09:00 - 13:00
14:00 - 17:00
Monday to Friday
8 Adelphi Quay,
Waterford, X91 VE86

Welcome to Adelphi Financial Brokers.

March 28, 2024
09:00 - 13:00
14:00 - 17:00
Monday to Friday
8 Adelphi Quay,
Waterford, X91 VE86

Terms of Business

About Us

The full name of our firm is Adelphi Financial Brokers Limited and the address of our registered office is 8 Adelphi Quay, Waterford, X91 VE86. Our trading name is Adelphi Financial Brokers.

Our contact details are as follows:

Telephone:      051 318 000
Fax:                  051 856 592
Email:              info@adelphi.ie
Web:                www.adelphi.ie

These terms of business set out the basis on which Adelphi Financial Brokers will provide business services to you as a client of the firm. They also contain details of our regulatory and statutory obligations and the respective duties of both the firm and you in relation to such services.

Authorised Status

Adelphi Financial Brokers Limited t/a Adelphi Financial Brokers (C2161) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and is authorised as follows:

  1. Insurance Intermediary under the European Communities (Insurance Distribution) Regulations, 2018
  2. Investment Intermediary under Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995
  3. Mortgage Intermediary, authorised under the Consumer Credit Act, 1995

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.

Statutory Codes

Adelphi Financial Brokers Limited is subject to and complies with the Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code and the Fitness and Probity Standards which offer protection to consumers. These Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie

Our Services

Adelphi Financial Brokers is a member of Brokers Ireland. Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to life & pensions, investment and mortgage products. A full list of insurers, product producers and lending agencies with which we deal is available on request.

Insurance Intermediary Services/Mortgage Intermediary Services

Adelphi Financial Brokers acts as an Impartial Broker which means that:

  • The principal regulated activities of the firm are provided on the basis of a fair and personal analysis of the market; and
  • You have the option to pay in full for our services by means of a fee.

Fair and Personal Analysis

The concept of fair and personal analysis 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’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

Investment Intermediary Services

Adelphi Financial Brokers provides Investment Intermediary services and we will identify and select a suitable product producer and on receipt of your instructions we will transmit orders on your behalf to one or more product producers (a list of which is available on request).

Adelphi Financial Brokers is remunerated by commission for its investment intermediary services and clients also have the option of paying a fee as per the schedule below.

Life & Pensions/Deposits & Life Wrapped Investments

Adelphi Financial Brokers provides life assurance and pensions on a fair and personal analysis basis i.e. 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 the your needs.

We will provide assistance to 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 Income Protection (Permanent Health Insurance) and Specified Serious Illness policies.

Specifically on the subject of Income Protection (PHI) policies, it is our policy to explain to you:

  1.  The meaning of disability as defined in the policy;
  2.  The benefits available under the policy;
  3.  The general exclusions that apply to the policy; and
  4.  The reductions applied to the benefit where there are disability payments from other sources.

For a specified serious illness policy, we will explain clearly to you the restrictions, conditions and general exclusions attaching to that policy.

This firm does not have a ‘tied’ relationship with any institution that would compromise our ability to offer you impartial advice and choice.

If you want to restrict the type of investment or service covered by this engagement letter, please let us know in writing as soon as possible, or we shall assume that no restrictions apply.

Mortgages

Through the lenders or other undertakings with which we hold an agency, Adelphi Financial Brokers can provide advice on and/or arrange mortgage products from the following range:

  • Fixed-rate loans, variable rate mortgages
  • Capital & interest mortgages
  • Interest only mortgages
  • Endowment mortgages
  • Pension mortgages
  • Residential investment property

Adelphi Financial Brokers 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 the firm 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 about 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.

Your Investment objectives

In order to offer you an advisory investment service we must obtain sufficient information to ensure that advice given is suitable. Specifically, we must obtain information relating to your investment knowledge and experience; investment objectives; attitude to risk; financial situation and investment preferences.

It is your responsibility to inform us so that we can ensure that your investments remain suitable.

If you do not provide this information to us, we may not be in a position to recommend a service or offer investment advice. We will rely on the information provided by you unless it is obvious that the information is out of date, inaccurate or incomplete.

Sustainability Factors – Investment/IBIPS/Pension Advice

When providing advice, the firm considers the 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 informed investment decisions about ESG products. The firm will at all times act in the client’s best interests and keep clients informed accordingly. The consideration of sustainability risks can impact on the returns of
financial products.

You may direct us to undertake an execution only transaction on your behalf. An ‘execution only’ transaction is a transaction executed by us on your specific instructions where we do not give advice on the merits of the transaction.

Ongoing Suitability

If you would like to discuss your investment objectives, please let us know as soon as possible. It should be remembered that your objectives can change and we would like to conduct a regular review.

It is in your best interests that on a regular basis, you review 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/or inappropriate investments.

Categorisation

Based on the information available to us we have categorised you as a Retail Client. This category affords you the highest available level of client protection.

You have a right, subject to meeting defined criteria, to request to be categorised as a Professional Client for a given product, service or transaction or in respect of all services which we provide to you. Any such requests will result in a lower level of client protection applying to your transactions. We reserve the right to refuse any such request for a change of category.

Communicating with you and/or using third parties

We shall act on instructions given by you or any person you have nominated as long as you have written to us about that person. We can accept instructions over the telephone or in writing, which will not take effect until actually received by us. If we accept instructions over the telephone, we may act on them before we receive confirmation, unless you specifically tell us not to.

We shall keep you (or, if you want, the person you nominate) informed about transactions arranged for you. We will also send contract notes/policy documents to you or the person nominated by you. Any change in these instructions should be in writing.

If you have asked for our advice on any investments, we may give that advice to you over the telephone or in writing. Please note that if we think it is appropriate, we may take advice for you from another person authorised under the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995 or an exempted person. (Please ask us to explain these terms if you are unsure of their meaning). If this happens we shall tell you that we have done so.

To enable us to provide a proper service to you, there may be occasions when we will need to contact you without your express invitation. For example, it may be in your interest to buy a particular investment and we would wish to be able to inform you of that fact. We therefore may contact you in such circumstances. We would, however, do so only between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays. We shall, of course, comply with any other restrictions you may wish to impose which you notify to us in writing.

Data Protection and Confidentiality of Information

Adelphi Financial Brokers is a Data Controller and is subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act, 2018.

Adelphi Financial Brokers is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We wish to be transparent in how we process your data and show you we are accountable with the GDPR in relation to not only processing your data but ensuring you understand your rights as a client.

We may use, store or otherwise process personal information provided by you in connection with the provision of services for the purposes of providing the services, administering your account or for the purposes ancillary thereto, including without limitation, for the purposes of credit inquiries or assessments.

The information we hold about you is confidential and will not be used for any purpose other than in connection with the provision of services. Information of a confidential nature will only be disclosed in the following circumstances:

  • Where required by law or if requested by any regulatory or government authority or exchange having control or jurisdiction over Adelphi Financial Brokers Limited
  • To investigate or prevent fraud or other illegal activity
  • To any third party in connection with the provision of services to you by us
  • For purposes ancillary to the provision of the services or the administration of your account, including, without limitation, for the purpose of credit inquiries or assessments
  • If it is in the public interest to disclose such information
  • At your request or with your consent

 The full details of our company’s data processing, in compliance with The General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, can be found in our Privacy Policy which is available at www.adelphi.ie/privacy. As outlined in our Privacy Policy, you have the right to request a copy of the information we hold about you. Please refer to the section “Subject access requests (SARs)” in our Privacy Policy for full details.

We may process your personal data in order to send you updates on topics which we would deem relevant to you or to inform you of additional services we could provide which may be of interest to you. We may also process your personal data in order to invite you to events which we think would be of interest to you. Should you prefer not to receive such information or invitations, please let us know by contacting info@adelphi.ie.

New consumer responsibilities arising out of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 which was implemented to protect consumers.

New Business & Renewal

A consumer may cancel a contract of insurance, by giving notice in writing to the insurer, within 14 days after the date the consumer was informed that the contract is concluded.  The insurer cannot impose any costs on the consumer other than the cost of the premium for the period of cover. (This does not affect notice periods already in place, i.e.  30 days in respect of life policies and 14 days in respect of general policies under respective pieces of legislation).

The consumer is under a duty to pay their premium within a reasonable time, or otherwise in accordance with the terms of the contract of insurance.

A court of competent jurisdiction can reduce the pay-out to the consumer where they are in breach of their duties under the Act, in proportion to the breach involved.

An insurer may refuse a claim made by a consumer 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 it 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 the reasonable contemplation of the contracting parties 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 reasonably careful manner and must notify the insurer of the occurrence of an insured event in a reasonable time.

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 to disclose it.  (The insurer is under the same duty).

If the consumer makes a false or misleading claim in any material respect (and knows it to be false or misleading or consciously disregards whether it is) the insurer is entitled to refuse to pay and 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 of the fraudulent act, and the insurer is under no obligation to return any of the premiums paid under the contract.

Record Retention

In accordance with legal and regulatory requirements, we will retain your records for the duration of our relationship and for a period of seven years following the cessation of any relationship between us. Should this specified retention period be extended by force of law, regulatory requirements or an agreement between us, we reserve the right to extend our retention schedule accordingly.

For details on your rights relating to the retention of your personal information, please see our Privacy Policy which is available at www.adelphi.ie/privacy.

Use of English Language

These Terms of Business are only available in English and all communication in connection with the services we provide shall be in English, unless we notify you otherwise.

Remuneration and Fees

Adelphi Financial Brokers is remunerated by a professional fee for the initial work activity and time spent in seeking the best terms, advice, product and product producer for your specific needs. A scale of our fees is set out below.

We are usually remunerated by commission received from the product producers for the work involved in placing an order and finalising the product with them on your behalf. Details of commission arrangements are available on our website or upon request. (Some product producers do not pay a commission).

Where commissions become payable to us in respect of transactions we arrange for you, we will notify you in writing, of the amount and terms of payment. The fees that would otherwise be payable by you as described above may be abated by such amounts.

When assessing products, we will consider the different approach taken by product providers in terms of them integrating sustainability risks into their product offering. This will form part of our analysis for choosing a product provider.

You consent to such commission being retained by us without our being liable to account to you for any such amounts. In the event that you terminate any contract giving rise to commission at any early stage in its operation, we may have to repay all or part of the commission to the product provider. We reserve the right to ask you to contribute to any such repayment.

Schedule of Fees

The first consultation is usually at our expense and a quotation will be given to you before we commence business.

Life, Pension and Investment consultations – €120 per hour

Mortgage applications – We may receive up to 1% of the loan for arranging mortgage finance. This commission is paid by the mortgage lender.  The actual amount of commission will be disclosed at a later stage in the ESIS (European Standardised Information Sheet) which will be forwarded to you.  Information on the variation in levels of commission payable by the different creditors providing credit agreements being offered is available on request.

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.

If we provide mortgage advice and obtain a Loan Offer for you and you subsequently do not proceed with your mortgage application through our firm, we will charge you an arrangement fee of €500 per application for our services.

We reserve the right to amend these fees should the complexity of the product require a higher fee. For complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency, our scale of fees for such cases range from a minimum of €120 per hour to a maximum of €250 per hour. We will confirm and agree this fee with you prior to any increased charge being applied.

Your money

We do not hold money received in the course of providing investment services to our clients. Accordingly, any money which we receive on your behalf will be forwarded to you or a named third party on your instructions forthwith.

Any cheques or banker’s order drawn by you in respect of amounts owed to third parties should be drawn in favour of the third party concerned as we are not authorised to handle cheques, etc., representing clients’ money drawn in favour of the firm.

Insurance Premium Handling

We can accept cash in respect of premiums due for insurance policies under the indemnities provided by Section 26G of the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995. This means that where an insurer has accepted an insurance proposal or where a renewal of an insurance policy is invited, we can accept cash in respect of the premium due.

Adelphi Financial Brokers will accept payments in cash or by cheque in respect of all classes of insurance in the circumstances permitted under Section 25G of the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995. Adelphi Financial Brokers is not authorised to accept cash or negotiable instruments in any other circumstances.

We will issue a Section 30 receipt in respect of such cash received and the cash will be lodged to our Client Premium Account. It will then be transmitted promptly to the Insurer.

Termination/Variation

Either of us may terminate or vary our engagement letter by written notice at any time.

Termination or variation will not affect accrued rights; existing commitments or any contractual provision intended to survive termination and will be without penalty or other additional payments save that you will pay:

  • Our fees pro rata to the date of termination
  • Any additional expenses necessarily incurred by us in terminating this engagement letter
  • Any losses necessarily realised in settling or concluding outstanding obligations

On termination of our appointment we will promptly account to you for all investments held by us for your account.

Conflict of Interests

It is the policy of Adelphi Financial Brokers to avoid any conflict of interest when providing business services to yous. However, your attention is drawn to the fact that when we give you investment advice, we, or some other person connected to us, may have an interest, relationship or arrangement that is material in relation to the investment, transaction or service concerned.

When making recommendations to you our employees are required to comply with a policy of independence and disregard any such interest. We have in place arrangements to manage conflicts of interest that arise between ourselves and our clients and between different clients. Where an unavoidable conflict may arise, we will advise you of this before proceeding to provide any business service, so that you may decide how to proceed. If you have not been advised of any such conflict you are entitled to assume that none arises.

Exclusion

Nothing in this agreement shall impose on Adelphi Financial Brokers any obligations to execute or undertake any transaction on your behalf and we may refuse to execute any transaction at our sole discretion.

Force Majeure

Adelphi Financial Brokers will not be responsible or liable for any loss or for any failure to fulfill any of our obligations or duties hereunder or for any claims, losses, damages, liabilities, costs or expenses suffered or incurred by you or any of your customers if such loss, damage, liability, cost, expense or failure arises directly or indirectly out of or in connection with or as a result of any fire, natural disaster, delay or breakdown in communications or electronic transmission system, unavailability of market prices or suspension of dealing on relevant exchanges or the failure of any securities depository or any other cause or circumstance beyond our reasonable control.

Cancellation / Cooling Off Period

A consumer (as defined by SI No. 853 of 2004) has the right to withdraw from an insurance policy (as defined under SI No. 853 of 2004) within 14 days of the start date of the policy without penalty and without giving any reason – this is known as the Cooling Off period. The right of withdrawal may be exercised by notice in writing to Adelphi Financial Brokers, quoting your policy number. Should this right be exercised, the Insurance Company may charge a pro-rata premium for the period you are on cover.

Failure to pay or default

In the event of your failure to pay premiums due on any policy of insurance you should be aware that:

  • In respect of Life, Specified Serious Illness Cover or other types of protection policies, the cover will lapse and that no insurance cover will be in place.
  • In respect of any savings or pension policy, that the policy will become paid-up and this will affect any underlying guarantees attaching to such policies.

Mortgage lenders may seek early repayment of a loan and interest if you default on your repayments.

WARNING:Your home is at risk if you do not maintain your agreed repayments.

Your policy document sets out all the features of your policy and it is very important to read the policy document. Please retain the original policy document as it is valuable and may be required at maturity or when a claim is made.

Utmost good faith

You are reminded that, in respect of any application for a protection policy, you must disclose all material information that is likely to influence an Underwriter in the assessment of your application.

If you have any doubts as to whether a fact is material or not, it should be disclosed.

Failure to disclose all material facts may invalidate your claim and render  your policy void.

Complaints Procedure

If you would like to talk to us about how we could improve our service to you, or if you are unhappy with the service you are receiving please let us know. The company has a written procedure in place for the effective consideration and handling of complaints. Any complaints should be addressed in writing to the Managing Director, Adelphi Financial Brokers, 8 Adelphi Quay, Waterford.

Each complaint will be acknowledged by us within 5 working days of receipt, updates will be advised in intervals of not more than 20 working days, we will endeavour to resolve the complaint within 40 business days and findings will be furnished to you within 5 working days of completion of the investigation. In the event that you are not entirely satisfied with the firms handling of and response to your complaint, you have the right to complain to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO), 3rd Floor, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2.

Investor Compensation

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 owned 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;
  • 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 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

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 Scheme has failed to adequately compensate any client of the member. Further details are available on request.

Adelphi Financial Brokers does not guarantee or make representations in respect of and expressly disclaims responsibility for the financial condition of Product Producers with whom it places business. We will not indemnify clients in respect of the failure of any Product Producer.

Governing Law

Irish law will govern the provision of the services covered by this letter and the Irish courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute.

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