Terms of Business

Effective from January 2026

Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd.

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

Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd (C2274) 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 1890 777 777 or alternatively visit their website at www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.

Codes of Conduct

Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd 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

Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd is a member of Brokers Ireland. Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to life and pensions, deposits and general insurance products. A full list of insurers, product producers and lending agencies with which we deal is available on request.

Insurance Intermediary Services

We act as an Insurance Broker which means that:

a) the principal regulated activities of the firm are provided on the basis of a fair and personal analysis of the market; and

b) you have the option to pay in full for our services by means of a fee.

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, 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.

Instructions for Policy Amendments

Please note that where an instruction is transmitted to amend your policy via phone message, text, e-mail or fax, changes in cover are only operable provided they have been confirmed by Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd.

Premium Finance

We can arrange insurance premium finance on your behalf with appropriately regulated providers and offer facilities to you based on a credit assessment by the credit provider. We may receive commission payments from the finance provider in respect of such finance agreements. Details of commissions received by Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd. from premium finance providers are outlined under the General Insurance section as per our remuneration structure in this document.

Please ensure that you read, understand and adhere to the terms of any premium finance agreement. Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd. accepts no responsibility for any refusal by a premium finance provider to offer credit or for the consequences of defaults or delayed payments.

Please be aware that your lender will be sharing information with the Central Credit Register. The Central Bank of Ireland established the Central Credit Register which is a centralised system for collecting personal and credit information on loans of €500 or above. This information may be used by other lenders when making decisions on your credit applications and credit agreements. If you require any additional information, please visit www.centralcreditregister.ie.

Money Laundering

Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd reserves the right to request additional information that may be required in order to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering requirements of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2021.

Cancellation

You, the customer, can cancel your policy by notice in writing at any time. Provided that all reasonable charges pertaining to costs incurred by Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd have been paid and provided that no incident giving rise to a claim or incident that might give rise to a claim has occurred in the current period of insurance, you may be entitled to a partial return of the premium for the un-expired period of insurance unless the policy is on a minimum and deposit basis, if this is the case, no return will be allowed on the policy and this will be noted on your policy schedule. If you cancel during the first-year short term rates may apply and/or Insurers may charge a cancellation fee, please refer to policy terms and conditions. In the case of Motor Insurance, you must return the Certificate of Insurance and Windscreen Disc to Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd. Insurance companies normally reserve the right to cancel policies at any time by giving appropriate notice to your last known address. Please refer to your policy terms and conditions.

Investment Intermediary Services

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

Life & Pensions/Deposits & Life Wrapped Investments

We provide life assurance and pensions on a fair and personal analysis basis i.e. providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available in the market to enable us to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your needs.

We provide Deposit advice on a limited analysis basis, i.e. providing services on the basis of a limited number of contracts within the market. We provide on the following product providers:

Permanent TSB

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.

Non-Life

We can provide advice on and arrange products from the following range: household, motor, commercial, public liability, employer liability, travel insurance, Soccer Club insurance. We provide general insurance on a fair and personal analysis basis (providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available in the market to enable the firm to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your needs). In some cases, we may be granted authority from an insurance undertaking to conduct tasks on their behalf, for which we will be remunerated. Where we place your business with this insurance undertaking under this authority you will be notified in advance of the placement. We will also offer assistance to you in relation to processing claims on policies taken out with us and in seeking renewal terms on your cover.

To ensure continuity of cover, where you have an existing policy which is due to expire and where we have been unable to contact you, we may put continuing cover in force whilst awaiting your instruction. You will be liable for any premiums payable to the relevant insurer for the period of time between renewal and when we receive your instruction. You have the right not to avail of this service.

Statement of Charges / Remuneration Policy

We are remunerated by commission from insurers on completion of business. 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 it has agreed with product producers is available on our website. You may choose to pay in full for our services by means of a fee. Where we receive recurring commission, this forms part of the remuneration, including 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. We reserve the right to charge additional fees if the number of hours relating to on-going advice/assistance exceeds 2 hrs. We are remunerated by commission and other payments from product producers. When assessing products, we will consider the different approach taken by product providers in terms of them integrating sustainability risks into their product offering. This will form part of our analysis for choosing a product provider. In certain circumstances, it will be necessary to charge a fee for services provided. These are listed below. 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/will 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.

Life and Pensions

You may elect to deal with us on a fee basis.

Principles / Directors €300

Senior Advisers €300

Associates €300

Support staff €100

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 €50 per hour to a maximum of €300 per hour. We will notify you in advance and agree the scale of fees to be charged.

Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) – Fees

Where advice is requested for PRSAs, the following hourly fees will apply:

Advisor fees: €50 – €300 per hour.

Support staff: €100 per hour.

Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency. We will notify you in advance of providing you with these services. Our scale of fees for such cases ranges from a minimum of €100 per hour to a maximum of €300 per hour. If we receive commission from a product provider, this will be offset against the fee which we will charge you. Where the commission is greater than the fee due, the commission will become the amount payable to the intermediary unless an arrangement to the contrary is made.

Ongoing Remuneration

We wish to inform you that we receive ongoing remuneration from Product Providers in respect of the financial service provided to you. This remuneration is based on a percentage of the value of your investment, 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.

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 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.

General Insurance

We may be remunerated by commission from insurers 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 it has agreed with product producers is available on our website. Where an override commission is received, this will be disclosed to you in general terms.

Brokerage fee: Up to €300, or a percentage of the premium for Commercial Lines, details of which will be advised to you in advance.

Mid Term Alteration/ Cancellation fee: Up to €100

Claims handling fee: Nil.

Premium finance services may be arranged for you via a premium finance provider, noting that where this is arranged, we may earn an additional premium of up to 4% of the annual premium.

Premium finance default fee: Should there be a default of a direct debit payment we will charge a fee for recovery of the defaulted payment of up to €20.

In the event that the loan is to be reinstated following cancellation due to multiple defaults, a charge of up to €100 will be applied.

We will inform you of the amount of fee to be charged. Where it is not possible to provide the exact amount, we will provide you the method of calculation of the fee.

Ongoing Suitability

Investments

Ongoing suitability assessments form part of the service to clients. On an annual basis, statements can be requested.

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 insurance cover and/or inappropriate investments.

Disclosure of Information

Consumers: Duty of Disclosure when completing documentation for new business/renewals and midterm adjustments

You are required to answer all questions posed by us or the insurer honestly and with reasonable care – the test will be that of the ‘average consumer’1.

Before renewal of the contract of insurance, specific questions will be asked. Again, you will be required to answer honestly and with reasonable care. Where you do not provide additional information (after being requested to do so) it can be presumed that the information previously provided remains unchanged.

Failure to answer all questions honestly and with reasonable care can result in the Insurer being able to rely on proportionate remedies for misrepresentation, which include but are not limited to the insurer voiding the contract of insurance. If a policy is cancelled by an insurer for any reason including payment default you may encounter difficulty in purchasing insurance in the future.

1 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.

Completed proposal forms/statement of fact.

Completed proposal forms or Statement 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.

Commercial Customers: Non-Consumer Disclosure of Information

It is essential that you should bring to our attention any material alteration in risk such as changes of address or use of premises. Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void.

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. In some cases, we may be a party to a profit-share arrangement with product producers where we provide extra services for the provider. Agreements to this effect are in place with Aviva General and Canopius Underwriting. Any business arranged with these providers on your behalf is placed with them as they are at the time of placement the most suitable to meet your requirements taking all relevant information, demands and needs into account.

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. In particular, without limitation to the generality of the foregoing, the firm will seek reimbursement 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. 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

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. 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 (FSPO) 3rd Floor, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2, Lo call 1890 882090, Tel 01 567 700, info@fspo.ie A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on our website and on request.

Data Protection

We are subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018. Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd. 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.kielygaule.com), if this medium is not suitable, we will ensure you can easily receive a copy by hard copy. Please contact us at info@kielygaule.com if you have any concerns about your personal data.

CCTV, Call and Voice Recording

Kiely Gaule Financial Services may record telephone calls, inbound and outbound, for regulatory, quality, training and verification purposes. CCTV recording facilities are also in place in our premises. These facilities are in place for security, quality, training and verification purposes. All data captured by these facilities are managed in accordance with the Data Protection Acts.

Governing Law and Language

The laws of Ireland form the basis for establishing relations between you and Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd. All contracts, terms, conditions and communications relating to any policies or services you may enter into with the firm will be in English.

Quotations

All quotations are valid for 7 days unless otherwise stated and all quotations and cover are subject to acceptance by the insurer concerned.

New Business & Renewal Cooling Off Period

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, and 14 days in respect of general policies and only on sales that took place on a non-face to face basis (distance sales).

The right of cancellation may be exercised by notice in writing to Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd 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 or for travel policies. Should this right be exercised the insurance company may charge for the period you are on cover. For motor insurance the Certificate of Insurance and Windscreen Disc must be received by Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd before the policy can be cancelled. Please note that the policy set-up charge is non-refundable if you choose to withdraw from the policy within the cooling off period.

Handling Clients’ Money/Receipts

Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd will accept payments by cash, cheque, electronic funds transfer, debit and credit card in respect of all classes of insurance in the circumstances permitted. We cannot accept cash or negotiable instruments in any other circumstances. For certain Insurance Products, we may request that all payments are made payable to the provider of the product in question. A receipt will be issued for all payments received and should be retained by you in a safe place. Under the Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Code strict rules apply in relation to payment of premiums to product producers. We will not be able to pay premiums to product producers for a client where the premiums have not been received by the firm. Therefore, to avoid policy cancellation, premiums must be paid strictly within credit terms. Clients must pay at inception of a contract or on or before renewal date or as invoiced in the case of mid-term alterations. Insurance companies may cancel cover where a client fails to meet their obligations in relation to payment terms and conditions.

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.

Sustainability Factors – Investment/IBIPS/Pension Advice

When providing advice, Kiely Gaule Financial Services Ltd. considers the adverse impact of investment decisions on suitability. As part of our research and assessment of products, the firm will examine the Product Providers literature to compare financial products and to make informed investment decisions about ESG products. The firm will at all times act in the client’s best interests and keep clients informed accordingly. The consideration of sustainability risks can impact on the returns of financial products.

Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 (CICA)

For more information and the definition of “consumer”, in relation to a financial service, please see Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019, Section 1.

New Business & Renewal

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.

Post-Contract Stage and Claims

If, in respect of the insurance contract the insurer is not obliged to pay the full claim settlement amount until any repair, replacement or reinstatement work has been completed and specified documents for the work have been furnished to the insurer, the claim settlement deferment amount cannot exceed:

5% of the claim settlement amount where the claim settlement amount is less than €40,000; or

10% of the claim settlement amount where the claim settlement amount is more than €40,000.

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 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.

Commercial Customers: Non-Consumer Disclosure of Information

CICA does not apply to non-consumers. Therefore, it is essential that you should bring to our attention any material alteration in risk such as changes of address or use of premises. Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void.