or the position after a period of 8 weeks, you may be eligible to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) for an independent assessment and opinion.

The FOS Consumer Helpline is on 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123. Alternatively, you can contact them at Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9SR.

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

A copy of our complaint’s procedure is available on request

FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You may be entitled to compensation from the Scheme if we are unable to meet our obligations depending on the type of insurance and the circumstances of your claim.

Further information about the scheme is available from the FSCS website www.fscs.org.uk, by telephone on 0800 678 1100, or write to Financial Services Compensation Scheme, PO Box 300, Mitcheldean, GL17 1DY.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

We may communicate with each other, and with parties with whom we need to communicate in order to provide services to you, by email, and sometimes attach further electronic data. By doing this we and you accept the inherent risks (e.g. viruses, unauthorised access/interception). Our systems do have virus checking processes, but you will be responsible for virus checking all electronic communications sent to you and for checking that the messages received are complete.

TELEPHONE CALLS

Please be aware that telephone calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes.

BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION

We have in place strict anti-bribery and corruption policies and procedures in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements, rules and legislation including the Bribery Act 2010. When you are doing business with us it is vital that all parties should not engage in any acts of bribery or corruption contrary to the applicable requirements/laws. We would expect you to have the appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure this does not happen as any breach will entitle us to terminate our relationship with you.

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Trademarks and Logos

In order to enhance and personalise our reports and presentations to you and the relevant Insurer(s), we may make use of your firm/company trademark and/or logo. If you do not agree to us using your trademark and/or logo in this way, please write to the Managing Director at Lloyd Bolam Insurance Brokers Ltd.

Conflicts of Interest

We shall seek to avoid conflicts of interest but, where this is unavoidable, we shall explain the position fully to you and manage the situation in such a way as to avoid prejudice to any party.

GOVERNING LAW

These Terms of Business shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law. In relation to any legal action or proceedings arising out of, or in connection with, these Terms of Business you and we will irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

VARIATION OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Any variation to the Terms and Conditions of this agreement must be in writing and signed by you and us to be valid and enforceable.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

1. This section forms part of our Terms of Business. We accept instructions to act on your behalf strictly subject to the following limitation upon our liability.

2. Our liability to you for any act or omission (including, but not limited to, our negligence and/or the negligence of any other parties in respect of which we are legally liable to you), whether such liability be in damages, equitable compensation or otherwise, shall not exceed the sum of £2,000,000 or its equivalent from time to time in Euros or any other relevant or appropriate currency in respect of any one transaction or series of related transactions.

This figure has been carefully chosen in order to enable us to offer reasonable redress to our clients in the event of a claim, whilst enabling us to retain competitive levels of fees and commissions and make appropriate arrangements to ensure that any proper claim is met.

This section does not apply to awards made by the Financial Ombudsman Services in the exercise of his compulsory jurisdiction.

3. In section 2 above:

‘negligence’ means a breach of any obligation upon us to take reasonable care, whether that obligation is imposed by virtue of a term (express or implied) of any relevant contract, or by the law of negligence, or otherwise;
‘transactions’ means any professional service provided by us to you, including (but not limited to) the arranging of insurance, advising on insurance cover and/or on particular wordings, notification of claims to Insurers, and claims handling generally;
‘a series of related transactions’ has its ordinary meaning (save that ‘transaction’ has the meaning given at (ii) above), but includes (without limitation), (a) transactions concerning, connected with or arising out of the same policy of insurance or reinsurance arrangement, or, (b) where different policies or arrangements insure or reinsure (as the case may be) all or some of the same risks, transactions concerning, connected with or arising out of some or all of those policies or arrangements.

4. We are always prepared to discuss increasing the limit of our liability specified in this section in relation to any individual engagement, if particular reasons exist, but we reserve the right to decline to increase the limit or (in the event that we agree to increase it) to make an additional charge or to impose alternative or additional conditions. No agreement to increase the limit shall be valid unless made in writing and signed by a Director of Lloyd Bolam Insurance Brokers Ltd.

5. Under these Terms of Business, you agree not to make any claim against any employee, director, partner, consultant or other individual connected with us. See paragraph 6 below. However, it is also understood and agreed that if for any reason the provisions of paragraph 6 hereof are held to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, any claim made by you against any employee, director, partner, consultant or other individual connected with us is subject to the limit of liability of £1,000,000 contained in this clause, and you understand and agree that any such individual may avail himself of this limitation.

6. You agree:

That your remedies in relation to the provision of professional services by us, arising out of or in connection with this engagement, lie exclusively against us and not against any employee, director, consultant or partner as individuals;
That you will not make any claim and/or bring any legal proceedings against any employee, director, partner, consultant or other individuals, in respect of any act or omission by any such person or persons (whether negligent or not).

You understand and agree that the provisions of this clause may be enforced by any employee, director, partner, consultant or other individual connected with us in accordance with the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

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