Terms of Business
The terms under which Abbeygate Insurance Brokers Ltd arranges and administers your insurance. Please read carefully — by instructing us to act, you accept these terms.
Definitions
We / us — Abbeygate Insurance Brokers Limited. Address: Shop 1, Mesogi Avenue, Mesogi, Paphos 8280. Tel: +357 26 819175. Fax: +357 26 222 991. Website: www.abbeygate.com/cyprus.
ICCS — Insurance Companies Control Service. Address: P.O. Box 23364, 1682 Nicosia. Tel: +357 22 602990. Fax: +357 22 302938.
Regulation
Abbeygate Insurance Brokers Limited is registered and regulated by the Insurance Companies Control Service. Our licence numbers are 87 (FOE) & 19 (FOS). Our permitted business is arranging and advising on non-investment insurance contracts. This can be checked on the ICCS register by visiting www.mof.gov.cy or by telephoning +357 22 602952.
Our service
Abbeygate Insurance Brokers Limited are independent intermediaries and act on your behalf in arranging your insurance. We use a number of companies and offer a wide range of insurance products. Upon request we will provide a list of companies and products.
Our service includes providing you with advice on your insurance needs, arranging insurance cover with insurers to meet your demands and needs, and helping with ongoing alterations or claims you may have to make. For your protection our calls may be monitored.
These Terms supersede all proposals, prior discussions and representations (whether oral or written) between us relating to our appointment as your agent in connection with the arranging and administration of your insurance. In the absence of any specific acceptance communicated to us by you, you are deemed to accept our offer to act for you on the basis of these Terms by conduct, upon instructing us to arrange, renew or otherwise act for you in connection with insurance matters.
Our remuneration
In providing services to you as detailed above, we receive a commission from the insurer.
Charges
| New business arrangement | up to €35.00 |
| Renewal arrangement | up to €35.00 |
| Mid-term adjustments | up to €35.00 |
| Mid-term cancellations | €35.00 plus retention of insurer's reclaimed commission** |
| Cancellation during the cancellation-rights period | €35.00* |
| Duplicate documents | €10.00 |
* Any cancellation processed in the cancellation-rights period is subject to a €35.00 charge plus any additional costs from the insurance company.
** Any mid-term cancellation outside the cancellation-rights cooling-off period is subject to your insurer's short-period cancellation scale as per their policy terms. Please read the documentation provided by the insurance company for details of charges that may occur during these periods.
Cancellations
Any mid-term cancellation refund will be issued within 6–8 weeks of the active cancellation date of your policy.
Cancellation rights
You have the right to cancel your policy during a period of 14 days, either from the day of purchase of the contract or the day you receive your policy documents — whichever is the later. If you wish to do so and the insurance has not yet commenced, you will be entitled to a full refund less any admin charges.
If you wish to do so and cover has commenced, you will be entitled to a refund, subject to a deduction for the time for which you have been covered on a pro-rata basis, plus a €35.00 admin cost incurred in issuing the policy. A refund of premium may not be given if you have made a claim under the policy, or an incident has occurred which may give rise to a claim under the policy.
To exercise your right to cancel please contact us. If you do not exercise your right to cancel, your policy will continue in force for the term of the policy and you will be required to pay the full premium.
Payment & documentation
The provision of insurance services is subject to the satisfactory payment of the appropriate premium. Premiums are due for payment by the inception/renewal date of the policy. Premiums resulting from a request for an amendment are due immediately upon request.
We will provide full information about your payment options at the appropriate time. We may keep certain documentation (such as your insurance certificate) until we receive full payment (we will seek agreement of this if appropriate). In these circumstances we will ensure that you receive full details of your insurance cover and will provide you with any documents you are required to have by law.
Failure to make arrangements to pay premiums by the due date will lead to cancellation of cover in respect of new policies and renewals, or the required change not being actioned in respect of amendments. If you are unable to pay the premium by the due date, please let us know immediately.
Your duty to provide information
It is your responsibility to provide information to insurers when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the life of the policy, and when you renew your insurance. It is important that you ensure all statements you make on proposal forms, claims forms and other documents are full and accurate.
Where statements-of-fact documents form the basis of your insurance contract, the information should be accurate and any errors advised to us immediately. You are responsible for checking that the policy terms and conditions meet your requirements, and for notifying claims or circumstances that might give rise to a claim. To ensure full protection under your policy you should familiarise yourself with the coverage conditions and procedures relating to claims and their notification.
Failure to disclose facts pertaining to your insurance, or any inaccuracies in information given, could result in your insurance being invalid or cover not operating fully. 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 advised to keep copies of any correspondence you send to us or directly to your insurer. If you are in any doubt over any of the policy terms and conditions, please seek our advice immediately.
In certain circumstances we may agree to correspond with you via e-mail. By providing your email address you are consenting to us communicating with you via e-mail. If you email a request to arrange insurance cover or to amend any details under an existing policy, cover will not be in force until your request has been accepted by insurers and we have confirmed this. You must take reasonable steps to ensure that your messages are complete and accurate, are secure against being altered in the course of transmission, and are free from harmful viruses.
Termination of terms
These terms of business may be varied or suspended at any time by notice in writing. Any such variation will not affect rights or obligations already accrued by either party.
Agent of insurer
We act as agent for the insurer for some of the insurance companies that we deal with, for the purpose of receiving and holding premiums. Where we do not act as agent for the insurer, we will treat monies held as client money and will hold these in a non-statutory trust account.
Statutory trust & client money
The aim of the trust is to protect the client in the event of the failure of the firm, or the failure of the bank or a third party at which the money may be held. In such a circumstance, the firm's general creditors should not be able to make claims on client money, as it will not form part of this firm's property. The fact that we hold money in trust gives rise to fiduciary duties, which will be owed to you until the client money reaches the insurer or product provider.
We hold client money subject to a non-statutory trust. This means we are entitled to use client money held on behalf of one client to pay another client's premiums before the premium is received from that other client, and to pay claims and premium refunds to another client before we receive payment from the insurer. However, we are not entitled to use client money to pay commissions before we receive the relevant premium from the client.
Interest on client money
Any interest earned on client money held by us will be retained by us for our own use, rather than paid to you. Your reading of this document and continuance of the application process is taken to indicate that you understand, and have given your consent for us to hold your monies in the statutory trust and to receive interest.
Payment to third parties
We may transfer client money to another person (such as another broker or settlement agent) for the purpose of effecting a transaction on your behalf through that person. This may include brokers and settlement agents outside of Cyprus. The legal and regulatory regime applying to a broker or settlement agent outside Cyprus may be different from that of Cyprus and, in the event of a failure of the broker or settlement agent, this money may be treated in a different manner from that which would apply if the money were held by a broker or settlement agent in Cyprus. You may notify us if you do not wish your money to be passed to a particular jurisdiction.
Confidentiality
All personal information about you will be treated as private and confidential. We will only use and disclose the information we have about you in the normal course of arranging and administering your insurance. Other than this, we will not disclose any information to any other parties outside our group of companies without your consent, unless where disclosure is required by a regulatory regime to fulfil its regulatory function, or where we are legally obliged to do so.
Customers should be aware that insurers exchange information with each other through various databases to help check the information provided and also prevent fraudulent claims. We may use information we hold about you to provide information to you about other products and services which we offer. If you would prefer not to receive information on these services please advise us.
Under data protection law you have the right to see personal information about you that we hold on our records. If you have queries in this respect, please contact us in writing to the Compliance Officer at Abbeygate Insurance Brokers Limited, Shop 1, Mesogi Avenue, Mesogi, Paphos 8280.
Complaints
It is always our intention to provide a first-class service. However, should you have any cause for complaint about the provision of our service outlined above, please contact us orally or in writing.
Your complaint will be acknowledged within five business days advising you who is dealing with your complaint and indicating when you may expect an answer. We will provide a formal written response within 8 weeks from the receipt of the original complaint. If the complaint cannot be resolved within this timescale we will write with an explanation as to the progress and the likely timescale involved.
If we are unable to settle your complaint, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service Cyprus at 13 Lordou Vironos Avenue, 1096 Nicosia or P.O. Box 25735, 1311 Nicosia. Your insurer also operates a complaint procedure, details of which are in your policy.
Law & jurisdiction
These terms of business shall be governed by and constructed in accordance with Cyprus law. In relation to any legal action or proceeding arising out of or in connection with these terms of business, we both irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Cyprus courts.
Your acceptance of these Terms of Business does not affect your normal legal rights.
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