TERMS OF BUSINESS
Portimex International Ltd (the Company) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Those who advise and transact business in packaged products on life assurance, pensions and investments are either:
Independent Financial advisers: or
Multi-tied advisers offering products from a limited number of companies: or
Restricted to the package products of one product provider or marketing group: or
Restricted to the package products of one product provider or marketing group but inclusive of adopted packaged products: or
Given for the purpose of managing a portfolio with discretion
The Company is bound by FSA's rules. Pursuant to these rules, we are required to forward a terms of business letter.
We offer independent financial advice. We are not tied to any one company and are permitted to advise you and arrange transactions on the products of different companies in providing the following investment services:
INVESTMENT ADVISER; LIFE ASSURANCE; UNIT TRUSTS; INVESTMENT TRUSTS; OPEN ENDED INVESTMENT COMPANIES (OIECS); INVESTMENT COMPANIES WITH VARIABLE CAPITAL (ICVC'S) PENSION INTERMEDIARY; MORTGAGES, NEW PUBLIC SHARE ISSUES;
PERSONAL EQUITY PLANS; INDIVIDUAL SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
Clients are normally requested to give instructions in writing to avoid any possible confusion. We may however accept oral instructions providing they are subsequently followed up by written confirmation.
PORTIMEX INTERNATIONAL LTD DOES NOT HANDLE CLIENTS' MONEY. We will not accept clients' cheques made payable to us, nor handle cash unless in settlement of an account for which we have made a charge or for disbursements.
Following the issue of this letter, any subsequent advice or recommendation offered to you will be based on your stated investment objectives, acceptable level of risk and any restrictions you wish to place on the type of investment or policies you are willing to consider. Unless confirmed in writing to the contrary, we will assume you do not wish to place any restriction on the advice we give to you.
Unless in exceptional circumstances, we will confirm to you in writing the basis or our reason for recommending a transaction. Details of this and your investment objectives will be included in a suitability letter we will issue to you to confirm our recommendation. All investments will be registered in your name unless otherwise instructed in writing.
Occasions can arise where we or one of our other clients have some form of interest in business being transacted for you. If this happens, or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your interests, we will inform you in writing and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions and detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.
In the case of a non packaged product ISA or PEP, we will inform you in writing of any right to withdraw or cancellation rights you may have or, if it is the case, we will inform you that no such rights apply.
Proposal forms should be accurate in their content and contain full disclosure of any relevant information considered material to risk to avoid potential claim rejection. The responsibility for checking the accuracy of the information recorded on the proposal form rests with the client.
We will forward to you all documents showing ownership of your investments as soon as is practicable after we receive them; where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions is involved, these will normally be held until the series is complete and then forwarded on.
On arranging any investments for which you give us instructions, further advice will not be subject to any specific regular review unless you request it, but we will be pleased to advise you at any time you ask us to do so. We may however contact you in future by means of an unsolicited promotion should we wish to discuss the merits of an investment or service which we feel may be of interest to you.
We work on behalf of our clients for either a commission, fee basis or a combination of the two. If we derive any part of our income from commission paid to us in respect of transactions with life assurance companies or operators of other collective investment schemes through which investments are made, we will tell you the amount of commission payable to us on any such investment. If you ask us to undertake any service for which we propose to charge a fee, we will discuss this first with you and in writing, explaining the basis on which it will be calculated.
If we receive a commission or other form of benefit from the issuer of a security or from another intermediary, we will inform you, but will not advise its amount unless you ask us to do so.
Where investment or other business services are provided to the company by third parties, circumstances may arise which warrant the disclosure of more than just your basic contract details. We may also need to perform credit checks, obtain proof of identity along with other information. On these occasions such as the processing of any business for you and obtaining compliance and regulatory advice, you agree we may proceed and that personal information held by the company may be disclosed as may be required, verbally, by mail or electronically on a confidential basis and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 to such third parties.
Should you have any complaint about the advice received or a product you have bought, please write to the undermentioned at Freepost 441, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 2BX - telephone number: 01628 483470. If following our subsequent investigation and response you are still not satisfied, you may contact the Financial Ombudsman Service. Full details are contained within our internal complaints procedure, a copy of which is available to you on request.
In the event of a valid claim being made against the Company in respect of the investments arranged 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 which are given in a leaflet provided on request. Further information is available from the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Either you or we may terminate our authority to act on your behalf at any time without penalty. Notice of this termination must be given in writing and take effect from the date of receipt. This will not affect the completion of any transaction already initiated on your behalf. You will be liable for any transactions made prior to termination and any fees that may be outstanding.
An arrangement has been made between the Company and GT Independent Financial Advisers, Wall Terrace, 44-46 Chapel Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire - telephone number: 01628 473298 to carry out our investment business obligations in the event of the Company being unable to conduct investment business for a period exceeding fourteen days.
Records of business transactions effected on your behalf will be retained for at least six years. You or anyone properly authorised by you, may inspect any documents or entries in books (whether kept manually or electronically) relating to your transactions. However, since all clients' records are treated as strictly confidential, the right is reserved to provide copies of your particular records rather than allow access to files.