Hythe Ethical Independent Financial Advisers are independent financial advisers and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and bound by the FSAs rules. Our FSA registration number is 431588


OUR PRODUCTS/SERVICES 

We are authorised to provide investment advice and arrange and effect a wide range of financial services and these are broadly summarised as; Collective Investments (e.g. Unit Trusts, Investment Trusts and OEICs), ISAs. PEPs, Life Assurance, Pensions, Bank and Building Society Investments, Mortgages, Pension Transfers and Opt-Out TESSAs and Term Assurance. You can check this on the 
FSAs register by visiting the FSAs website www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES

Before making a detailed investment recommendation, we will require a completion of a financial planning analysis questionnaire to clarify your investment objectives and ensure that recommendations are suitable for your individual circumstances. Details of your stated investment objectives will be included in the suitability letter we will issue to you to confirm our recommendation. Unless confirmed in writing to the contrary we will assume that you do not wish to place any restriction on the advice we give you. When this cannot be done, or is not relevant, business will be transacted on either an execution only basis i.e. directly on your instructions, or on the basis that the Companys recommendations were made on restricted information and its responsibility will be limited accordingly.

OUR DEALINGS WITH YOU

We will, if required by yourself or your agent, supply copies of contract notes, vouchers and copies of entries in books, records and computerised records relating to you. We undertake to maintain such records for a period of at least six years from the date of each transaction.

MATERIAL INTERESTS

Hythe Ethical offers independent advice, but occasions can arise where we or one of our other clients will have some form of interest in business being transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests, or those of one of our clients, conflict with your interest, we will write to you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions, and detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.

INSTRUCTIONS

Normally, we ask clients to give instructions in writing by completing the relevant application form and signing the appropriate declaration.

Our authority to act on a clients behalf can be terminated at any time by either side in writing, without prior notice and without penalty. This will be effective from the date the written notification is received. However, if transactions already initiated remain outstanding, the notification will only be effected once these have been completed.

You will be liable to pay for any transactions made prior to termination and any fees which may be outstanding.

ACCOUNTING TO YOU

Unless in exceptional circumstances, we will confirm to you in writing the basis or our reason for recommending the transaction executed on your behalf.

We will also make arrangements for all you investments to be registered in your name unless you first instruct us otherwise in writing. We will forward to you all documents showing ownership of your investment as soon as practicable after we receive them; where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions are involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is completed and them forward them to you.

CANCELLATION RIGHTS

We will arrange for you to be informed in writing of any right you have to withdraw or cancel that you may have or if it is the case that no such rights apply.

PAYMENT FOR SERVICES

We normally derive our income from commission paid to us by life insurance companies and the operators of collective investment schemes through which investments are made. We shall tell you the amount of commission payable to us on any such investment.

If we receive commission or other form of benefit from the insurer of a security or from another intermediary, we will inform you, but we will not tell you the amount unless you ask us to do so.

Alternatively, if you or we propose to operate on a fee basis, we will agree its basis, frequency and method with you in writing before we carry out any chargeable work. Should we receive commission from any third party in relation to transactions arranged for you, we may offset the amount received against any fees due.

In respect of a regular premium policy which we may recommend, should you subsequently cease to pay premiums on the policy and in consequence we are obliged to refund the commission that has been paid to us we reserve the right to charge you a fee representing the amount we have to repay, for a period of upto four years after commencement of the policy, but we will not charge the fee if you exercise your right to cancel in accordance with the cancellation notice sent to you by the life company.

REVIEW

When we have arranged any investments for you which you have given instructions we will not give you any further advice unless you request it, but will be glad to advise you at any time you ask us to do so. If at any time the level of service is not as you would expect, we would ask you to write to the adviser.

CLIENT MONEY

Hythe Ethical does not handle client money. We never accept a cheque made out to us unless it is a cheque in settlement of charges or disbursements for which have sent you a bill. We never handle client cash.

COMPLAINTS

If you should have any complaint about the advise you receive or a product which you have bought, we have an internal procedure for handling complaints fairly and speedily and will provide you with a copy of our complaints procedure should you request it. For first contact please write to the Complaints Officer;

Mr Ryan Alamilla
11 Ethelbert Square
Westgate on Sea
Kent
CT8 8SR
Tel 01843 833366

If your complaint remains unsolved following our internal complaints procedure we are members of the Financial Ombudsman Service which is an independent dispute resolution service, details of which are available on request.

FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Most types of investment business are covered for 100% of the first 30,000 and 90% of the next 20,000, so the maximum compensation is 48,000. Further information about the compensation arrangements is available from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

DATA PROTECTION

Information provided by you may be held, processed, disclosed and used by ourselves, in serving our relationship with you. However, strict confidentiality will be maintained at all times.

It is understood that unless you notify us otherwise, you agree to the storage, use, and disclosure of such information. This information may not be disclosed to third party product providers in the course of completing our analysis and servicing of our relationship with you. No information will be passed to another party without your prior consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.

We may use and analyse your data, including the nature of your transactions, to provide you with information by post, telephone, fax or e-mail to service and update you, as well as informing you of new investment opportunities.

UK ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS

We are obliged to conform with the UK Anti-Money Laundering Regulations and also adhere to the guidance notes from the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group which requires financial institutions to verify the identity and place of residence of each investor. We will also request that you inform us how any monies being invested were obtained/accumulated. This process may require sight of certain documentation. If you provide false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud or money laundering we will record this. We will not forward any applications or money to third parties/product providers until our verification requirements have been met. We take no responsibility for any delay in investing where Anti-Money Laundering verification is outstanding.

In circumstances where sufficient verification in not received in a timely manner after we have received completed applications, the application(s) and any monies may be returned to you univested.

CLIENT PROTECTION

We maintain Professional Indemnity Insurance for the protection of clients.

CLIENTS RISK

You are advised that because the value of investments can fall as well as rise, you may not get back the full amount invested. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance.