TERMS OF BUSINESS OF CAPITAL OPTIONS LIMITED

This document set out the terms under which Capital Options Limited (“the firm”, “the company”, “we”, “us”, “our”) will provide business services to consumers (“you”) and the respective duties and responsibilities of both the firm and you in relation to such services which are subject to the Central Bank of Ireland’s Consumer Protection Code.

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:

Capital Options Limited (Ref C85803) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an Insurance Intermediary under the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995 and registered as an Insurance Intermediary under the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018. 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:

Capital Options Limited is subject to the Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code and Fitness and Probity Standards which offer protection to consumers. These codes can be found on the Central Bank of Ireland website www.centralbank.ie.

Our Services:

Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to life insurance, pensions and investments. The range of services that Capital Options Limited provides is based on the products offered by the product producers from whom a written letter of appointment is held. A list of the product producers with which Capital Options Limited holds an agency appointment is available on request.

As an Investment Intermediary and an Insurance Intermediary, we receive and transmit orders in

relation to:

Investment Business Services:

Investment Advice,
Receiving and transmitting,
Acting as a Deposit Broker.

Investment Instruments:

Listed shares and bonds:
Collective Investments.
Tracker Bonds.
Personal Retirement Saving Accounts (PRSAs).

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, general insurance, 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 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.

A list of Product Providers is available on request.

We are remunerated by commission for the advice we provide on our insurance-based investment products.

Life & Pensions / Life Wrapped Investments:

Capital Options Limited acts as a Broker which means that the principal regulated activities of the firm are provided on the basis of a fair and personal analysis on the market. Capital Options Limited provides life assurance, pensions, and investments on a fair and personal analysis basis, i.e., on the basis of a sufficiently large number of products and product producers available on the market to enable us to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding products that are appropriate to our clients’ needs.

We will provide assistance to you for any queries you may have in relation to any policies or investments that we recommend or arrange for you or in the event of a claim during the life of the policy or investment 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/investment documents, literature, and brochures, including key features documents, and terms & conditions 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: a) the meaning of disability as defined in the policy; b) the benefits available under the policy; c) the general exclusions that apply to the policy; and d) 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.

Investment Intermediary Services:

Please note that we offer advice on a limited analysis basis for certain investment products offered by investment firms regulated under Mifid Regulations. A list of these product providers is available on request.

We are remunerated by commission for our investment intermediary services.

Sustainability Factors – Investment / IBIPs / Pension Advice:

In accordance with the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (‘SFDR’), we inform you that when providing advice on insurance-based investment products/Investments, we assess, in addition to relevant financial risks, relevant sustainability risks as far as this information is available in relation the products proposed/advised on. This means that we assess environmental, social or governance events/conditions that, if they occur, could have a material negative impact on the value of the investment. We integrate these risks into our advice in the following way:

We review product provider literature in relation to sustainability risks, we liaise with the providers in relation to any queries in relation to the funds. This information is reviewed by the firm on an ongoing basis.

Regular Reviews:

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 which may result in you having insufficient insurance cover and/or inappropriate investments. We would therefore advise that you contact us to ensure that you are provided with up-to-date advice and products best suited to your needs.

Completed proposal forms / statement of fact:

Completed proposal forms or Statements of Facts will be provided to you. These are important documents as they form the basis of an insurance contract between the insurer and you the consumer. You should review and confirm that the answers contained within are true and accurate.

Ongoing Suitability:

Investments – Our services do not include ongoing suitability assessments.

Insurance-based Investment Products – Our services do not include ongoing suitability assessments.

Data Protection:

Capital Options Limited is subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.

Capital Options Limited 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 and paper files 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 (a copy of which has been provided to you with the Terms of Business).

We may need to collect sensitive personal information relating to you or anyone to be named on your policy or residing in your household to process your application. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have obtained the permission of that person to allow us to process their sensitive personal data as part of your application and to explain our Data Protection policy to them.

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 would like to receive to receive such marketing information, please complete the permission statements contained in the Terms of Business acknowledgement letter attached. We will ensure that our Privacy Notice is easily accessible. Please refer to our website www.capitaloptions.ie if this medium is not suitable, we will ensure you can easily receive a copy by hard copy.

Please contact us at [email protected] should you have any concerns about your personal data. Please refer to www.capitaloptions.ie for our Privacy Notice.

Investor Compensation Scheme:

We are members of the Investor Compensation Scheme operated by the Investor Compensation Company Ltd.

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) 2244955.

Commission and charges:

Capital Options Limited is remunerated by commission and other payments from product producers on completion of business. A summary of the details of all arrangements for any fee, commission other reward or remuneration paid or provided to us which have agreed with product providers is available in our office or on our website – www.capitaloptions.ie. Further details may be included in the policy/investment documents issued by the product provider when your policy or investment is in force. Where we receive recurring commission, this forms part of the remuneration for the initial advice provided. We are remunerated by commission and other payments from product producers.

Sustainability Factors- Investments / IBIPs / Pension Advice:

We take due care so that our internal remuneration policy with respect to investment or insurance advice on insurance-based investment products (‘IBIPs’) promotes sound and effective risk management in relation to sustainability risks and does not encourage excessive risk‐taking with respect to sustainability risks. When assessing products, we will consider the different approaches taken by product providers in terms of them integrating sustainability risks into their product offerings. This will form part of our analysis for choosing a product provider.

We reserve the right in certain circumstances to charge a fee. The standard hourly fee will be capped at a maximum of €250 per hour. If we receive a commission from a product producer, this may be offset against the fee which we will charge you. Where the commission is greater than the fee due, the commission may become the amount payable to the firm unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.

Claw back:

If we receive commission from a product provider [and off-set the commission against the fee which we would otherwise have charged you] but the commission is subsequently clawed-back by the provider because of early encashment by you or because of the transferring of the assets or business to another provider or in any circumstances consequent on your actions or omissions, we will charge a fee to you that is equal to [100% of] the clawed-back commission. That fee will be owing in simple contract upon the claw-back of the commission.

Cooling off period:

A consumer (as defined by SI No 853 of 2004 – Distance Marketing Directive) 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 (except in the case of travel policies whose operative period is for one month or less) without penalty and without giving any reason. This is known as the cooling off period. In the case of Life and Pension Products that cooling off period is extended to 30 days. The right of withdrawal may be exercised by notice in writing to (name of broker), quoting your policy number provided that no claim or adjustment has been made or is intended to be made or no incident has occurred which is likely to give rise to a claim. Should this right be exercised, your insurer may charge for the period you are on cover. Please note that the policy set up charge is nonrefundable if you choose to withdraw from the policy within the cooling off period.

Conflicts of interest:

At all times, Capital Options Limited endeavors to act to the best advantage of its customers in recommending the most suitable solution to each individual need. It is the policy of Capital Options Limited to avoid conflicts of interest in providing services to you. However, where an unavoidable conflict of interest arises, we will advise you of this in writing before providing you with any service. A copy of our conflicts of interest policy is available on request.

Default/Non-payment by client:

Should a customer default on payment (fees and insurance premiums) due to Capital Options Limited, the legal right of the company to pursue such payment will be exercised. Reimbursement will be sought for all payments made to insurers on behalf of clients where the firm has acted in good faith in renewing a policy of insurance for the client. A product provider may withdraw benefits or cover in the event of default on payments due under a policy of insurance or other product. Details of such circumstances are contained in the policy terms and conditions of the product provider and issued to each client.

Complaints:

Capital Options Limited has appropriate Complaint Handling procedures in place. Whilst we are happy to receive verbal complaints, it would be preferable that any complaints are made in writing.

We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 business days and we will fully investigate it. We shall investigate the complaint as swiftly as possible, and the complainant will receive an update on the complaint at intervals of not greater than 20 business days starting from the date on which the complaint is made.

Upon 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 (FSPO), Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 567 7000 Website www.fspo.ie. A full copy of our complaint procedure is available on request.

These Terms of Business are valid with effect from the 1st of January 2023 until further notice.

CLIENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND DATA CONSENT

Direct Marketing

I confirm having read the paragraphs in relation to Data Protection and Direct Marketing in the Terms of Business and above, and consent to Capital Options Ltd making contact with me in relation to the range of services provided Capital Options Ltd or its Associated or Partnership Companies by way of any or all of the below (please indicate accordingly):

Letter □ Phone □ Email □ SMS text □ Newsletter □

I acknowledge and confirm that I have been provided with a copy of the Terms of Business of Capital Options Limited and that I have read through and understand these terms. These Terms of Business apply until further notice.

Signed: _________________________________ Date:

Terms of Business