Terms of Business

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

Ebisu Holdings Ltd trading as Bowmore Financial Planning (C495363) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an insurance intermediary registered under the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018 ; 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 0818 681 681 or alternatively visit their website at www.centralbank.ie  to verify our credentials.

We will act honestly, fairly and professionally in the best interests of our clients and in accordance with the Consumer Protection Code issued by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Codes of Conduct

Bowmore Financial Planning 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

Bowmore Financial Planning is a member of Brokers Ireland.

 

Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to life, pensions, savings and investment products. A full list of insurers, product producers and lending agencies with which we deal is available on request.

Bowmore Financial Planning acts as a Financial Broker in the following way:

1. The principal regulates activities of the firm are provided on the basis of a fair and personal analysis of the market
2. You have the options to pay in full for our services by means of a fee.

There is no obligation for you to accept any recommendations given.

We do not provide advice on or arrange mortgage products or general (non‑life) insurance.

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, 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 what 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.

There is no obligation for your to accept any recommendations given.

Life & Pensions/Deposits & Life Wrapped Investments

We provide life assurance, savings, 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 policy 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 we will 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.

 Disclosure of information

We must gather and record sufficient information from a customer in order to make an offering, recommendations, arranging or providing a product or service appropriate to the customer.  The information required is general personal details, needs and objectives, the current and past financial situation of the customer.  This information is not shared with external companies other than where we intend to place the business and is primarily taken so we can provide our customers with suitable product.  You are not obliged to give us this information, but this may result in us not being able to do business with you.

Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render our policy void.

Sustainability Factors – Investment/IBIPs/Pension Advice

When providing advice Bowmore Financial Planning does not consider the adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability and is not in a position to incorporate your sustainability preferences.

 

When providing advice on insurance-based investment products or investment advice, we do not currently consider the principal adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability factors.

This is because the information available to us in product producer’s literature to compare financial products and to make informed investment decisions about ESG products is not sufficient at present to allow us to make a reliable comparison. We will at all times act in the client’s best interests and keep clients informed accordingly. Bowmore Financial Planning will review this approach on an annual basis in January. 

Please note that the consideration of sustainability risks can impact on the returns of financial products.

Statement of Charges

We may earn our remuneration on the basis of a fee payable by the client, commission paid by the product providers and receiving a non-monetary benefit or on the basis of a combination of these methods.  A non-monetary benefit will only be accepted if it enhances the quality of the service to our clients.

 

Pursuant to Regulation 68 of the Consumer Protection Code, a summary of the details of all arrangements for any fee, commission, other reward or remuneration paid or provided to us which have been agreed with product providers is available on our website – www.bowmorefp.ie

 

Alternatively, you may choose to pay in full for our services by means of a fee. The hourly rates are set out below.

In certain circumstances, it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided.  These are listed below.

• As it takes a significant amount of time to prepare a suitable product recommendation, if we carry out this work for you and you then place the business directly with the product provider or with another intermediary, we will charge you a fee for the time taken in preparing the product recommendation. Please see our schedule of fees.
• Where we receive recurring commission, this forms part of the remuneration for initial advice provided. We reserve the right to charge additional fees if the number of hours relating to on-gong advice/assistance exceeds 5 hours.

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 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.

 In all cases, if fees are to be charges for our service, we will notify you in advance of same. 

 Life, Pensions, PRSA’s, Insurance based Investment Products and Investment Products Schedule of Fees

You may elect to deal with us on a fee basis. The following is the rate chargeable per hour

Director                                         €200

Senior Advisers                            €125

Support staff                                €75

Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency, our scale of fees for such cases range from a minimum of €75 per hour to a maximum of €200 per hour. We will notify you in advance and agree the scale of fees to be charged.

We also provide Fee only financial plan services:

Financial Plan – 12-month Service including Cash Flow modelling.

This is our most in-depth comprehensive service which will provide a detailed straight forward assessment of your current financial situation. We will define your financial goals and evaluate your existing financial strengths and vulnerabilities. The process will then progress to developing a personalised financial plan, presenting the financial plan and recommendations to you and finally putting this plan into action.

This plan can vary to cater for straight forward advice to more complex long term financial plans.  We have 2 packages available. We will discuss the options available in more detail after our initial meeting in order to ascertain what package will suit your specific needs and objectives.

Basic Single Consultation – high level advice – Fee can range from €650 – €1,000. (VAT may apply)

Complex Package– Fee range €1,000 – €1,500.(VAT may apply)

 Clawback

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 the assets or business transfers 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.

Ongoing Remuneration

We wish to inform you that we receive ongoing remuneration from Product Providers in respect of the financial services provided to you. This remuneration is based on a percentage of the value of your investment or annual premiums and is intended to cover the ongoing service that we provide to you in relation to this product. The nature of the service for which this remuneration is payable includes regular reviews of your product, updates on performance, and continued access to our advice.

 

Ongoing Suitability

Investments: Ongoing suitability assessments form part of the service to clients.  On an annual basis the firm will issue a client report outlining changes in the services or instruments involved and/or the circumstances of the client.

Insurance based Investment Products: We will provide periodic assessments of the suitability of the insurance based investment product which we have recommended to you.

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.  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 cover and / or inappropriate pensions/ investments.

Conflicts of interest

It is the policy of our firm 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 full copy of our conflicts of interest policy is available on request. We will take all steps within its control to appropriately manage the conflict and minimise the impact of the conflict on the consumer.  Sinéad Keenan is responsible for managing potential conflicts of interest.

We do not currently participate in any profit-share arrangements with product producers.

Default on payments by clients

We will exercise our legal rights to receive payments due to us 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.

Complaints

Complaints can be submitted in writing by post to Bowmore Financial Planning, Unit 1 Abbey Street, Sligo F91 A433 or by email to chiara@bowmorefp.ie

We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 working days and we will fully investigate it. We shall investigate the complaint as swiftly as possible, and the you will receive an update on the complaint at intervals of not greater than 20 working days starting from the date on which the complaint is made and a final response within 40 working days.  On completion of our investigation, we will provide you with a written report of the outcome. In the event that you are dissatisfied with our handling of your complaint, you are entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO). A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.

 Data Protection

We are subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.

Bowmore Financial Planning 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 will be processed only in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was given and as outlined in our Data Privacy Notice, this 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.bowmorefp.ie  if this medium is not suitable we will ensure you can easily receive a copy by hard copy in office or via post.

Please contact Chiara Conway at chiara@bowmorefp.ie if you have any concerns about your personal data.

 Consumer responsibilities arising out of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 which was implemented to protect consumers. 

If you have taken out a life insurance contract, you may cancel the contract by giving notice in writing to us within 30 days after the date you were informed the contract is on cover.

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 your if you are in breach of your duties in proportion to the breach involved.

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 both you and the insurer 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 Clients’ Compensation and Membership Benefits Scheme (BIC)

We are also members of the Brokers Ireland Clients’ Compensation and Membership Benefits Scheme (BIC). 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.

*Terms of Business Version 4 – 20^th March 2026 – to present day