Terms of Business of MC Financial – Effective from January 2024

.DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION:

In order to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, before we provide any regulated financial services, we are obliged to request such information and documents from you as we consider necessary to verify your identity as well as your source of funds. We are also obliged to keep a record of this information. Should you not be able to provide satisfactory evidence of your identity or source of funds within a reasonable time, we may not be able to provide any services to you. We may also be obliged to request updated identity and verification documents from time to time.

These Terms of Business set out the basis on which M&E Curtin Financial Services Limited trading as MC Financial will provide services to you as a consumer of the firm. Please take a few minutes to read through these and if you have any questions we will be happy to answer same. If any material changes are made to these terms we will notify you.

The full name and address of the firm and communication details are:

M&E Curtin Financial Services Ltd t/a MC Financial                Telephone:  01 822 8022
Principal Business Address                                                             Email: info@mcfinancial.ie
Unit 9, Coolmine Enterprise Park                                                  Web: https://mcfinancial.ie
Dublin 15

M&E Curtin (Financial Services) Limited T/A MC Financial is regulated by the Central Bank as an insurance intermediary registered under the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018, as amended and as a mortgage intermediary authorised under the Consumer Credit Act 1995, as amended and as a mortgage credit intermediary European Union (Consumer Mortgage Credit Agreements) Regulations 2016. Copies of our regulatory status 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.  Our Central Bank Number is: C85792.

M&E Curtin Financial Services T/A MC Financial are subject to the Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code and Fitness and Probity Standards which offer protection to consumers. These codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie ”

M&E Curtin (Financial Services) Ltd T/A MC Financial is a member of Brokers Ireland and LIA (Life Assurance Association).

The services which the firm is authorised to provide are:

(a) Advising in relation to the nature of each of the products set out below and recommending you the product/products that are best suited to your needs.
(b) Selecting a suitable product or products from product providers
(c) Receiving and transmitting orders on your behalf for a product or products to one or more product producers

Our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to Mortgages, Life Assurance products including Life Assurance policies, Specified Serious Illness, Protection, Pensions, P.R.S.A’s, Savings and Investment products offered by Insurance Companies.

Below is a full list of insurers, product producers and lending agencies we are dealing with:

The concept of fair analysis is derived from the Insurance Mediation Directive. It describes the extent of the choice of the products and providers offered by an intermediary within a particular category of life assurance, general assurance, mortgages, and/or 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 be reasonably expected of a professional conducting business, taking into account the accessibility of information and product placement to intermediaries and the cost of the search.

On your behalf, we will carry out a fair analysis of the market; taking account of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available in the market to enable us to make a professional recommendation to meet your insurance requirements.

On receipt of your instructions we will transmit orders on your behalf to one or more product producers with whom we hold a written appointment (a list of which is available on request).  If we do not hold a written appointment with the product producer(s) we will provide you with the relevant contact information.

In order to ensure that the number of contracts and providers is sufficiently large to constitute a fair analysis of the market, we will consider the following criteria:

• the needs of the consumer,
• 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 the cost, and any other relevant consideration.

LIFE & PENSIONS

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

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 policies 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 it is our policy to 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.

MORTGAGES

Through the lenders or other undertakings with which we hold an agency, MC FINANCIAL can provide advice on and arrange mortgage products from the following range: fixed rate loans, variable rate mortgages, capital & interest mortgages, interest only mortgages, endowment mortgages, pension mortgages and residential investment mortgages.

MC FINANCIAL provides mortgage advice on a fair 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). We will need to collect sufficient information from you before we can offer any advice on housing loans.  This is due to the fact that a key issue in relation to mortgage advice is affordability. Such information should be produced promptly upon our request.

Where we receive recurring commission, this forms part of the remuneration for initial advice provided. If we receive commission from a product provider, this may 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.

MC FINANCIAL will apply a charge for services rendered in the following:

Mortgages

MC FINANCIAL will apply a charge for services rendered in the following:

• MC FINANCIAL applies a standard up front commitment charge of €250 for the initial mortgage application process with a further €250 upon procurement of loan offer. We also charge a consultation fee of €75 for initial meeting.

  Please note we charge a €500 fee for switcher mortgages under €150,000.

MC FINANCIAL may receive mortgage commission from lenders to 1% of the value of the amount borrowed. The actual amount of commission will be disclosed at a later stage in the ESIS (European Standardised Information Sheet) which will be forwarded to you. Information on the variation in levels of commission payable by the different creditors providing credit agreements being offered are available on request.

Please note that lenders may charge specific fees in certain circumstances and if this applies, these fees will be specified in your Loan Offer. You have the right to pay a fee separately and not include it in the loan. Typically, this situation arises in relation to specialist lending.

Life and Pensions

For Life, Pensions & Investment business, the firm is remunerated by way of a client fee or a commission from the product provider or a combination of both. Should a fee be payable full details of such will be disclosed to the client in writing from the outset.

The firm provides advice on insurance investment bonds, pension planning and protection products and any commissions received will be disclosed prior to this business being done. In relation to investment advice we reserve the right to charge a fee for our services of up to 5% of the investment amount, this is capped at €7,500 and deducted from any commission payable.

With regard to pension planning we reserve the right to charge a fee of up to a max of €7,500 to review clients existing pension arrangements and make a client specific recommendation. For arranging a regular premium pension contract for a customer, we reserve the right to apply a charge of up to 25% of the first year’s annual premium. For arranging a single premium pension investment we reserve the right to charge a fee of up to 5% of the investment amount, this is capped at €7,500 and deducted from any commission payable.

Where applicable MC Financial has a trail commission fee of 0.25% on all pension and investment contracts.

All charges applicable by MC FINANCIAL will be fully disclosed in writing to the customer in advance.

Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) – Fees

Where advice is requested for PRSAs, the following fee will apply: A flat fee of €595 will be charged for the arrangement of the pension if the pension is arranged on a ‘’nil commission basis’’ if initial commission is received this will be rebated to you in full.

Additional fees may be payable for complex cases or to reflect value, specialist skills or urgency. We will give an estimate of this rate in advance of providing you with services. 

Insurance based Investment Products

We will provide periodic assessments of the suitability of the insurance based investment product which we have recommended to you.

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.

It is the policy of the firm to avoid any conflict of interest when providing services to its consumers. However, where an unavoidable conflict may arise we will advise you of this in writing before proceeding to provide any service. If you have not been advised of any such conflict you are entitled to assume that none arises. As per our remuneration policy we receive commission from the companies we have agencies with for the business you transact.

  DEFAULT ON PAYMENTS BY CLIENTS:

Our firm will exercise its legal rights to receive payments due to it from clients for business services provided. In particular, without limitation of 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. Insurers and other 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. Mortgage lenders may seek early repayment of a loan and interest if you default on your repayments. Your home is at risk if you do not maintain your agreed repayments.

COMPLAINTS

Whilst we are happy to receive verbal complaints we ask that you make any complaint against our firm, relating to services provided by us, in writing. We will acknowledge your complaint 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). A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on request. 

Our firm complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018. The data which you provide to us will be held on a computer database and paper files for the purpose of arranging transactions on your behalf. The data will be processed only in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was given and as outlined in our Privacy Notice which is given to all clients at the time of data collection, our privacy notice is also available on our website. We will ensure that this Privacy Notice is easily assessible. Please refer to our website www.mcfinancial.ie, if this medium is not suitable we will ensure you can easily receive a copy by hard copy, or telephonic environment. (pre-recorded). You have the right at any time to request a copy of any ‘personal data’ within the meaning of the GDPR that our office holds about you and to have any inaccuracies in that information corrected. Please contact us at info@mcfinancial.ie if you have any concerns about your personal data.

 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. 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 Compensation Fund

We are also members of the Brokers Ireland Compensation Fund. 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.

M&E Curtin Financial Services Ltd t/a MC Financial
Registered Office
1 Sorrel Heath
Clonsilla
Dublin 15
Telephone:   01 822 8022
E-mail:        info@mcfinancial.ie

Terms of Business Acknowledgment Letter

Status

M&E Curtin (Financial Services) Limited t/a Mc Financial (‘the Company’) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Terms of Business

Attached are the Company’s Terms of Business, which outline the basis on which we provide services to our clients. Please ensure that you read this document. These Terms of Business apply to all business transactions undertaken for you or services provided to you and will remain in force until further notice. Should we make any material changes to our Terms, we will advise you in advance of providing any further services to you.

Privacy Policy

Here at McFinancial we take your privacy seriously and will only use your personal information to provide the products and services you have requested from us.

Direct Marketing

However, from time to time we would like to contact you with details of other products [mortgages, protection products, investments, pensions, deposits] and services we can provide to you.  If you consent to us contacting you for this purpose please tick to say how you would like us to contact you:

Post ☐             Email ☐           Telephone ☐    Text message ☐                       Automated call ☐

I agree ☐

Customer Signature ………………………………..

Client Acknowledgement – Terms of Business

I/We acknowledge that I/We have been provided with a copy of the Terms of Business of Mc Financial and confirm that I/We have read and understand them.

Signed: ______________________________                  Date: ___________

Signed: ______________________________                  Date: __________

Yours Sincerely,

__________________

Qualified Financial Adviser