Legal Name – Blueprint Capital Ltd.
Trading Names – Blueprint Financial Planning & Financial Fitness
Address – 2nd Floor, Office 4, 13 North Street, Skibbereen, Co Cork
Contact Details – 085-1126454
Effective Date – From June 2020
These Terms of Business set out the general terms under which this 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. If any material changes are made to these terms we will notify you.
Authorisation with the Central Bank of Ireland
Blueprint Capital Ltd. t/a Blueprint Financial Planning and Financial Fitness is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an insurance intermediary registered under the European Communities (Insurance Mediation) Regulations, 2005 and as an investment intermediary authorised under the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995. Copies of our regulatory authorisations are available on request. Our Central Bank of Ireland number is C 94380.
The Central Bank of Ireland holds registers of regulated firms. You may contact the Central Bank of Ireland on 1890 777 777 or alternatively visit their website at www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.
Codes of Conduct
The firm is subject to the Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code and Fitness & Probity Standards which 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 insurance, investments and pensions.
Fair Analysis
The concept of fair analysis is derived from the Insurance Mediation Directive. It describes the extent of the choice of products and providers offered by an intermediary within a particular category of life assurance and/or a specialist area. The number of contracts and providers considered must be sufficiently large to enable an intermediary to recommend a product that would be adequate to meet a client’s 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 be reasonably 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:
- the needs of 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.
Life Assurance
The firm provides life assurance advice on a fair analysis basis(providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available in the market to enable the firm to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your needs).
Investments & Pensions
The firm provides investment and pension advice on a fair analysis basis(providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available in the market to enable the firm to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your needs).
Non-Life Income Protection
The firm provides income protection policies on a fair analysis basis(providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available on the market to enable us to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your needs.
Permanent Health Insurance (Income Protection)
In relation to 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.
Serious Illness
In relation to serious illness policies, we will explain clearly to you the restrictions, conditions and general exclusions that attach to that policy.
Disclosure of Information – All Products
It is important that you ensure that all information provided on proposal forms, application forms, statement of facts and any other documentation relevant to the service being provided to you is complete and accurate. If you are in doubt as to whether information is relevant or not, please disclose it to us. Failure to disclose any material information could invalidate you cover and could mean that all or part of a claim will not be paid.
Remuneration
The firm is remunerated by commission and other payments from product producers on the completion of business. 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 and also for the ongoing management of your policy. Where we receive commission from a product provider and charge a fee, we do not offset the commission against the fee.
Life Assurance
In respect of life assurance the firm may receive commission and other payments from the insurance companies to whom orders are transmitted. Summary details of these payments will be included in a quality information document, which you are legally entitled to receive before an application for a product is completed, and full details will be included with your cooling off letter.
Pensions
As levels of commission vary between Insurers, we will advise clients in advance of any new contract, the exact commission rates payable by the Insurer selected prior to effecting the policy.
Non-Life Remuneration
The firm is remunerated by commission from insurers on completion of business. Details of this remuneration are available on request.
Fees
In certain circumstances it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided. Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency or you may choose to pay in full for our service by fee. In any case we will give an estimate of the rate in advance of providing you with services.
- Directors €250 per hour
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 an unsuitable investment in place.
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.
Default on payments by clients
Our firm will exercise its legal rights to receive payments due to it from clients (fees and insurance premiums) for services provided. In particular, without limitation of the generality of the foregoing, the firm will seek reimbursement for all payments made to insurers on behalf of clients where the firm has acted in good faith in renewing a policy of insurance for the client.
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.
Complaints
We ask that you make any complaint against our firm, relating to services provided by us, in writing. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 business days and we will fully investigate it. On completion of our investigation, we will provide you with a written report of the outcome. In the event that 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.
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 Limited at (01) 224 4955
Data Protection
The firm complies with the requirements of the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003.
By signing this form I/We consent to Blueprint Capital Ltd. t/a Blueprint Financial Planning using and processing my personal details;
(a) to manage and administer my accounts;
(b) to help detect fraud and dishonesty;
(c) to contact me by post, telephone, text message, electronic mail, facsimile or other means in relation to my existing accounts and any relevant new products or services which have been carefully selected by us, but not in a way which is contrary to law or regulation;
Disclosures: We may disclose information in the following circumstances:
- a) to our agents, advisers, service providers and contractors for the above purposes.
- b) to other persons connected with your account e.g. additional borrowers, guarantors, company directors and to your other advisers where applicable;
- c) in the context of any assignment, purchase or securitisation of your loan or in the context of a sale of our business;
- d) to firms that we have received your referral from, we may advise them of any transactions arranged for you.
- e) to other carefully selected third parties; or
- f) where we are required by any regulatory body, law enforcement agency, court or other legal process.
Communicating with you;
Your information will be processed, recorded and retained by us in a manual and/or electronic format. You agree that we may communicate with you by letter, telephone and electronically and that we may rely on such communications, records, originals and documents in any dealings with you. We may monitor and records telephone conversations to and from us for training, to improve customer service, fraud and crime prevention, to evidence instructions or to prevent or resolve disputes.
You have a right to receive a copy of all personal data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1988 & 2003) relating to you which is held by us following a written request (we may charge a fee of €6.35) and to have any inaccuracies in your personal data corrected. You will be required to provide information to locate your data and verify your identity.