Butcher Robinson &
Staples
International Ltd
Terms and Conditions of Business
For Retail Customers
These Terms and
Conditions represent a formal understanding of the basis upon which insurance
is placed between the Retail Customer & Butcher Robinson & Staples
International Ltd (BRASIL)
Regulation
Butcher Robinson & Staples International Ltd of Collegiate
House,
Our FSA reference number is 310478.
Our permission by the FSA is for arranging general
insurance contracts.
You can check what this means and our entry on the FSA
register by visiting the FSA web site www.fsa.gov.uk/register
or by contacting the FSA directly on 0845 606 1234
We maintain Professional Indemnity Insurance to a level
which is deemed appropriate by the FSA.
Client Money (general)
The FSA rules are designed to protect you in the event
that an insurance intermediary fails or is unable to transfer:
·
any
premium money it has received from you to the insurer; or
·
any
claims or return premium monies that it has received from the insurer to you.
We are governed by strict rules pertaining to client
money, set down by the FSA. Where we hold monies in a client bank account we
may earn interest on monies held, which will be retained by us.
Client Money (as an agent of
an insurer)
In some cases we act as agents for the insurer for the
collection of premiums and payment of claims and refunds of premiums. This
means that premiums are treated as being received by the insurer when received
in our bank account and that any claims money or premium refund is treated as
received by you when it is actually paid over to you. There are occasions where
such transactions are restricted and we will tell you if this is the case.
Client Money (non-statutory
trust)
We will hold client money separate from our own money
with an approved bank segregated in a client bank account designated as subject
to a non-statutory trust. Under a non-statutory trust we are entitled to use
client money to make advances of credit. We act as trustees of our clients’
monies and must meet certain legal and regulatory conditions.
These rules are designed to protect you however, we are required to have your informed
consent to us holding your money in this manner and you must advise us
immediately if you do not agree. Should you make no objection and continue to
do business with us we shall assume that you have agreed.
Payment to third parties
We may transfer client money to another person, such as
another broker or settlement agent, for the purpose of effecting a transaction
on your behalf through that person. We do however still remain responsible to
you in respect of your money.
This may include brokers or settlement agents outside
of the
Ownership
The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Butcher
Robinson & Staples Holdings Limited
2 of our Directors currently hold more than 10% of
Company shares, they are
S M Brown 15.44
% and
R D Symonds 19.79%
Products
We are an Accredited Lloyd’s Broker and a general
insurance intermediary specialising in Travel and Personal Accident insurance,
Financial institutions insurance, Marine Cargo, Construction risks, International
property and casualty insurances
A fuller list of our products and the relevant account
handlers for them is available on our website www.brasil.co.uk
We have negotiated certain specific facilities for
certain insurances but also place business with other insurers should we consider
that such options would better suit your requirements. We will give you details of these insurers
when we discuss your individual requirements.
Travel and Household Insurances are normally placed on single facilities
held by us.
Disclosure of Information
In order to enable us to obtain valid insurance on your
behalf, it is your obligation to provide us with sufficiently detailed,
accurate and complete information to enable us to make full disclosure to the
prospective Insurers of all circumstances which are material to the proposed
insurance. A "material
circumstance” in this context is a fact, which might influence the Insurers
either whether to underwrite the risk at all or the terms (including premium)
upon which they are prepared to underwrite the risk. If full disclosure of material circumstances
is not made to Insurers, they may be entitled not only to decline any
subsequent claim, but also to avoid the policy with effect from inception,
enabling them to recover any claims, which have already been paid. If you have
any doubt as to whether something is material, you should discuss it with us.
All answers or statements given on a Proposal Form,
Claim Form, or other material document are your responsibility and you should
always check the accuracy of the information which you provide to us. If there
are other material circumstances (as defined above) which you think should be
made known to prospective Insurers, but which have not been asked about on the
Proposal Form, you should still advise such circumstances so consideration may
be given to them. Failure to do so may
still give insurers the right to decline any subsequent claim, or avoid the
Policy with effect from inception even though the insurers may not have raised
questions about them on the Proposal Form.
This duty of disclosure arises not only when the
insurance is first taken out, but also on each subsequent renewal or amendment
of it. It is, accordingly, your obligation to advise us on these occasions of
any material change of circumstances since inception or the last renewal or
amendment of the policy.
Quotations
When giving you a
quotation, we will have taken due care to ensure its accuracy and, at the time
of presenting it to you, we will have the reasonable belief that we can place the
insurance at the quoted terms. However, there is no binding commitment on the
part of the quoting Insurers to write the risk on those terms at that stage,
and we cannot, therefore, be held responsible if, for whatever reason, the
quoting Insurers decide to withdraw the quotation prior to our taking it up on
your behalf.
Information about the Proposed Insurance
We provide you with
details of the key features, terms, scope and effect of the proposed insurance
including the essential cover and benefits, any significant or unusual
restrictions, exclusions, conditions, warranties or obligations and the period
of the cover:
We are not
qualified to advise you on legal interpretation of the policy, and if you are
uncertain as to the legal effect or meaning of any of the terms of the
insurance or the consequences of the breach of any of them you must take advice. We may also seek an interpretation from the
insurer should you so request.
Placement of the Insurance
We will take all
reasonable steps to review the financial security, service standards and
stability of all Insurers recommended for use on the insurances, but we do not
guarantee the continuing financial viability and solvency of any of the
Insurers with whom the risk is placed.
Where we consider it
to be appropriate, we may request another more localised or specialist
insurance broker or intermediary to act as our sub-agent to assist us in the
placing of the insurance.
The broker acts for
the party seeking insurance. Where a
broker is authorised in addition to provide a service for, or bind risks on
behalf of, an insurer the concurrent duties are as contained in and limited to
the specific role, terms conditions and limitations contained within Terms of
Business Arrangements, Coverholders, Subscription or Agency Agreements between
broker and insurer and which, notwithstanding, shall not conflict with the
primary duty to the insured.
We have an
obligation to advise you in a circumstances where a conflict of duty may arise.
Payment of Premium
In order for us to
meet the premium payment terms of Insurers, premiums and any duties or fees
must be settled to us by the payment date(s) specified. In certain circumstances, Insurers will
stipulate special premium payment terms or warranties which, if not met, will
give Insurers the right to cancel the insurance contract with effect from
inception. We will advise you when these
circumstances arise. It must be your
responsibility to make appropriate arrangements to ensure that funds are paid in
sufficient time to comply with our payment requirements.
For the avoidance
of doubt we have no obligation to fund any premiums, duties, fees etc on your
behalf; and have no responsibility for any loss which you may suffer as a
result of Insurers cancelling the policy or taking any other prejudicial steps
as a result of the late payment of such premiums, duties, fees etc if such
delay is substantially attributable to you.
Our Remuneration
We will normally be
remunerated for arranging the insurance in the form of commission or brokerage
paid to us by the Insurers underwriting the insurance. This will be disclosed
if required. Should we charge you any fee or additional sum for our services we
will advise you of this in writing prior to you incurring liability for it.
In addition to such
brokerage or commission, we may also be entitled to benefit from:-
earnings which we
are able to generate due to the weight of account placed with certain Insurers
and its underwriting performance, which are not referable to any specific
customer; and earnings which we are able to generate through management of cash
balances held on behalf of Insurers and clients which are not referable to any
specific customer.
Confidentiality
Any information
obtained from you by us will not be used or disclosed except in the normal
course of negotiating, maintaining or renewing insurance for you, unless we
have your consent to do otherwise, or disclosure is made by us pursuant to
regulatory and/or legal obligations which we have to disclose the Information.
It is always our
intention to provide a first class standard of service. However, if you wish to
make a complaint about the standard of service you receive, we have a formal
complaints procedure and in the first instance you should contact us as
follows:
·
In
writing to
S M Brown Esq
Chairman
Butcher Robinson & Staples International Ltd
Collegiate House
·
By
Telephone 020 7407 0626
·
By
Facsimile 020 7407 1076
In line with our
complaints procedure we will log your complaint and acknowledge in writing to
you within 5 working days of receipt. If our investigations take longer we will
provide a full response within 20 working days or explain out position and
provide timescales for a full response. If we cannot satisfy your complaint you
are entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service details of which
are on their website www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
or by telephone on 0845 080 1800
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
We are covered by
the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we are unable
to meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the
circumstances of the claim.
Insurance advising
and arranging is covered 100% of the first £2000, 90% of the remainder and 100% for compulsory
classes of insurance.
Further details
about this scheme are available from the FSA,
Documentation
Documents in our possession
which record the contract of insurance which you have asked us to place
(principally the slip and any policy wording) are, as a matter of law, your
documents and we will pass them to any other broker in accordance with your
instructions should you choose to terminate our appointment, subject to all
monies due to us having been paid. For
the avoidance of doubt, the ownership of working documents which we create in
order to carry out your instructions remain our property, and hence will not be
transferred in the event of any change of broker
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
As our services
will be performed substantially in