Our Firm
1. Harrold Financial Planning Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to provide investment advice and act as an intermediary in life assurance, unit trust, ISAs and other collective investments and pension transactions.
2. Harrold Financial Planning Limited also provides advice on some services and products that are not regulated by the FSA, for example, will writing, credit cards, tax advice, estate planning and some forms of mortgages.
3. Harrold Financial Planning Limited is bound to observe and comply with the rules of the FSA.
Our Services
4. In providing our services to you, we will categorise you as a retail client. The client category determines the level of protection afforded to you under the regulatory system. As a retail client, the protection available to you will be the highest possible.
5. We confirm that we will be happy to act on your behalf in accordance with your investment objectives. We offer you independent advice. If an occasion arises where we have some form of interest in a business which we are transacting for you, we will disclose the interest to you in writing before we carry out your instructions and take steps to ensure that you are not disadvantaged.
Our Dealings with You
6. We normally ask our client to give written instructions before we act for them but, at our discretion, oral instructions will also be acceptable provided they are confirmed in writing. Any advice we give will normally be in writing, but if given orally, will be recorded in writing on your file. We will review our records of your investments or other transactions if you request us to do so in writing, or if we have a specific written agreement to do so.
7. Harrold Financial Planning Limited may on occasion act as agents for its professional connections and Harrold Financial Planning Limited reserves the right to share commission or fees with such connections at its discretion.
8. Harrold Financial Planning Limited is unable to effect transactions for you if the necessary money laundering verification checks have not been undertaken. If such checks are delayed, either by your failure to supply documentation or any other reason, Harrold Financial Planning Limited shall not be responsible for any loss incurred due to the delay in investing your money.
9. In relation to life assurance and health insurance proposals, there is normally a need for insurers to obtain medical evidence in respect of each life assured. This can lead to delay in the acceptance of the proposal and the arrangement coming into force. Generally following entry into a transaction there is a period during which you have the right to cancel. This period is known as the "cooling off period" and gives you the right to withdraw from the transaction within 14-30 days of receiving notice of the right to cancel. In the case of Unit Trust Linked Individual Savings Accounts, the period is generally 7 days.
Your Duty of Disclosure
10. It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out an insurance policy. It is important that all statements made on the application form or any additional documentation are full and accurate. Please be aware that if you fail to disclose any relevant information or any change of circumstances to your insurer then any claim may not be paid. We strongly recommend that the information you provide is checked thoroughly prior to submission.
Termination
11. Our authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time, without penalty, by either of us giving written notice to that effect. Such termination will be without prejudice to either party's obligations to complete transactions already initiated on your instructions, whether written or oral.
Remuneration
12. As Independent Financial Advisers we offer all clients the option of paying for our services by fees only. Alternatively we are able to work for clients on either a commission only basis or a combination of fees and commission. Full details are shown in the document ‘Keyfacts about the cost of our services' which will be provided to you. You will receive from the company in question, or from us, information about any commission that we receive. A suitable Fee Agreement will be provided for your approval and signature before we provide any advice on a fee basis.
If we receive a commission or other form of benefit from the issuer of a security or from another intermediary, we will inform you, and give you details of the amount.
Client Money
13. WE ARE NOT AUTHORISED TO HANDLE CLIENT'S MONEY. This means we may never accept a cheque made out to us (unless it is a cheque in settlement of charges or disbursements for which we have sent you an invoice) nor handle cash. All cheques for premiums or investments must be made payable to the life office or investment operator.
Ownership of Policies
14. We will make arrangements for all investments to be registered in your name unless you first instruct us otherwise in writing.
Investment Documents
15. 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 and then forward them to you.
Transaction Records
16. We will account to you for transactions effected on your behalf either by means of a contract note or by providing documents or title certificate evidencing title.
We will supply on request copies of contract notes, vouchers and copies of entries in our records relating to your transactions. We undertake to maintain such records for seven years from the date of each transaction. We treat all clients' records as confidential.
17. If you make a valid claim against Harrold Financial Planning Limited 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. Details of cover provided by the scheme are given in a leaflet which we will send to you at your request. Further information is available from the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Governing Law
18. This agreement shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. In relation to any dispute, the client irrevocably agrees to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
Absence or Illness
19. Harrold Financial Planning Limited has four registered individuals engaged in the day to day conduct of investment business -
Paul Harrold A.C.I.I., Cert PFS
Neil Warne Cert PFS
Robyn Lovatt APFS, Cert CBD
Max Samuel Cert PFS
This ensures that your interests would not suffer and we would be able to continue to carry out our investment business obligations should any individual be unable to conduct investment business, for any reason, for more than fourteen days.
Complaints
20. If you are dissatisfied, either with the service you receive or any product or transaction we arrange for you, please contact the person named below, either by telephone or in writing. We will attempt to resolve your complaint within 8 weeks of notification. If we are unable to do so or you are not happy with our response, you may subsequently complain directly to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
21. We hold Professional Indemnity Insurance for the protection of our clients.