1. Definitions. “We / us / our” means Apex Insurance Brokers Limited.
2. Status. We act as an Independent Insurance Broker and we are authorised
   and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA registration number is
   724952. You can check this on the FCA Register at
   register.fca.org.uk.
3. Complaints. If you wish to make a complaint, please contact our Complaints
   Officer at the address shown at the foot of this page, or telephone our office
   on 0117 325 0027. If we cannot settle the complaint
   satisfactorily, you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial
   Ombudsman Service (see contact details below). Full details are set out in
   our Complaints procedure.
4. Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). We are covered by the FSCS.
   You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our
   obligations. If you make a valid claim against us in respect of the insurances
   we arrange for you, and we are unable to meet our liabilities in full, you may
   be entitled to redress from the FSCS. This depends on the type of business and
   the circumstances of the claim. Insurance advising and arranging is covered
   for 100% of the claim with no upper limit.
5. Scope of capacity and services. We act as Independent Intermediaries on
   behalf of our clients and are subject to the Law of Agency, which imposes
   duties on us. We are acting as your agent when we are: (1) advising and
   arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your requirements;
   (2) helping you with on-going changes you make; (3) placing insurance on
   your behalf; (4) assisting you with a claim you need to make.
6. Products. A list of insurers is available on request. We will advise and
   make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs. This will
   include the type of cover you seek together with the costs. We will endeavour
   to conduct a fair analysis of the market when dealing with your insurance.
   In the event of us only using one carrier for a particular product, you will
   be advised at the time of negotiation.
7. Duty to disclose. You are obliged to ensure that the insurer is provided
   with full and accurate material circumstances about your risk, both now and
   throughout the lifetime of your policy. A material circumstance is anything
   that may influence an insurer’s judgement in their assessment of your
   policy, and should include all incidents/losses that you have dealt with
   yourself without involving an insurer. A material circumstance could include
   changes to your business activity, criminal convictions or any financial
   issues such as potential bankruptcies or CCJs. If you are unsure as to
   whether a circumstance is material, we recommend that it be disclosed.
   Failure to disclose may entitle the insurers to refuse to pay part or all of
   any subsequent claims.
8. Duty of fair presentation (non-consumer clients). A non-consumer is a
   policyholder acting for purposes within his/her trade, business or profession.
   Before entering into a contract of insurance, prior to a mid-term alteration
   and ahead of your policy renewal, it is your statutory duty to make a fair
   presentation of your risk. This information must be provided in a clear and
   accessible format. You must disclose, where practical, all material
   circumstances about your risk, this being information that might affect the
   judgement of a prudent insurer in deciding whether to accept your risk or not.
   You must make reasonable enquiries before presenting your risk and ensure
   that all individuals holding knowledge about the risk have been approached
   in the compilation of this information. You must complete any proposal forms
   or fact-finds provided to you, honestly, accurately and in good faith. Any
   deliberate or reckless misrepresentation may involve part or your entire
   claim being declined and in some circumstances the insurer may be entitled to
   retain your premium whilst avoiding the policy or apply additional terms.
9. Conflict of interests. We act as an independent insurance broker and will
   act honestly, fairly and in your best interest. Occasionally, a situation
   might arise where we, or one of our other clients, could potentially have some
   form of interest in the business that we are transacting for you. If this
   happens, or we become aware that our interests conflict with yours, we will
   inform you in writing and ask for your consent before we carry out your
   instructions, and detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.
   Occasionally we may attend training events which might be funded by, or
   delivered by, insurance providers. These events are designed to enhance our
   knowledge and therefore the service we provide for our clients. Further
   details are available on request.
10. Misrepresentation. In the event of a deliberate or reckless
    misrepresentation, insurers may avoid the contract. Under the Insurance Act
    2015 / Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, a
    deliberate or reckless misrepresentation is a misrepresentation where you
    know it to be untrue or misleading (or do not care either way) and that you
    know (or do not care) that the matter to which it relates is relevant to
    insurers.
11. Void contract. Insurers may also avoid the contract where a careless
    misrepresentation has been made. A careless misrepresentation is one that is
    neither deliberate nor reckless. In such instances, if insurers would not
    have entered into the contract had the careless misrepresentation not been
    made, insurers may be entitled to avoid the contract. However, if insurers
    would have imposed different terms had the careless misrepresentation not
    been made, then insurers may be entitled to treat the contract as if those
    terms applied.
12. Admin charges. Payment for our services may be by way of:
    1. a fee that we agree in advance with you;
    2. brokerage/commission, which is a percentage of the insurance premium paid by you and given to us by the insurers with whom we place your business; or
    3. reasonable charges in addition to any insurance premiums for the administration, arranging, amending, renewing and cancelling of any policy of insurance.

    Payment for our services may be a combination of (a), (b) and (c). The
    taxation element of any insurance premium is not subject to commission. Upon
    request, we will be pleased to provide information regarding any earnings we
    may receive or may have received as a result of placing your business.
    Brokerage and fees are for the policy period and we will retain all brokerage
    and fees in relation to policies we have placed.

13. VAT. Under current legislation, most of our services are not subject to
    VAT. However, should this change in future, or if we become aware that VAT
    will be due in part, we will notify you before conducting any further work.
14. Use of other intermediaries. Where we consider it to be appropriate and
    for your benefit, it may be necessary for us to request another broker or
    intermediary to act as our agent and assist in the placement of your insurance
    product. In such cases, we will provide specific instructions to such
    sub-agents so as to meet your insurance requirements.
15. Health & safety. We cannot be held responsible for any client who fails
    to comply with current Health & Safety (or other relevant) legislation.
16. Payment of premiums. We normally accept payment by guaranteed cheque or
    certain credit or debit cards — you should enquire which are available.
    You may be able to spread your payment through insurers’ instalment facilities
    or a finance arrangement. We will give you full information about your
    payment options when we discuss your insurance.
17. Instructions. To aid clarification and avoid future misunderstandings, we
    prefer our clients to give us instructions in writing. At our discretion we
    may accept oral instructions.
18. Security. We do not guarantee the solvency of any insurer we place
    business with. A liability for the premium, whether in full or pro rata, may
    arise under policies where a participating insurer becomes insolvent.
19. Data protection. The information you may provide us with is subject to
    the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. Personal information provided may
    be maintained on computer records and will not be disclosed to other parties
    except other businesses within the same group, or any person having a legal
    entitlement to access. Some services are provided to our firm by third
    parties, such as obtaining regulatory advice. By utilising our services you
    consent to us, or any company associated with us, processing — both manually
    and by electronic means — your personal data. If at any time you wish us, or
    any company associated with us, to cease processing your personal data or
    sensitive personal data, please contact ‘The Data Controller’ at the address
    shown at the top of this letter. Our full Privacy Notice
    is also available on our website.

    Product providers may administer your policy, any existing policies you may
    have with them, and provide other services from centres in countries outside
    Europe (such as India and the USA) that do not always have the same standard
    of data protection laws as the UK. However, they are required to put a
    contract in place to ensure that your information is adequately protected,
    and they will remain bound by their obligations under the Data Protection Act
    even when your personal information is processed outside Europe. Steps are
    taken to safeguard against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental
    loss, destruction or damage. Subject to some exceptions, you are entitled to
    have access to your personal and sensitive personal data held by us within a
    set number of days. You may be charged a fee (subject to the statutory
    maximum) for supplying you with such data.

20. Important. Insurers pass information to the Claims and Underwriting
    Exchange run by Insurance Database Services Ltd, and to the Theft Register run
    by the Association of British Insurers. The aim is to check information
    provided and to prevent fraudulent claims. Other insurance-related databases
    may also be added in the future.
21. Credit searches. To make sure you get the best offer from insurers or
    third parties involved in your insurance, e.g. finance providers, now or at
    any renewal or at any time, and to protect their customers from fraud and to
    verify your identity, they may use publicly available data which they obtain
    from a variety of sources, including a credit reference agency and other
    external organisations. Their search will appear on your credit report
    whether or not your applications proceed.
22. Credit checks. As well as these searches, they or we may use a credit
    check to ascertain the most appropriate payment options for you. This credit
    check will also appear on your credit report whether or not your applications
    proceed. Unless you contact us to confirm you do not wish us to carry out
    these searches we will assume your consent has been given and proceed as
    above.
23. Claims. You must notify us as soon as possible of a claim and circumstances
    which may give rise to a claim. In the event of a claim you should contact us
    and we will promptly advise you and, if appropriate, issue you with a claim
    form and pass all details to your insurer. You should not admit liability or
    agree to any course of action, other than emergency measures carried out to
    minimise the loss, until you have an agreement from your insurer. We will
    remit claims payments to you as soon as possible after they have been received
    on your behalf. In the event that an insurer becomes insolvent or delays
    making settlement, we do not accept liability for any unpaid amounts.
24. Client money. In some cases client money is collected in line with a
    strict agency agreement known as a Risk Transfer and when we collect these
    premiums, we are acting on behalf of the insurer. The premiums are held in
    accordance with the FCA Client Assets Sourcebook (CASS), with our nominated
    bank. Holding money in line with CASS ensures your money is protected, and
    used only for the settlement of insurer accounts. Any interest we earn on
    client money will be retained by us for our own use.
25. Payment to third parties. We may transfer client money to a third person,
    such as another broker, for effecting a transaction on your behalf through
    that person.
26. Cancellation clause. Your insurance may include a cancellation clause. In
    the event that you fail to pay your premium by the due date the insurance may
    be cancelled forthwith or by the insurers giving notice of the cancellation.
    In the event of cancellation, insurers may return the pro-rata premium to us,
    but you are advised to check your insurance policy for full details of your
    insurers’ cancellation clause. Once our remuneration has been earned in the
    event that the insurance is cancelled, our fees or brokerage will not usually
    be refundable.
27. Financial crime. The National Crime Agency (NCA) requires us to report any
    suspicious transactions to them, and we may have to obtain evidence of
    clients’ identity at the start of a business relationship. For companies,
    evidence usually consists of a copy of the Certificate of Incorporation or we
    may check the Companies House register. Where we are required to verify your
    identity in accordance with regulatory and statutory requirements, no
    application will be made until such verification has been obtained. This
    requirement will apply at the beginning of our relationship but on occasion
    we may be required to reconfirm your current details. We may use third-party
    online verification in order to assist this process.
28. Future changes. In accepting this Client Agreement, you agree that we may
    change the future content without receiving your prior consent to do so.
29. Termination. Our services may be terminated without cause or penalty by
    giving one month’s notice in writing. In the event that you terminate our
    services, other than at the expiry of the policy, we will be entitled to
    retain any fees and all of the brokerage payable. The responsibility for
    handling claims reported after the date of termination shall, in the absence
    of an express agreement, be the responsibility of the party taking over the
    role.
30. Law and jurisdiction. These Terms of Business shall be governed by and
    construed in accordance with English law. In relation to any legal action or
    proceedings arising out of or in connection with these Terms of Business, we
    both irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
31. Insurer solvency. We cannot and do not guarantee the solvency or
    continuing solvency of any insurer used. You should note that the financial
    position of an insurer can change after cover has incepted.

Contact details for the relevant regulatory bodies