Terms of Business

Terms of Business – Version Effective from 30th July 2021

Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management

These Terms of Business set out the general terms under which our firm will provide business services to you and the respective 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
Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management (C55406) 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 authorisations are available on request. 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.

Codes of Conduct
Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management is subject to the Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code and Fitness & Probity Standards which offer protection to consumers. These Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie

Our Services
Our principal business is to provide financial advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to investment & pensions, life assurance, serious illness and income protection insurance products. A full list of insurers and product producers with which we deal is available on request.

Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management is a member of Brokers Ireland.

Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management is not tied to any insurance company, bank or financial institution.

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. 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 reasonably be 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 and personal 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.

Life & Pensions and Investments
Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management provides life assurance, investments and pensions on a fair and personal analysis basis.
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 PHI and serious illness policies.
Specifically on the subject of permanent health insurance policies it is our policy to explain to you:

• The meaning of disability as defined in the policy;
• The benefits available under the policy;
• The general exclusions that apply to the policy; and
• The reductions applied to the benefit where there 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.

Mortgages
Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management is not authorised to advise in relation to mortgages therefore in the event of requests for a referral to a mortgage broker, with your permission, we will direct you to:-

Shankill Financial Services
Station House
Shankill
Co Dublin
Tel: 01-2393220
Contact Name : James Maguire

Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management may receive an introductory fee from Shankill Financial Services in recognition of the introduction.

Sustainability Factors
Taking due account of the size, nature and scale of our activities when providing Investment advice and Insurance Based Investment advice we will not consider the adverse impacts of the investment decisions on sustainability factors. We will review this opinion annually with next review due February 2022.

Walker Financial Management – Remuneration Arrangements
Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management is remunerated either by fees payable directly by our clients or by commission and other payments payable by life companies or product producers on the completion of business. You may choose to pay in full for our services by means of a fee. In some cases flat fees only are charged for the advice relating to and the arrangement of a particular financial structure.

Clients should be aware that any commission payment received will be disclosed in the terms and conditions of the product purchased.
 
In exceptional circumstances, although we will have received a commission from the product producer or life company, it may be necessary to charge an additional fee for services provided. These are also listed in our Fee Schedule. In other circumstances where fees are 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. Where it is not possible to provide the exact amount, we will provide you the method of calculation of the fee.

If we receive commission from a product provider, this will be offset against any fee which we will charge you. Where the commission is greater than the fee due, the commission will become the amount payable to the firm unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.

Please refer to our latest Fee Schedule for confirmation of our fees.

New Client Requirements and Anti-Money Laundering  
In order to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, before we provide any regulated financial service, we are obliged to request information from you to verify your identity as well as your source of funds. We are also obliged to keep a record of this information. Before opening an account for you, we will request such information and documentation as we consider is necessary to meet these obligations.

Should you not provide satisfactory evidence of your identity or source of funds within a reasonable time, we may not be able to open an account for you. We may also be obliged to request updated identity and verification documents from time to time.

Ongoing Suitability

Investments & Insurance Based Investment Products
Ongoing suitability assessments do not form part of the service to clients.

It is in your best interests that you review, on a regular basis, 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.

Duty of Disclosure for Consumers when completing documentation for new business/renewals and midterm adjustments
Section 14 (1) – (5) of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act which is effective from 1st September 2021 alters consumers duty of disclosure:
You are required to answer all questions posed by us or the Product Provider/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 Council of 11 May 2005 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/statement of fact
Completed online proposal forms or Statements of Facts will be provided to you.  These are important documents as they form the basis of insurance contract 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 Walker Financial Management to act in the best interests of our clients and to avoid a conflict of interest when providing services.  However, where an unavoidable conflict arises, we will advise you of this in writing before providing any business service and request your written acknowledgment that you are aware of the conflict of interest and still want to proceed.
We have a written policy which sets out the steps that we take to ensure that we avoid or, where this is not possible, mitigate conflicts of interest that may arise in providing services to you. These steps include administrative and organizational arrangements appropriate to the size, nature and complexity of the business to ensure that staff always act in the best interests of clients. A copy of the policy is available on request, its main provisions are summarized in this Terms of Business.
It is our policy that none of our employees offer, give, solicit or accept gifts or rewards (monetary or otherwise). Employees of Walker Financial Management are remunerated substantially by salary rather than by variable remuneration based on commission or sales targets.
Some instances where conflicts may arise and the steps, we take to mitigate them are as follows:

• In the normal course of business, Walker Financial Management may receive commission/intermediary remuneration from insurance companies’ that business is placed with. All product recommendations we make are supported by a detailed Statement of Suitability which explains the basis for the recommendation. We never make recommendations based on the remuneration we receive from product producers.
• Walker Financial Management may receive minor non-monetary benefits from product producers we direct business to. In all cases these are designed to enhance the service we provide and will not conflict with the best interests of our clients

Default on payments by clients
Walker Financial Management will exercise its legal rights to receive payments due to it from clients (fees and insurance premiums) for services provided.

Product producers may withdraw benefits or cover in the event of default on payments due under policies of insurance or other products arranged for you. We would refer you to policy documents or product terms for the details of such provisions.

Mortgage lenders may seek early repayment of a loan and interest if you default on your repayments. Your home is at risk if you do not maintain your agreed repayments.

Complaints
We ask that you make any complaint against Walker Financial Management, relating to services provided by us, in writing. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 business days and we will fully investigate it. We shall investigate the complaint as swiflty as possible, and the complainant will receive an update on the complaint at intrevals of not greater than 20 business days starting from the date on which the complaint is made. On completion of our investigation, we will provide you with a written report of the outcome. In the event that you are still dissatisfied with our handling of or response to your complaint, you are entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman at Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2 (Telephone 01 567 7000). A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.

Data Protection
Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.

Reklaw Ltd trading as Walker Financial Management is committed to protecting 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 to not only processing your data but ensuring you understand your rights as a client.  

The data which you provide to us will be held on a computer database or paper files (or both) for the purpose of arranging transactions on your behalf. 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 which will be given to all our clients at the time of data collection.

We will ensure that this Privacy Notice is easily accessible. Please refer to our website www.wfm.ie, if this medium is not suitable we will ensure you can easily receive a hard copy via our office.

We would also like to keep you informed of insurance, investment and any other services provided by us or associated companies with which we have a formal business arrangement; which we think may be of interest to you.  We would like to contact you by way of letter, email or telephone call. If you do not wish to receive such marketing information please tick the box in the Terms of Business acknowledgement letter.

We may receive referrals from such firms and may advise them of any transactions arranged for you.

Please contact us at jeremy@wfm.ie / teresa@wfm.ie if you have any concerns about your personal data.



The following sections apply to consumer duties and rights arising out of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 which was implemented to protect consumers. Non-Consumer Commercial clients have no duties and rights under this Act, and therefore the following sections do not apply to them.

Life Insurance New Business & Renewal
You may cancel a contract of insurance, by giving notice in writing to the insurer, within 14 working days after the date you were informed that the contract is concluded.  This does not affect the notice periods already provided under European Union (Insurance and Reinsurance) Regulations 2015 ( S.I. No. 485 of 2015 ) or the European Communities (Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services) Regulations 2004 ( S.I. No. 853 of 2004 ) which is 30 days in respect of life policies, irrespective of whether the sale took place on a non-face to face basis.
The giving of notice of cancellation by you will have the effect of releasing you from any further obligation arising from the contract of insurance. The insurer cannot impose any costs on you other than the cost of the premium for the period of cover.

This right to cancel does not apply where, in respect of life insurance the contract is for a duration of six months or less.

You are under a duty to pay your 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 you if you are in breach of your duties under the Act, in proportion to the breach involved.

Life Insurance Post-Contract Stage and Claims
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 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.

You 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.

You must notify the insurer of a claim within a reasonable time, or otherwise in accordance with the terms of the contract of insurance.  
If you become aware after a claim is made of information that would either support or prejudice the claim, you are under a duty to disclose it (the insurer is under the same duty).  
If you make a false or misleading claim in any material respect (and know 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 may notify the consumer advising that they are voiding the contract of insurance, and 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.  

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 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 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 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; 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; and
• 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.