Client Agreement
Alpha Financial Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Financial Conduct Authority Number 214376. You can check this on the Financial Conduct Authority Register by visiting https://register.fca.org.uk or by contacting the Financial Conduct Authority on 0800 111 6768.
Our Commitment to You
Prior to providing you with any advice we will take time to understand your current needs, circumstances and attitude to risk. Any advice provided will be confirmed to you in writing.
Client Classification
Alpha Financial Management Limited classifies all clients as ‘retail clients’ for investment business and ‘consumers’ for non-investment insurance business which means you are afforded all protections under the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority. Should you wish to be classified differently for investment business, please discuss this with your adviser. Your adviser will inform you should your circumstances dictate that we would need to classify you differently for non-investment insurance business.
Please note that should you wish to be considered as a different category of customer for investment business, such as a professional client or eligible counter party you must inform us in writing. We will provide you with a new client agreement and you may lose a number of protections which will be outlined in that new agreement.
Methods of Communication
Unless you advise us otherwise, we will communicate with you via the following methods of communication, Face to Face, E-mail, Telephone, Letter and Fax.
Investment and Non-Investment Insurance Services
Alpha Financial Management Limited is permitted to advise on and arrange (bring about) deals in investments and non-investment insurance contracts.
Transactional Only Services
With regard to investments and non-investment insurance contracts which we have arranged for you, these will not be kept under review but we will advise you upon your request.
With service provision: Investment Services
We will provide services to you as more fully outlined below. However, we may contact you in the future by means of an unsolicited promotion should we wish to contact you to discuss the relative merits of an investment or service which we feel may be of interest to you. Alpha Financial Management Limited does not handle clients’ money. We never accept a cheque made out to us (unless it is a cheque in settlement of charges or disbursements for which we have sent you an invoice) or handle cash.
Scope of Advice
Independent Advice
We will only provide advice and make a recommendation to you having fully assessed your financial needs and objectives.
This means that we will spend some time discussing with you: what you want to achieve financially and see if the advice and services that we offer are going to be appropriate to address them.
It is important to us that you fully understand how we go about doing this, so please do ask us for more detail if anything is unclear to you.
Our Investment proposition
We have constructed an investment proposition that has been designed over time to meet many of our client’s needs. Often our clients share common characteristics in terms of their financial circumstances and financial objectives. Where our investment proposition is not going to be suitable to meet your needs, we will look outside of this to find a bespoke solution that will.
We have close relationships with certain parties used within this proposition, which we describe below.
If we think that it would be in your best interests, we will:
- Invest, or recommend that you invest, in the products manufactured by Tatton Investment Management Ltd and any other firm that Tatton Asset Management PLC may acquire in the future.
- Use, or recommend that you use, the services of Tatton Investment Management Ltd and any other firm that Tatton Asset Management PLC may acquire in the future that offers relevant products and/or services.
Tatton Investment Management (“the Company”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tatton Asset Management PLC.
Alpha Financial Management owns 16,404 of the shares issued by Tatton Asset Management PLC which is considered to be a minority shareholding. The value of these shares depends, at least in part, on how profitable the Company is, and how profitable it is expected to be.
Tatton Asset Management PLC’s shareholders may also receive a dividend payment from Tatton Asset Management PLC, once or twice a year. How likely that is that a dividend will be paid, and how big that payment will be, also depends, at least in part, on how profitable the Company has been.
We have systems and controls in place to make sure that our shares in Tatton Asset Management PLC do not create any possible disadvantage for you.
It is important to note that we have chosen to work with these parties because they offer products that are from across the whole of the market and are not selected unless they meet a rigorous selection process.
Financial Products
In respect of the financial products that we use, we do not restrict ourselves to certain types of products. We will look across a range of products which are called Retail Investment Products.
We will also look at Cash ISAs, National Savings Products and structured products as well. We use research tools to select these products using criteria set to meet your needs and will not use pre-determined lists or only a small range of preferred providers. We aim to find the right product to meet your needs on each and every occasion.
Product Providers
In respect of the product providers that we use: we do not restrict our advice to certain companies. Instead, we use research tools to help us find the company that provides the right products to meet your needs.
Conflicts of Interest
We have a legal and regulatory obligation to take all appropriate steps to identify and to prevent or manage conflicts of interest from arising. In the event of any of our business interests or activities creating a potential conflict of interest we will ensure that we take all appropriate steps to manage the potential conflict by maintaining robust systems, controls and staff training. In the unlikely event that we are unable to prevent the potential conflict, we will fully disclose to you, the general nature and/or sources of conflicts of interest and the steps taken to mitigate those risks.
Further details of our conflict of interest policy are available upon request.
Best Execution
It is our policy to transact your business in order to achieve the best possible results in terms of the price of products, providers and services, cost of advice, speed, size and nature of the transaction, and effectiveness of the Platform / Provider / Service Provider
Data Protection
For details of our Data Protection statement and policy, please see our separate Data Protection Statement and consent form, which will be provided separately to you.
Payment for Services
Payment by Fee (Initial Advice)
You may pay us for our initial advice by way of a percentage of the funds invested, a fixed fee or an hourly rate.
Please note if you pay our fee by way of a separate cheque 100% of the investment amount will be invested.
Example of our implementation fee as a percentage of the funds invested
| Example Investment |
Typical charge is 3% |
Amount Invested |
| £50,000 |
£1,500 |
£ 48,500 |
| £100,000 |
£3,000 |
£ 97,000 |
| £150,000 |
£4,500 |
£145,500 |
| £200,000 |
£6,000 |
£194,000 |
All figures quoted are purely for example, the actual fee paid will depend on the complexity of the work undertaken and will be confirmed to you in our fee agreement prior to any work being undertaken.
Annuity Purchase
We charge up to 2% of the sum transferred subject to a minimum fee of £750.
For example:
- If you transfer £10,000, the cost would be £750 (minimum fee).
- If you transfer £50,000, the cost would be £1,000.
Implementation Fees – Regular Premium Investment
It is our company policy to arrange for the Implementation Fee on regular premium investment to be deducted from the total amount collected by the product provider. We will agree this amount (subject to a minimum of £750) and ask you to confirm this, in our fee agreement. Alternatively, we may ask for a separate cheque, payable to our firm, dependent on the premium value considered. The standard charge is 50% of the premium due for 12 months. If, like in the example below*, the total fee paid is less than our minimum fee, the short fall will be collected by a separate cheque made payable to our firm at the time the advice is given.
Example of our Regular premium investment fee
| Monthly premium |
£50 |
£75 |
£150 |
| Monthly fee charged at 50% would be |
£25 |
£37.5 |
£75 |
| Total fee paid (12 months) |
£300* |
£450* |
£900 |
Termination of Our Services (Initial Advice)
You or we may terminate our authority to act on your behalf at any time. You will be liable to pay for any advice or services that you have received prior to the date of termination. This means that where we have agreed the advice and services that we will provide for you and we have agreed to receive payment for these, either by means of a fee for investment business or by receiving commission from a provider for non-investment business you will have to pay us for any work we have completed up to the date of termination.
On-going Service Option
Our ongoing service option incorporates a periodic suitability review of the investments we have recommended, this is to ensure the original recommendation remains suitable. This periodic assessment will be completed at least annually, however, the frequency may be increased when taking into account your risk profile and the types of financial products that have been recommended.
| Example Investment |
Annual Service Charge |
Example Annual Service Fee |
Minimum Annual Fee |
| £75,000 |
1% |
£750 |
£350 |
| £150,000 |
1% |
£1,500 |
£350 |
The actual fee charged which is subject to a minimum of £350 will vary depending upon how the investment performs and it will increase as the fund grows.
We will provide you with information regarding the costs at least annually to help you understand the overall cost and the cumulative effect on the return of the investment.
Termination of Our Services (On-going Advice)
You have the right to cancel payment for our on-going services by giving 30 days’ notice. Where you hold assets within a WRAP, you need to be aware that there will be terms and conditions applicable, such as your agreement with the wrap provider in respect to facilitating our fees, which means you may need to instruct the wrap provider directly and arrange for the removal of assets from the WRAP or appoint another adviser who will be able to access your assets and provide further on-going advice to you. We will be pleased to assist you at this time in cancelling our service to you, making sure that any WRAP provider is informed of this cancellation.
Complaints
If you wish to register a complaint, please contact us in writing at the above address or telephone us on 0151 949 1666. If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Compensation Arrangements
We have briefly set out some information about the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) below. If you would like further information about compensation scheme arrangements, details are available at www.fscs.org.uk or call 0800 678 1100.
Most of the products we advise on are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if product providers or we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim.
The actual level of compensation you receive will depend on the basis of your claim. The FSCS only pays compensation for financial loss. Compensation limits are per person per firm, and per claim category (listed below).
Investment
Most types of investment business are covered for 100% of the first £50,000 per person per firm, so the maximum compensation is £50,000 per person per firm.
Protection, non-Investment Insurance mediation.
Protection is at 100%, where:
(1) The claim is in respect of a liability subject to compulsory insurance:
(2) The claim is in respect of:
- A relevant omission; and
- A professional indemnity insurance contract, or would be in respect of a professional indemnity insurance contract if the insurance contract had been effected:
(3) The claim is:
- In respect of a relevant omission;
- In respect of a relevant general insurance contract or would be in respect of a relevant general insurance contract if the insurance contract had been effected; and
- Arises from the death or incapacity of the policyholder owing to injury, sickness or infirmity:
(4) The claim is in respect of:
- A relevant omission; and
- A pure protection contract, or would be in respect of a pure protection contract if the insurance contract had been effected
(5) In all other cases: 90% of claim
Mortgages.
For claims against companies declared in default from 1st January 2010, mortgage advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £50,000 so the maximum compensation is £50,000 per person per firm.
(Please note that the FSCS does not cover buy to let mortgages)
Accounting to You
We will forward to you any documents we receive in relation to business transacted as soon as practicable; where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions is involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward them to you.
