COMMENCEMENT

This document sets out our terms and conditions of business and comes into force on the date that you open an account with Pilling & Co. For ISAs, JISA’s, CTF’s, SIPP’s, Nominee ^’accounts and Managed products you should also read the terms and conditions specific to that account in the relevant brochure or webpages.

If you are unsure about anything contained in this document or have any questions please contact your usual adviser at Pilling & Co or speak to our Compliance Officer. If you require additional services such as advice, Investment Management or Discretionary Management, you must complete the relevant sections in the Client Agreement.

This agreement is governed by the laws of England and any disputes arising there from shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the English Courts to which both parties submit. All communications (including information, instructions and orders) between you, the customer, and ourselves must be conducted in the English language and only via the post, fax, telephone, e-mail or in person.

 

OUR PARTICULARS

Pilling & Co is a member of the London Stock Exchange and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), our firm reference number is 141242. Pilling & Co is also a member of the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers (APCIMS). Our office and postal address is Henry Pilling House, Booth Street, Manchester M2 4AF. Our telephone number is 0161 832 6581, and our fax number is 0161 832 0815. Our website address is http://www.pilling.co.uk. Each person within the firm has an e-mail address but for general enquiries use stockbrokers@pilling.co.uk or for compliance related queries use compliance@pilling.co.uk.

 

OUR CHARGES AND NOTIFICATION OF TRANSACTION DETAILS

Our charges reflect our published commission scales in effect at the time the charges are incurred. A copy of these is available on request or alternatively it can be read or downloaded at http://www.pilling.co.uk.

In addition to our charges you will also pay any applicable value added tax, Government stamp duty and any other charges levied by exchanges, clearing houses or other authorised bodies that may be relevant to your dealings.

Any charges due to us (or agents used by us) plus any additional charges as described above may be deducted, in some circumstances, from funds held by us on your behalf without advanced notification (see section “Default Remedies” and individual product brochures). Generally, however, you will pay all charges in the manner and by the date stated in a contract note or advice which you should receive no more than two business days after the transaction is executed unless delayed by events outside our control. YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY IF THE DETAILS OF THE TRANSACTION(S) AND CHARGES DO NOT ACCORD WITH YOUR OWN RECORDS.

We may share dealing commission with our associated companies or other third parties, or receive remuneration from them in respect of transactions carried out on your behalf. Details of any such remuneration or sharing arrangements may not always be set out on the relevant contract note or advice but will be available on request

 

OUR SERVICES

We provide Investment Management, Discretionary Management, ad-hoc advisory (all subject to the completion of our Client Agreement) and execution-only dealing services (together with related research, valuation, safe custody, cash deposit facilities, ISAs, JISA’s, CTF’s, SIPPs and Stakeholder Pension administration) in the following:

1. Shares in British and foreign companies

2. Debenture stock, loan stock, bonds, notes, certificates of deposit, commercial paper or other debt instruments, including Government, public agency, municipal and corporate issues

3. Depositary receipts or other types of instrument relating to investments falling within (a), (b) or (e)

4. Unit Trusts, OEICs, mutual funds, insurance bonds, pensions, life assurance and similar schemes in the United Kingdom or elsewhere

5. Covered Warrants (Securitised Derivatives), Warrants to subscribe for investment falling within (a) or (b) above and Options on investments falling within (a) or (b) above or in financial market indices (provided the related transaction has no contingent liability), subject to you completing an application form (available on request) to help us assess whether complex products of this nature are appropriate for you.

Please read or download a copy of our Stockbroking Services brochure from our website at http://www.pilling.co.uk for up to date details of all our services, products and charges, which we retain the right to change from time to time without notice.

Any alterations to our charges will be notified to you at least 30 business days before the time of the change unless it is impractical to do so.

Please note we do not advise on life policies and certain pension products, any advice we give on investments in packaged products such as unit trusts and OEICs will not be tied to any particular product provider.

 

CLIENT CLASSIFICATION

All clients and potential clients are classified by us as retail clients. This means that they receive the full regulatory protection.

 

YOUR INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES

(for non execution-only accounts)

Unless otherwise notified in writing, we will assume that your investment objectives and the level of risk you are prepared to accept are as set out by you in the Investment Questionnaire section of the Client Agreement.  If any of your circumstances change you should inform us in writing as soon as possible. (Please see our general investment risk guide in our Client Agreement)

You are warned that if you do not provide sufficient or updated information about your personal circumstances and investment requirements we will not be able to provide you with suitable investment advice.

EXECUTION ONLY ARRANGEMENTS

Please note that, regardless of the information you provide to us, we will not advise you about the suitability or merits of a particular transaction if we reasonably believe that when you give the order for that transaction you are not expecting such advice and are therefore dealing on an execution-only basis.

Where a transaction has been dealt “execution only” this service has been provided by the firm without the benefit from the protection of the rules on assessing suitability.

 

RESTRICTIONS ON TYPES OF INVESTMENTS

(for non-execution only accounts)

If you wish to place a restriction on the type of investment or market on which you want the transaction to be executed you must inform us of your requirements using the Client Investment Questionnaire or state that there are no restrictions. If you do not inform us of any investments or types of investments which you do not wish us to recommend to you or purchase for you (or state that there are no restrictions), we may recommend to you any investment which we have reasonable grounds for believing are suitable for you. In this respect your attention is drawn to the requirement of the FCA that we obtain information about your investment objectives, financial resource and personal background as may be necessary to ensure the suitability and quality of our investment advice.

 

SHORT POSITIONS

We shall not knowingly advise you to enter into a transaction which may result in you having an uncovered short position in the investment concerned. In the event that you do decide to take such a position we will not be held responsible for advising you about the merits of the transaction which will be carried out on an execution-only basis.

In the event that you fail to deliver the investments when due, we reserve the right, without further reference to you, to purchase the investment concerned and receive from you any loss, charges and expenses incurred as a result of the purchase.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The firm has a conflicts of interest policy which is regularly reviewed by its management. As a stockbroking firm with no links or ties to other firms there are very few potential conflicts of interest. Additionally the firm does not deal for itself and acts as agent to all transactions.

However your attention is drawn to the fact that when we give you investment advice our staff, or some other person connected with us, may have an interest, relationship or arrangement that is material with regard to the transaction or investment concerned.

Under the rules of the FCA, the employee who makes the recommendation has to disclose any such interest, relationship or arrangement of which he is aware unless the recommendation is a reasonable one having regard to your interests and the firm has received the employees written agreement to comply with an independence policy obliging him/her to disregard the interest, relationship or arrangement concerned. The following are examples of the type of interest, relationship or arrangement that could be involved:

• Being the financial adviser to the company whose securities you are buying or selling, or acting for that company in a takeover bid by or for it.

• Sponsoring or underwriting a new issue invo­lving the investment that you are buying or selling.

• Having a holding or a dealing position in the investment concerned.

Your attention is also drawn to the fact that, when we recommend a transaction to you, we could be:

• Matching your transaction with that of another client (including a company or person connected with us) by acting on their behalf as well as yours; or

• Advising you to buy or sell units in a collective investment scheme or broker fund where we are (or an associated company is) the trustee and / or operator (or an adviser of the trustee or operator) of the scheme. In this respect you are required to acknowledge that you understand the nature of the firm’s dual role in our Client Agreement.

Any recommendations we make will be based on our opinions and we may rely on information from other sources for which we cannot guarantee accuracy or completeness. Any investment recommendations are written objectively and we are not influenced by any particular fund manager or parent company. We are totally independent from all other financial institutions and there are no soft commission agreements in place that could influence this.

The firm may receive trail commission from certain fund managers, however this factor is not taken into consideration when we recommend or choose not to recommend a fund to you.

This conflicts policy is kept under regular review and any material changes to this conflicts policy will be made known by our regular communication methods we currently use.

 

YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF RISK

Before entering into a contract to buy or sell an investment product you are advised to consider carefully the risks that may attach to that particular investment, as well as the risks inherent in investment business in general.

• We are required to bring to your attention the fact that the value of investments and the income arising from them may decrease as well as increase. You are not certain to make a profit every time you make an investment. Indeed some companies do fare badly and you may never get back the full amount of your investment or in the worst case scenario you may lose all of your money.

• We are also required to inform you that Investment Trusts have the ability to borrow money and to invest in other Investment Trusts that have the ability to borrow money and as a result of this net asset values and share prices could be subject to significant volatility. Additionally, a security could be subject to fluctuations in value that are disproportionate to the underlying investments.

• Whilst we always use our best endeavours to effect your transaction in a timely manner, we shall not be held liable for any loss you may incur arising from any delay or change in market conditions before such transactions are executed.

• We will not be responsible for the taxation consequences of any transaction nor will we be liable for taxation charges arising for any reason.

• Subject to it being deemed suitable we may recommend to you or deal for you in circumstances in which the relevant security is not traded on a recognised investment exchange or regulated market. Your legal rights and consumer protection may be limited, especially if the market is overseas.

• Subject to it being deemed suitable we may recommend to you or enter transactions on your behalf in non-readily realisable (illiquid) investments. These are investments in which the market is limited or could become so. They can be difficult to deal in and sometimes it is difficult to assess what would be a proper market price for them. If we hold a position in such investments ourselves we will inform you before transacting your order.

• Subject to it being deemed suitable we may recommend to you or enter transactions on your behalf in penny shares. There is an extra risk of losing money when dealing in shares of smaller companies. There is usually a big difference in the buying price and selling price of these shares. If they have to be sold immediately you may get back much less than you paid for them.

• Subject to completion of an application form to trade in complex products (available on request) which helps us to assess whether complex products of this nature are appropriate for you we may deal for you in warrants and derivatives or instruments that embed a derivative. However, you should not deal in such products unless you fully understand their nature and level of risk.  Complex securities of this nature may only be dealt “execution only

• Subject to completion of a client agreement we may recommend to you or deal for you in investments that are, or may have been, subject to the process of stabilisation.

Stabilisation enables the market price of a security to be maintained artificially during the period when a new issue of securities is sold to the public. Stabilisation may affect not only the price of the new issue but also the price of other securities relating to it. The FCA allows stabilisation in order to help counter the fact that, when a new issue comes onto the market for the first time, the price can sometimes drop for a time before buyers are found. Stabilisation is carried out by a “stabilisation manager” (normally the firm chiefly responsible for bringing a new issue to market). As long as the stabilising manager follows a strict set of rules, he is entitled to buy back securities that were previously sold to investors or allotted to institutions which have decided not to keep them. The effect of this may be to keep the price at a higher level than it would otherwise be during the period of stabilisation. The Stabilisation Rules limit the period when a stabilising manager may stabilise a new issue; fix the price at which he may stabilise in the case of shares and warrants but not bonds; require him to disclose that he may be stabilising but not that he is actually doing so. The fact that a new issue or a related security is being stabilised therefore should not be taken as any indication of the level of interest from investors, nor of the price at which they are prepared to buy the securities.

• Subject to it being deemed suitable we may commit you to underwriting or similar obligations in connection with a new issue, rights issue, takeover or similar transaction in which we and / or an associated company have been involved as a sponsor, financial adviser, underwriter, lending bank or some other capacity.

• Subject to your written consent we may offer advice on investments relating to units in unregulated collective investment schemes.

 

AGGREGATION AND ALLOCATION OF ORDERS

We may combine your order with orders of other customers. By combining your order with those of others we must reasonably believe that we will obtain a more favourable price than if your order had been executed separately However, on occasions aggregation may result in you obtaining a less favourable price.

We will always allocate orders which have been aggregated to our private clients within one business day of completing the transaction, or as soon as it is reasonably practical to do so. When deciding how to allocate an aggregated order we will not give unfair preference to any client or group of clients.

 

BEST EXECUTION POLICY

The firm has an obligation to execute orders on behalf of its clients on terms that are the most favourable at the time the order is executed. We take into account execution factors such as price, costs, speed, likelihood of execution and settlement, size, nature or any other consideration relevant to the execution of an order.

The firm does not act as principle to any trade. Therefore, when trades are negotiated with other market participants, the firm is acting as agent.

The firm currently uses two electronic dealing platforms, Pro-Quote and Thomson Financial. Once the firm’s trader requests a quote price for a particular stock the platforms choose from the current Retail Service Providers (RSP) (member firms of the London Stock Exchange) who offer quotes in that stock, the current best bid or offer price. The trader can hold that price for 20 seconds. Once a quote has been obtained the dealer will execute the order should that price be acceptable to you unless he is instructed to re-quote. That quote, if accepted is deemed to be the best possible price even if the price changes within the 20 seconds before actual execution of the trade. We assume that any price change within 20 seconds would not make the original quote manifestly out of date.

The firm uses two electronic trading platforms to assist with business continuation, however it is possible there maybe a very slight price difference between the RSP’s quoting on the two platforms, which ever platform the dealer uses will be deemed to be in line with the firm’s best execution policy.

Where electronic trading facilities do not exist the firm will telephone the RSP’s who are making the best quote in the chosen financial instrument to place the order at the best price possible taking into consideration the size of the order and the speed of execution.

Currently the firm executes trades on regulated markets such as the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTF) such as Aim or Plus Markets. Before we would be able to execute a trade outside of these markets we require your prior consent on a bargain by bargain basis, outside these markets could be over the counter (OTC) or agency cross by crossing your order with that of an opposing client.

Unit trust deals are traded using Co-Funds or directly with the individual managers at a fixed price on any given dealing day, these prices are usually available in financial sections of newspapers or on the managers own websites.

When dealing in a financial instrument we will exercise our discretion in assessing the criteria we need to take into account to ensure we provide best execution, this criteria for instance may be safe custody charges, execution venue fees or clearing and settlement fees. However our aim is to deliver the best possible result in line with this execution policy.

Orders will normally be executed in the same order as they are received except where there are special conditions such as price limits or limited liquidity.

Please note that any specific dealing instruction from you may prevent us from taking the steps within this policy to obtain the best possible result for you.

We will monitor the effectiveness of this policy and should a material change occur we will post an updated version of this document on our website at http://www.pilling.co.uk.

This policy came into force November 1^st 2007, with a minor amendment made in August 2012, clients dealing through us on or after that date will have been deemed to have accepted our policy.

 

YOUR RIGHTS TO CANCEL OR WITHDRAW

Generally, when we execute a transaction on your behalf, regardless of whether it is on a discretionary, investment managed, advisory or execution only basis, you will not have the right to cancel the transaction after it has been dealt.

However, FCA rules do provide a right to cancel (post-contract) certain types of insurance contracts and pension schemes and, where advice has been given, you may also be allowed a short period in which to withdraw from a contract to invest in a packaged product and ISA saving scheme. You may not always get back the full amount invested when cancelling due to market valuation and bid/offer spreads. If any of these rights apply to your transactions you will be told the details at the time.

 

YOUR MONEY

We can only deal with your money in accordance with the client money regulations of the FCA which, amongst other things, require us to ensure that your funds are clearly segregated from our own in special trust status accounts at banks which are approved by the FCA and subject to an annual risk assessment by us.

Your money however will be held by the approved bank(s) in a pooled account with other clients’ money and will not therefore be separately designated with your name. In the unlikely event of the failure of the approved bank resulting in an irreconcilable shortfall, clients may share in that shortfall in proportion to their share of the cash in the pool.

The above paragraphs also apply to overseas banks or branches of approved banks situated outside the United Kingdom. You should be aware that client money held in such banks may not be protected as effectively as if held in banks in the UK. The legal and regulatory regime applying to banks in overseas jurisdictions will be different from that operating in the UK. In the event of failure of a bank overseas your money may be treated in a different manner from that which would apply in the UK.

If you purchase non UK company shares that cannot be held by a UK custodian any dividends or interest paid from the company maybe first held in a bank account outside of the UK.

We may cease to treat your money as client money and therefore release it form our client bank accounts in the event that we are unable to contact you. We would only do this if there has been no movement on your balance for a period of at least six years (notwithstanding any payments or receipts of charges, interest or similar items), also we will take all reasonable steps to trace you to return the balance. We undertake to make good any valid claims against any released balances.

Any cash held in your account(s) will be returned to you upon receipt of your instructions, our preferred method of payment is via the Bankers' Automated Clearing Services (BACS) system to your nominated bank account. Alternatively we will send cheque(s) to you but we reserve the right to make an administration charge.

 

INTEREST PAYABLE TO YOU

Money that is not due for settlement of an investment transaction and which we are holding for you at an approved bank (sometimes referred to as “free money”) shall accrue gross interest at a rate determined by us.  Any interest properly due will be credited to your account with us on a quarterly basis. Please note we do not credit interest amounts of less than £1.00.  Our current rates are always available on request.

 

SETTLEMENT OF TRANSACTIONS AND AMOUNTS DUE

Unless otherwise agreed, you are required to settle all your accounts with us in accordance with the prevailing Stock Exchange Rolling Settlement standard terms. These currently require that each transaction is settled individually within 3 business days of dealing. Netting off purchases against sales is not therefore permitted unless the stock has been delivered in good order and is for the same settlement date.

The appropriate settlement date will be notified to you on a Contract Note (see “Our Charges and Notification of Transaction Details” section) which you should receive a few days after the transaction. No other demand or advice of payment will be issued to you. Statements of account will be available for information purposes only. The settlement date stated on the contract note is the day on which we as your agent are required to transfer cleared funds or share certificates to the exchange or clearing system processing your transaction. You must therefore ensure that cleared funds and certificates reach us well before this date to enable us to comply with the delivery deadlines. Failure to meet your obligations will entitle us to pass on to you any fines or additional costs imposed on us and claim any of your assets held or controlled by us on your behalf in satisfaction of amounts due (see “Default Remedies” section).

The rules of the Stock Exchange allow us to arrange special non-standard settlement terms. Such arrangements are negotiable on a deal by deal basis and the terms will be notified to you on a contract note.

 

DEFAULT REMEDIES

In the event of your failure to make any payment or to deliver any securities due to us (or to agents used by us) we reserve the right to retain any funds, securities or other assets due to you and to offset the liability against them.

If you have more than one account with us, we reserve the right to set off the debit on one account against the investments on another, likewise debits on connected accounts (e.g. between spouses, children or partners or third party instructions have been accepted) may be offset against available investments in the connected account.

Please take note that we reserve the following rights to retain or make deductions from amounts which we owe you or are holding for you:

Please take note that we reserve the right to sell or realise any investment which we are holding (or entitled to receive) on your behalf in order to meet any liabilities you may have incurred to us.

• our right to sell any such investment will arise immediately upon default by you in making payment of any amount due to us and in that event we are entitled to sell or dispose of all or any part of such investment (whether these be investments in respect of which the default arises or any other investments for the time being held by us or which we are entitled to receive on your behalf) after the expiry of any statutory notice period.

• we shall not be liable to you in respect of any loss arising nor in respect of any choice made by us in selecting the investments to be sold. We will apply the proceeds of sale (net of costs) in or towards discharge of your liabilities to us and will account to you for the balance.

• in the event that such proceeds are insufficient to cover the whole of your liabilities to us, you remain liable for the balance.

• we shall be entitled, without further reference to you, to buy any investment in the market to close any short position created by you and then, subject to any statutory notice period, sell or dispose of any other investments held by us or which we are entitled to receive on your behalf to satisfy in whole or in part the sums due on settlement of any such purchase and its associated costs.

• we shall not be responsible for advising you about the investment merits of any transactions effected by us pursuant to this section which in all cases will be treated as execution only deals.

Please take note that if you fail to pay us in full any amount in pounds sterling (£) when due to us you will be charged interest on the day-to-day balance outstanding as follows: 

• interest will be charged if we do not receive cleared funds on or before settlement day to cover the net cost of any security you have bought, including commission and charges but less the proceeds of sales made for settlement the same day.

• interest will be charged if you fail to deliver certificates for securities you have sold on or before settlement day and we are required, under the rules of any exchange or clearing house, ourselves to purchase the same securities to deliver to the market.

• interest will also be charged if you sell securities in order to cover the cost of purchases for settlement on the same day but fail to deliver the certificates for the sales in time for us to obtain the proceeds from the market to pay for the purchases.

• the rate of interest applied will be the HSBC bank’s base rate plus 15% per annum or 20% per annum whichever is the greater.

• such interest will be debited to your account and compounded daily commencing from the close of business on the date the amount was due until cleared funds are received by us.

• such amounts will be shown on the statement of account sent to you at the end of each calendar month.

 

CUSTODY OF YOUR INVESTMENTS

Your investments will be registered where possible in the name of our nominee company, St. Anns Square Nominees Limited (SASNL). You may also request that any financial product purchased through us be registered in your own name. Please note some stocks can only be held electronically and therefore cannot be registered in an individual’s name. Stock held in (SASNL)  will be held in certificated form at our offices or with an overseas nominee / custodian approved by us (and subject to an annual risk assessment in accordance with FCA rules) or held to our order within CREST, the Stock Exchange’s paperless settlement system. If you would like to make use of our nominee company please provide your consent to these arrangements by completing the appropriate application form.

Generally, all CREST eligible stocks dealt through us will be held within the CREST system in a form that enables identical stocks, although registered in the name of SASNL, to be identified as being attributable to individual clients. However, there may be occasions when identical stocks are pooled together within CREST, or at another custodian, as one block under the title of SASNL only. These cannot then be attributable to any individual client. The only evidence of beneficial ownership will therefore be an electronic bookkeeping entry at Pilling & Co. In these circumstances you are warned that, in the event of an  irreconcilable shortfall after the failure of a custodian, clients may share in that shortfall in proportion to their original share of the assets in the pool.

Bearer or other non-registered investments are normally held as Pilling & Co “A/c Client” by one or more third parties such as banks, clearance systems and overseas agents.

• We will issue to you at least once in any 12 month period details of all investments held on your behalf by us or any other third party.

• Documentation and entitlements in respect of own name stock held in safe custody will be sent to you by the relevant company at the address on their register.

• In the case of investments held in nominees, we will account to you promptly for all dividends, interest payments and other rights and benefits accruing to you (unless otherwise directed by you in writing).

• If stock is in your own name we will not be responsible for taking up any rights, exercising any conversion or subscription rights, dealing with takeovers or other offers or capital re-organisations, exercising voting rights, exercising options, claiming or distributing shareholder perks, company reports or other shareholder communications.

• Where your investments are held in the name of SASNL we will use our best endeavours to ascertain and execute your requirements regarding the above only if practical to do so but in any event we cannot be held liable for any loss or inconvenience if your response is too late for us to meet any deadlines. Where investments are pooled, entitlements are allocated on a “pro rata” basis and are rounded down to the nearest whole unit.

If you wish to have purchases registered in your own name and certificates sent to you, please provide registration details in the client agreement. However, please note that you will be responsible for notifying the relevant company of any changes to these details (e.g. If you move house). You should be aware that our ability to comply with your request may be restricted by, for example, Inland Revenue rules governing ISA, JISA, SIPP and CTF investments, and we may not be able to effect sales on your behalf at short notice if we do not have the certificates and signed transfer documents already in our possession.

• Please take note that custodians located outside UK regulatory jurisdiction may not provide the same level of protection as UK based firms. Overseas jurisdictions will have different settlement, legal and regulatory requirements and there may also be different practices for the separate identification of safe custody investments.

• You should also be aware that dividends on stock held overseas will initially be paid into the bank account of the custodian concerned before onward transmission to us. Please take note of the warning in the “Your Money” section regarding the effect of different legal and regulatory regimes applying to banks in overseas jurisdictions.

• Where third parties or any other persons holding your investments in their own name or for the account of Pilling & Co (A/C Client) are not connected with us, we do not accept responsibility for their safe custody obligations.

SASNL is not separately authorised by the FCA but is subject to its regulation via Pilling & Co. and thereby within the jurisdiction of the statutory complaints and compensation schemes set up under the Financial Services and Markets Act (see Complaints Procedure and Compensation Section). We recommend that you read the Nominee Services section of our Stockbroking Services brochure for more details on the contractual relationship between Pilling & Co and SASNL and the additional independent insurance arrangements we maintain to protect your assets.

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Unless agreed otherwise in writing, we will act on any instructions we reasonably believe came from you to enter transactions or deal with your assets, regardless of the circumstances. and method of communication.

If you wish another person (friend or relative) or another firm (solicitor, accountant, financial adviser) to deal with us as your agent you must notify us in writing. Please use the appropriate section in the client agreement or a third party authority form (available on our web-site) to identify your representative and tell us of any restrictions concerning their authority to act on your behalf. We will not be liable for any loss or inconvenience suffered by you if we act on any instruction, consent or information given to us by your agent within the limits specified by you.

 

CLIENT WEB ACCESS

The firm makes available to clients access to information about their accounts via the internet. The firm encourages clients who use this facility to read and understand the terms surrounding client web access.

 

ANTI - MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS

We are required by Government regulations to establish and maintain specific policies and procedures to guard against our business and financial systems being used for the purpose of money laundering.

We therefore request that you assist our due compliance with these regulations by promptly providing all identification documents and any other explanations that our staff may ask for before opening a new account or instructing any qualifying transactions on an existing account. Therefore, there may be occasions when we cannot deal for you immediately and we may be obliged to report the circumstances to the appropriate enforcement authority.

 

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE AND COMPENSATION

If at any time you become dissatisfied with some aspect of the services and operations of Pilling & Co you are recommended to contact any manager at Henry Pilling House, Booth Street, Manchester M2 4AF and request a copy of our internal complaints handling procedure leaflet.

This leaflet contains the FCA definition of a complaint and the senior member of our staff nominated to receive and deal with complaints. This person is obliged to investigate and report on any eligible complaint in accordance with a strict timetable.

Pilling & Co is also subject to the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). This is a Government sponsored service that provides consumers with a free and independent channel for resolving disputes with financial firms. A booklet describing the operation of FOS and how to contact them is also available on request from any member of staff.

In order to protect our clients, we maintain at our own choice and expense extensive financial risks cover and in addition to this, we subscribe to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This is a Government backed  “last resort” scheme that can provide up to £50,000 to cover certain non-trading losses suffered by eligible complainants following the financial failure of a regulated firm. Further information about the FSCS and contact details are available from us on request.

 

GENERAL

• Exclusion of Liability - subject to the rules of the FCA, neither we nor our employees, agents and delegates, and SASNL shall be liable for any loss suffered by you under this agreement unless such loss arises from our or their proven negligence, wilful default or fraud.

• Our Right to Decline your Business - we shall not be required to do any act or refrain from doing any act which would, in our opinion, infringe any applicable laws or regulations, including the rules and customs of any exchange on which your transactions are effected. At all times we reserve the right to refuse to execute transactions for you or provide any of the services listed in our Stockbroking Services brochure for any reason and without explanation.

• Indemnity - subject to the rules of the FCA, you will indemnify us, our employees, agents, delegates and SASNL against any cost, loss, liability or expense whatsoever which may be suffered or incurred by us or them directly or indirectly in connection with or as a result of any service performed or action permitted under this Agreement, including without limitation, any expense or loss we or they may incur in connection with or as a result of any claims or proceedings which you make or bring against us or them and which are withdrawn, discontinued, compromised or dismissed, except to the extent that such costs, liability or expenses are due to our or their proven negligence, wilful default or fraud.

• Confidentiality - we shall not, except as permitted by this Agreement or as required by law, the rules of the FCA and the rules and regulations of any exchange on which an investment is dealt, disclose any confidential information relating to you or your dealings.

• Variation of Terms and Charges - at all times we reserve the right to add new terms or delete or modify existing terms in this Agreement or change any of our charges without prior notice or consultation with you. We will however always use our “best endeavours” to contact you at least 10 business days in advance of any alterations and in any event you will remain bound by existing terms and charges until you know about, or ought to reasonably be aware of, the changes, except in the case of statutory or regulatory changes which are immediately enforceable.

• Joint Accounts - in the case of a joint account, the rights and obligations under this Agreement shall be joint and several.

• Key Investor Information Documents KIID  /  Key Features Document - we fully comply with the FCA requirement to make available a KIID or “Key Features Document” where required for each of the packaged products you buy or sell. These documents are marketing tools containing important information about the fund and we are required to check you have read before we purchase units in a packaged product.

• Data Protection—the firm is registered under the data Protection Act as a controller of information, telephone calls to our office are recorded to help clear any disputes that may arise or to assist regulatory bodies who monitor share dealing or for staff training.

 

TERMINATION

You may terminate this Agreement (but not a Supplementary Agreement - see the client agreement) at any time by sending us written notice which will take effect from the date it is received by us.

We may terminate this Agreement by sending you written notice which will specify the date on which termination will take place.

• No penalty will become due from either you or us in respect of the termination of this agreement, however initiated.

• Termination will not effect completion of any outstanding order or transaction permitted under this Agreement which may have arisen prior to the effective date of termination.

• We will be entitled to receive from you all commissions, fees, costs, charges and expenses accrued or incurred up to the date of termination, including any additional expenses or losses necessarily incurred in the termination process. This may include any charges incurred in arranging for the transfer of your investments either to you or to your new investment adviser.0413

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