Terms Of Business - My Lifeinsurance

Pinnacle Financial Ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial & My Life Insurance

These Terms of Business set out the basis on which Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance will provide business services to you and the respective duties and responsibilities of both the Company and you in relation to such services. Please take a few minutes to read this document. If you have any questions, we will be happy to answer them. If any material changes are made to these terms, we will notify you.

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance (Central Bank Reference C422801) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an Insurance Intermediary registered under the European Communities (Insurance Mediation) regulations, 2005, as an Investment Intermediary, authorised under the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995, as a Mortgage Intermediary authorised under the Consumer Credit Act, 1995, and as a Mortgage Credit Intermediary under the European Union(Consumer Mortgage Credit Agreements) Regulations 2016. Copies of out Regulatory Authorisations are available on request. The Central Bank of Ireland has a register of all 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.

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance is a member of Brokers Ireland & Life Insurance Association (LIA).

Codes of Conduct:

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance 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 Banks Website www.centralbank.ie

Our Services

Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to Life Insurance, Illness Cover, Income Protection, Pensions, Investments and Mortgages. A full list of Insurers, Product Producers and Lending Agencies with which we arrange business is available on request.

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance acts as an Independent Broker which means that:

the principle regulated activities of the firm are provided based on a fair analysis of the market; and
you have the option to pay in full for our services by means of a fee.

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, mortgages, 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 needs.

The number of Providers that constitutes “sufficiently large” will vary, depending on the number of providers operating in the market for a product or service and their relative importance in and share of that market. The extent of fair analysis must be such that it could be reasonably expected of a professional conducting business, considering the accessibility of information and product placement to intermediaries and the cost of the search.

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 these 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
The Cost and
Any other relevant consideration.

Investment Intermediary Services

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance is remunerated by commission for its Investment Intermediary services

Life & Pensions

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance provides life assurance and pensions on a fair analysis basis. In relation to products provided, we are authorised to:

Advise you in relation to the nature of each of the products and advise you as to which product is suitable for your needs.
Receive and transmit orders on your behalf for a product.

The products for which Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance has appointments to act in relation to, are all life assurance products and mortgage products. These include Life Assurance Policies, Specified Serious Illness Cover, Pension Policies, Savings and Investment Products, PRSA Retirement Plans, Mortgage Protection and other protection type policies, and Mortgage Finance. A full list of Product Producers is available on request.

We will aid 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, about Permanent Health Insurance policies, it is our policy to explain to you

The meaning of disability as defined in the policy
The benefits available under the policy
The general exclusions that apply to the policy and
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.

Mortgages:

As an Agent of IFG Investment and Mortgage Services Limited, Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance is authorised to arrange mortgages with the various lenders it has access to through our appointment with them.

A full list of Lenders is available on request.

Through our appointment with IFG Investment and Mortgage Services Limited, we can provide advice on, and arrange mortgage products from the following range: fixed rate loans, variable rate mortgages, capital & interest mortgages, interest only mortgages, endowment mortgages, pension mortgages and residential investment property mortgages.

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance provides mortgage advice 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)

We will need to collect sufficient information from you before we can offer any advice on housing loans. This is due to the fact that a key issue in relation to mortgage advice is affordability. Such information should be produced promptly upon our request.

Disclosure of Information

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

Business Insurance, Home & Contents Cover and Health Insurance:

As an Agent of IFG Investment and Mortgage Services Limited, Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance arranges Business Insurance, Home and Contents Cover and Health Insurance on a referral basis.

Fees and Commissions:

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance may receive commission and other payments from product producers or Lenders on completion of business. You may choose to pay in full for our services by means of a fee . When 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 2 hours in any week.

In certain circumstances, it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided in relation to insurance business. Summary details of these payments will be included in a product information document, which you are legally entitled to receive before an application for a product is completed. Full details will be included with your cooling-off letter.

In respect of mortgage business transacted, commission will be paid through IFG Investments & Mortgage Services Ltd. t/a One Platform up to a maximum of .8%. Please note that lenders may charge specific fees in certain circumstances and if this applies, these fees will be specified in your Loan Offer. You have the right to pay a fee separately and not include it in the loan. Typically, this situation arises in relation to specialist lending.

In certain circumstances we may charge a fee for the services provided, or you can opt to pay a fee for certain services. These are listed below for Life and Standard PRSA. In the event of a fee being charged, you will be fully appraised of the cost involved, in writing, in advance, and agree the scale of fees to be charged , if different from outlined below, and a signed authority form will be obtained.

Life Fees:

You may elect to deal with us on a fee basis. Our fees are charged at an hourly rate of €60.00. 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 the firm, unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.

Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) Fees:

Where advice is requested for PRSAs, the following hourly fees will apply:

Advisor Fees – €60.00 per hour.

Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency. Our scale of fees for such cases range from a minimum of € 100 per hour to a maximum of €150.00 per hour. We will notify you in advance, and agree the scale of fees to be charged. 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 the intermediary, unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.

Mortgage Fees:

In respect of mortgage business transacted, commission will be paid through up to a maximum of .8%. The actual amount of commission will be disclosed at a later stage in the EDIS (European Standardised Information Sheet) which will be forwarded to you. Information on the variation in levels of commission payable by the different Lenders being offered are available on request.

We also charge a fee of €250.00 for arranging a mortgage, out of which we will pay €100.00 to IFG Investments & Mortgage Services Ltd. t/a One Platform. Our fee will be notified to the Lender, who will include this fee into the calculation of the APRC (Annual Percentage Rate Charge)

Please note that lenders may charge specific fees in certain circumstances and if this applies, these fees will be specified in your Loan Offer. You have the right to pay a fee separately and not include it in the loan. Typically, this situation arises in relation to specialist lending.

Pinnacle Financial’s services does not include ongoing suitability assessments.

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 should advise us of material changes in your circumstances and request a review of the relevant policy so that we can ensure that you are provided with up-to-date advice and products 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 and/or inappropriate investments.

Complaints Procedure:

Whilst we are happy to receive verbal complaints, it would be preferable that any complaints are made, in writing. We will acknowledge your complaint with 5 business days and we will fully investigate it. We will investigate the complaint as swiftly as possible, and the complainant will receive an update on the complaint at intervals of not greater than 20 working 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. 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 and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO). A full copy of our Complaints Procedure is available on request.

Conflicts of Interest:

It is the policy of the firm to avoid any conflict of interest when providing business services to its clients. However, where an unavoidable conflict may arise we will advise you of this in writing before proceeding to provide any business service. If you have not been advised of any such conflict, you are entitled to assume that none arises. A full copy of our Conflicts of Interest Policy is available on request.

Data Protection:

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018, and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance is 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 Statement, 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.pinnaclefinancial.ie .

Alternatively, we can email you or post you a hard copy.

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

Investor Compensation Scheme

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance is a member of the Investor Compensation Scheme, operated by The Investor Compensation Company Ltd.

Under Section 38 (1) of the Investor Compensation Act, 1998 I wish to draw your attention to the following:

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 (ICCL) was established under the 1998 Act to operate such a compensation scheme, and our Company is a member of that scheme.

Compensation may be payable where money or investment instruments owed or belonging to clients

and held, administered or managed by our Company cannot be returned to those client for the time being and where there is no reasonably foreseeable opportunity of the Company being able to do so:

A right to compensation will arise only:

If the client is an eligible investor as defined in the Act
If it transpires that our Company is not in a position to return client money or investment instruments owned or belonging to the clients of the Company
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

Brokers Ireland Compensation Fund

Pinnacle Financial ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial and My Life Insurance is also a member of the Brokers Ireland Compensation Fund. Subject to the rules of the Scheme, the liabilities of it’s members firms, up to a maximum of €100,000 per client (or €250,000 in aggregate) may be discharged by the fund on its behalf if the member firm is unable to do so, where the above detailed Investor Compensation Scheme has failed to adequately compensate any client of the member. Further details are available on request.

DATE: These Terms of Business are valid from 1^st June 2018 until further notice.

Pinnacle Financial Ltd trading as Pinnacle Financial & My Life Insurance is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Directors: Darragh O’Connor, Sean O’Connor. CRO – 660165. Charlemont House, 33 Charlemont Street, Dublin 2.

Telephone: 01 5634338.
Web: MyLifeInsurance.ie.
Email: hello@mylifeinsurance.ie.