About Us
ABA Commercial Insurance, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The FCA is the independent watchdog that regulates financial services. Our FCA reference is 310643. We are permitted to [arrange] [advise on] [deal as an agent of insurers] [assist in claims handling] with respect to non-investment insurance policies. You can check these details on the FCA’s Register by visiting the FCA’s website http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0845 606 1234.
Ownership
ABA Commercial is an independent insurance intermediary and has no direct, or indirect, holding in any insurer and no insurer has any direct, or indirect, holding in ABA Commercial.
What We Offer
We provide advice and make a personal recommendation to you that has been based on a fair analysis of a sufficient number of similar contracts available in the market. This applies in all cases unless we advise you to the contrary. It is not under our contractual obligation to deal exclusively with one or more insurance undertakings and does not give advice on the basis of a fair analysis of the market.
Duty to Make a Fair Presentation
Your insurance is based upon the information provided to the insurance company and you must ensure that all such information is completed and accurate, and that any facts that may influence the insurer’s decision to accept and pay a valid claim are disclosed. Failure to disclose material information may invalidate your insurance cover and could mean that part, or all, of a claim may not be paid.
If you are a commercial customer, please be reminded you are responsible for providing the complete and accurate information which insurers require at inception, renewal and throughout the life of a policy.
If you make any change to your policy on or after 12th August 2016 you will have, in relation to that change, a duty to make a fair presentation of the risk to the insurer based on your reasonable understanding of the risks to your business.
Your reasonable understanding should include every matter which you know, or ought to know, that would influence the judgement of the insurer or that would put the insurer on notice that it needs to make further enquiries.
If you fail to disclose information, misrepresent any fact which may influence the insurer’s decision to accept the risk or the terms offered, or fail to make a fair presentation to an insurer, this could invalidate the policy and mean that claims may not be paid in full.
Fees & Charges
In addition to the premiums charged by insurers, we may charge a professional fee to cover the placing and ongoing handling of your insurance. The specific amount and purpose of any professional fee and administration charges will always be advised to you in advance. We earn the entirety of our commission and/or fees when your risk is successfully placed and take our commission and/or fees upon payment to insurers unless agreed otherwise with your insurers.
Mid-term Adjustments or Cancellations
In the event of an adjustment that results in a return premium or cancellation mid-term we will refund the premium due net of our full commission and any charge made by insurers. Where the premium is being paid by instalments we will claim our full commission along with any charge made by the insurers in the calculation of any outstanding monies.
How to Cancel
You may have a statutory right to cancel this policy within a short period. Please ref to your policy summary or policy document for further details. If you cancel you will receive under certain circumstances you may receive a pro rata refund of premium from the insurer as long as the policy is not on a minimum and deposit basis. Insurers are also entitled to make an administration charge. We also may keep an amount that reflects the administrative costs of arranging and cancelling the policy.
If you wish to cancel outside this period you may not receive a pro rata refund of premium and those with a minimum and deposit premium will receive no refund. We will also retain full commission and any administration fee or charge.
In the event of an agreed policy not being taken up we reserve the right to claim an amount that reflects our administration costs and any commission or fees that we would otherwise have earned.
Complaints
It is our intention to provide a high level of service at all times. However if you have reason to make a complaint about our service you should contact [the managing director] at the above address. You may be entitled to subsequently refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Further information is available at http://www.financialombudsman.org.uk/ How to claim
Please refer to your policy summary or your policy document if you wish to notify a claim. You should contact the insurer direct as soon as possible using the contact details provided.
Protecting Your Information
All personal information about you will be treated as private and confidential (even when you are no longer a customer), except where the disclosure is made at your request or with your consent in relation to administering your insurance, and except where law requires us. The FCA may ask us to provide it with access to our customer records in order that it may carry out a review of our activities.
Some or all of the information you supply to us in connection with your insurance proposal may be passed to other insurance companies for underwriting and claims purposes. Under the Data Protection Act 1 998 you have a right of access to see personal information about you that is held in our records, whether electronically or manually. If you have any queries, please write to [the managing director] at the address overleaf.
Protecting Your Money
Prior to your premium being forwarded to the insurer, and for your protection, we either hold your money as an agent of the insurer (in which case your policy is treated as being paid for), or we hold it in a client bank account on trust for you. We may extend credit to other customers from this account and we may need to transfer your money to another intermediary in some cases. However your money will be protected at all times because of our” requirements under FCA rules. We also reserve the right to retain interest earned on this account. By accepting these Terms of Insurance Business you are giving your consent for us to operate in this way.
Compensation arrangements
We, and your Insurer are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and you may be entitled to compensation for the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Further information about the compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS. www.fscs.org.uk
