BIKE TEAM TERMS OF BUSINESS
The Financial Services Authority (FSA)
The FSA is the independent watchdog that regulates financial services. It requires us to give you this document. Please use this document to decide if our services are right for you.
Our Service
We act as an Insurance Intermediary on your behalf. Our service includes advising you on your insurance needs, arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your requirements and helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make.
Products we offer
We sell and advise on a range of personal insurance products and provide advice or information on the basis of a limited panel of insurers for the following classes of business:
A copy of the panel is available on request.
For Legal Protection cover, we deal exclusively with Equity Red Star.
For Helmet and Leather cover, we deal exclusively with Equity Red Star.
For Personal Accident cover, we deal exclusively with Equity Red Star.
For Breakdown and Recovery cover, we deal exclusively with Equity Red Star
For Key Cover, we deal exclusively with Boomerang
Our Charges
We make the following mandatory charges to cover the administration of your insurances:
Arranging new policies £25.00
Mid-term adjustments £25.00
Mid-term cancellations within 14 days £20.00
Mid-term cancellations after 14 days £35.00
Renewals £25.00
The specific amount and purpose of any additional charges will always be advised to you in advance.
Who regulates us?
Equity Direct Broking Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Our head office address is Library House, New Road, Brentwood, Essex, CM14 4GD. Our FSA Register number is 490061.
Our permitted business is:
Advising customers on non-investment contracts
This includes recommending a specific insurance policy. Arranging (bringing about) deals in non-investment insurance contracts.
This covers a range of activities including introducing a customer to an insurer, helping a customer to complete a proposal form and sending this to an insurer.
Making arrangements with a view to transactions in non-investment insurance contracts
This includes helping a potential policyholder to complete a proposal form or introducing a customer to another intermediary, either for advice or to help arrange an insurance policy.
Dealing as agent in non-investment insurance contracts
This includes entering into a contract of insurance with a customer on behalf of an insurer (for example, issuing a cover note).
Assisting in the administration and performance of a non-investment insurance contract
This includes notifying an insurance claim to the insurer and negotiating settlement on behalf of the customer.
You can check the above on the FSA register by visiting their website www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting them on 0845 606 1234.
Complaints
We aim to provide all our customers with a high level of service and satisfaction, but if you wish to complain about any aspect of our dealings with you please contact us in writing at
Bike Team, Equity House, Bergholt Road, Colchester, CO4 5EY
By Phone: Telephone 0800 9175429
If you cannot settle your complaint with us you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Address: Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SR
Telephone: 0207 964 1000
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
These procedures do not affect your right to take legal action if necessary.
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. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim.
Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £2000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of insurance, insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without any upper limit.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.
Disclosure
It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the life of your policy, and when you renew your insurance. Failure to disclose information pertaining to your insurance, or any inaccuracies in information given, could result in your insurance being invalid or cover not operating fully.
It is important you ensure that all statements you make on proposal forms, claim forms and other documents are full and accurate. If a form is completed on your behalf, you should check that the answers shown to any questions are true and accurate before signing the document.
You are reminded that it is an offence under the Road Traffic Act to make any false statement or withhold any relevant information to obtain an Insurance Certificate.
You are advised to keep copies of any correspondence you send to us or direct to your insurer.
If you are in any doubt as to whether any information is material, you should disclose it.
Client Money
By proceeding with any insurance policy purchased through us, you agree to the following terms and conditions in this section.
For some of the markets in which we place business we have agreements in place which may result in us holding premiums as agent of the insurer, both for the purposes of receiving premiums and holding premium refunds. With effect from 1st August 2006, where arrangements to hold premiums on behalf of the Insurer are not in place, we will hold premiums as your agent. All such premiums will be held in a non-statutory trust. The terms of the non-statutory trust mean that we are entitled to use client money held in trust on behalf of one client to pay another client’s premiums before the premium has been received from that client. We are not, however, entitled to withdraw commission until the relevant premium has been received from a client.
Please note that any interest earned by us and any investment returns on any segregated designated investments will be retained by us.
Claims
It is essential that you notify us immediately of all incidents that may result in a claim under your insurance policy whether you believe you are liable or not. Any letter or claim received by you must be passed to us immediately.
When we receive notification of an incident that might give rise to a claim under your policy, we will inform the insurers.
We will advise you promptly of insurers’ requirements concerning claims, including the provision, as soon as possible, of information required to establish the nature and extent of loss.
You should not admit liability or agree to any course of action, other than emergency measures to minimise your loss, until you have agreement from your insurer.
We will forward any payments received from insurers, in respect of any claim, to you without delay.
We will notify you of any request for information we receive from your insurers.
Confidentiality
All personal information about our customers is treated as Private and Confidential.
We will only disclose the information we have about private individuals in the normal course of arranging and administering their insurance and will not disclose any information to any other parties without their written consent unless required by law or public interest.
We may use the information we hold about our customers to provide them with information about other products and services that we feel may be appropriate to them.
Under the Data Protection Act 1988, private customers have a right to see the personal information about them that we hold in our records. If you wish to exercise this right, or have any other related queries, you should write The Company Secretary, Library House, New Road, Brentwood, Essex CM14 4GD.
Ownership
Equity Direct Broking Limited's ultimate holding company, Insurance Australia Group Limited is also the ultimate parent company of Equity Syndicate Management Limited, which manages Syndicate 218 at Lloyd's. Equity Red Star Limited, whose ultimate parent company is also Insurance Australia Group Limited, is a corporate name on Syndicate 218, providing over 64% of the syndicate's capacity.
Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register and Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud Register
Insurers pass information to the Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register operated by Database Services Ltd and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud Register compiled by the Association of British Insurers. The objective is to check information provided and to prevent fraudulent claims. Motor insurance details are also added to the Motor Insurance Database operated by the Motor Insurers’ Information Centre (MIIC), which has been formed to help identify uninsured drivers and may be accessed by the Police to help confirm who is insured to drive. In the event of an accident, this database may be used by Insurers, MIIC and the Motor Insurance Bureau, to identify relevant policy information. Other insurance-related databases may also be added in the future.