Terms of Business

September 2022

 

McCann Financial Consultants Ltd T/A O’Sullivan Financial Solutions 
These Terms of Business set out in general terms under chich our firm will provide business services to you and the perspective 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 
McCann Financial Consultants Ltd T/A O’Sullivan Financial Solutions is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an insurance intermediary registered under the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018; and as an Investment Intermediary authorised under the Investment intermediaries Act, 1995. Copies of our regulatory authorisation are available on request. The Central Bank of Ireland hold registers of regulated firms. You may contact Central Bank of Ireland on 1890 777 777 or alternatively visit their website at www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.

 

Note 
For the Purpose of Brevity McCann Financial Consultants T/A O’Sullivan Financial Solutions will be termed O’Sullivan Financial Solutions throughout this document.

 

Codes of Conduct 
O’Sullivan Financial Solutions is subject to the Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code and Fitness & Probity Standards which offers protection to consumers. These Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie

 

Our Services 
O’Sullivan Financial Solutions is a member of Broker Ireland. Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to life & pensions insurance products. All full list of insurers and product producers with which we deal is available on our website or on request.

 

Fair Analysis 
The concept of fair analysis describes the extent of the choice of products and providers offered by an intermediary within a particular category of life assurance, general assurance, mortgages and/or specialist area. The number of contract providers considered must be sufficient large to enable an intermediary to recommend a product that would be adequate to meet 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 of service and their
relative importance in and share of the market. The extent of fair analysis must be such that could reasonably be expected of a professional conduction 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,
  • 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 by the provider,
  • cost, and
  • any other relevant consideration.

 

Investment Intermediary Services 
We are remunerated by commission for the advice we provide on our insurance-based investment products.

 

Life Insurance, Pensions & Investments 
O’Sullivan Financial Solutions provides life assurance and pension on a fair analysis basis i.e. providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and products 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 provide assistance to you for any queries you may have in relation to the policies or in the event of 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 we will explain to you a) the meaning of disability as defined by the policy; b) the benefits available under the policy; c) the general exclusions attached to your policy; and d) the reductions applied to the benefit where 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 
O’Sullivan Financial Solution is remunerated by commission and other payments from product producers on the completions of business. You may choose to pay in full for our services by means of fee. Where we receive recurring commission, this forms part of remuneration for initial advice provided.
In certain circumstance, it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided. These are listed o our website for life, pensions & investments, and Standard PRSAs. In other circumstances where a fee is 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.
If we receive commission from a product provider, this may/will be offset against the fee which we will charge you. Where the commission is greater than the fee due, the commission may become the amount payable to the firms unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.

 

Life Insurance, Pensions & Investment Fees 
You may elect to deal with us on a fee basis.
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 €75 per hour to a maximum of €300 per hour. We will notify you in advance and agree the scale of fee to be charged.

 

Sustainability Factors – Investment/IBIPs/Pension Advice 
When providing advice, the firm considers that adverse impact of investment decisions on sustainability. As part of our research and assessment of products, the firm will examine the Product Providers literature to compare financial products and to make the informed investment decisions about ESG products. The firm will at all times act in the client’s best interest and keep clients informed accordingly. The consideration of sustainability risks can impact on the returns of financial products.
The firm’s services do not include ongoing suitability unless specifically agreed. Our advice is based on legislative and financial conditions at the time of advising you. Unless specifically agreed in writing, we will not be obliged to revisit our advice in the light of changed conditions. For example, unless otherwise agreed in writing, we will not be responsible for ongoing monitoring a past investment advice.

 

Regular Reviews 
It is in your best interest that you review, on a regular basis, the products which we have arranged for you. As your circumstances change, your needs will change which may result in you having insufficient insurance cover and/or inappropriate investments. We would therefor advise that you contact us to ensure you are provided with up-to-date advice and products best suited for your needs.

 

Consumers: Duty of Disclosure when completing documentation for new business/renewals and midterm adjustments 
  • You are required to answer all questions posed by us or the insurer honestly and with reasonable care – the test will be that of the average consumer. Average consumer as per Directive No. 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Counsil of 11 May is reasonably well informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, taking into account social, cultural and linguistic factors.
  • Specific questions will be asked. Where you do not provide additional information (after being requested to do so) it can be presumed that the information previously provided remains unchanged.

 

An insurer may repudiate liability or limit the amount paid on foot of the contract of insurance, only if it establishes that non-disclosure of material information was an effective cause of the insurer entering into the relevant contract of insurance and on the terms on which it did.

 

Completed proposal forms/statements of fact 
Completed proposal forms or Statements of Facts will be provided to you. These are important documents as they form the basis of insurance contact between the insurer and you the consumer. You should review and confirm that the answers contained within are true and accurate.

 

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

 

Defaults on payment by clients 
Our firm will exercise its legal rights to receive payments due to us 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 arrange for you. We would refer you to policy documents or product terms for the details of such provision.

 

Complaints 
Whilst we are happy to receive verbal complaints, it would be preferable that any complains are made in writing. We will acknowledge your complaint in writing 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 that 20 business days starting from the date on which the complaint was made. On completion of our investigation, we will provide you with a written report of the outcome. In the event that you are 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 fully copy of our complaint procedure is available on request.

 

Data Protection 
O’Sullivan Financial Solutions complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (“GDPR”) and the Irish Date Protection Act 2018.
O’Sullivan Financial Solutions is committed to protection 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 not only to processing your date 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 assessable. Please refer to our website www.osullivanfinancial.ie. If the medium is not suitable we will ensure you can easily receive a hard copy by post or mail.
Please contact us a donal@osullivanfiancial.ie if you have any concern about your personal data.

 

New Business and Renewal 
A consumer may cancel a contract of insurance, by giving notice in writing to the insurer, within working 14 days after the date the consumer was informed that the contract is concluded. The insurer cannot impose any costs on the consumer other that the cost of the premium for the period of cover.
The right to cancel does not apply where, in respect of life insurance the contract is for a duration of six month or less.
The consumer is under a duty to pay their premium with a reasonable time, or otherwise in accordance with the terms of the contact of insurance. A court of competent jurisdiction can reduce the pay-out to you if you are in breach of your duties under the Act, in proportion to breach involved.
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 is 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 a reasonable contemplation of the both you and the insurer when the contract was concluded.
The consumer must cooperate with the insurer in an investigation of insured events including responding to reasonable requests for information in an honest and reasonable careful manner and must notify the insurer of the occurrence of an insured event in a The
The consumer must notify the insurer of a claim within a reasonable time, or otherwise in accordance with the terms of the contract of insurance.
If the consumer becomes aware after a claim is made of information that would either support or prejudice the claim, they are under a duty disclose it. (The insurer is under the same duty).
If the consumer makes false or misleading claim in any material respect (and knows it to be false or misleading or consciously disregards wither it is) the insurer is entitled to refuse or pay to terminate the contract.
Where an insurer becomes aware that a consumer has made a fraudulent claim, they must notify the consumer advising that they are avoiding the contract of insurance. 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 the fraudulent act, and the insurer is under no obligation to return any of the premiums paid under the contract.

 

Sustainability Factors – Investment/Pension Advice 
When providing advice, the firm does not consider the adverse impact of investment decisions or sustainability. We will review this approach on an annual basis in March.

 

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 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 reasonable 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;
  • To the extent that the client’s loss is recognised for the purpose 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 up to €20,000.

 

For further information, contact the Investor Compensation Company Ltd. at (01)224 4955.

 

Brokers Ireland Compensation Fund 
We are also members of the Brokers Ireland Compensation Fund. Subject to the rules of the scheme the liabilities of its 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 Schene has failed to adequately compensate any client of the member. Further details are available on request.

 

Donal O’Sullivan QFA
Managing Director
14/09/2022