Lyons Life Ltd & Lyons Health Ltd both t/a Lyons Financial Services of Office 1-4, Dunboyne Business Park specialise in the provision of Mortgage Services, Life Assurance, Pensions and General Insurance Services to consumers.

Authorised Status

Lyons Life Ltd & Lyons Health Ltd t/a Lyons Financial Services are authorised in Ireland to provide the investment instruments collective investments, tracker bonds, PRSA’s and insurance policies under Section 10 of the Investments Intermediaries Act, 1995, as amended.  Our firm is also registered as an insurance/reinsurance intermediary under the European Communities (Insurance Mediation) Regulations, 2005 (as amended).  We are an authorised mortgage intermediary under the Consumer Credit Act, 1995 as amended.  Our firm is also authorised as a deposit broker

The Central Bank of Ireland holds registers of regulated firms.  You may contact the Central Bank on (01) 4104000 or alternatively visit their website on www.centralbank.ie   to verify our credentials.

Lyons Life Ltd and Lyons Health Ltd t/a Lyons Financial Services are members of the following professional bodies : Brokers Ireland and the Association of Expert Mortgage Advisors.

Regulatory Status

Lyons Life Ltd t/a Lyons Financial Services is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Our Central Bank reference number is C117704.

Lyons Health Ltd t/a Lyons Financial Services is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Our Central Bank reference number is C117707.

Our firm is subject to the following Codes of conduct issued by the Central Bank of Ireland.  These codes offer protection to our clients and all of the Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie

Consumer Protection Code 2012, Minimum Competency Code 2011, Prudential Handbook for Authorised Advisors and Restricted Intermediaries, Consumer Credit Act 1995, as amended, Fitness & Probity Standards.

Services

Our firm provides its life, investment, pension and mortgage services to our clients on a fair analysis basis.  “Fair analysis of the market” means that our firm provides its life, investment, pension and mortgage services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available on the market to enable our firm to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet our clients consumer’s needs.  When our firm provides non-life and deposit services to clients we provide these services on a limited analysis basis meaning that our firm provides non-life and deposit services on the basis of a limited number of contracts and product producers available on the market.

Lyons Financial Services offer advice in relation to all aspects of mortgage finance and also in relation to life assurance products (Term Cover, Serious Illness and Permanent Health Insurance), Investments, Pensions, Deposit and General Insurance including private medical insurance.  We also transmit orders on client’s behalf to any of the insurance undertakings or product producers from whom the Company hold letters of appointment.  A list of all such entities is contained elsewhere in these Terms of Business.

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 is 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.

Conflict of Interest

It is the policy of Lyons Financial Services to avoid a conflict of interest when providing services to clients.  Where an unavoidable conflict arises we will advise you of this in writing before providing any business services.  If you have not been made aware of any such conflict you may assume that none arises.

Complaints Procedure

Lyons Financial Services has in place a written procedure for the handling of complaints.  This procedure ensures that all complaints are recorded and acknowledged within 5 business days.  All complaints are fully investigated and the complainant updated at intervals of not greater than 20 business days.  We will attempt to investigate and resolve a compliant within 40 business days.

All complaints should be directed in writing to Mr Vincent Lyons, Complaints Officer, Lyons Financial Services. In the event that a client remains dissatisfied with the handling of and/or response to a complaint they may refer the matter to The Financial Services Ombudsman.

Consumer Protection

Lyons Financial Services is a member of the Investor Compensation Scheme established under the Investor Compensation Act 1998.  The legislation provides for the establishment of a compensation scheme and to the payment in certain circumstances, of compensation to clients of firms covered by the Act.  However you should also be aware that a right to compensation would only arise where money or investment instruments held by this company on your behalf cannot be returned either for the time being or for the foreseeable future and where the client falls within the definition of eligible investor as contained in the Act.  In the event that a right to compensation is established, the amount payable is the lesser of 90% of the client’s loss, which is recognised as being eligible for compensation or €20,000. For your added protection, we also hold Professional Indemnity insurance with an indemnity limit of €1,850,000 per claim. 

Default Remedies

Lyons Financial Services actions in the event of default by the client are:

Product providers are entitled to withdraw benefit or cover on default of any payments due under any products arranged for your benefit.  It is therefore critical to the guaranteed continuance of your insurance that your premium is paid in full.  Some insurers may include as a term of the insurance a settlement due date or in some cases a warranty under the terms of which the premium must be paid to them by a certain date.  We inform our clients of such requirements and the relevant date in good time to allow the payment terms to be met. Failure to comply with the terms of the warranty may mean that the insurers obligation under the policy will be terminated. We will automatically advise you of any payments outstanding on your policy and the consequences of failure to pay premiums.

An outline of the action and remedies which the relevant product producers may take in the event of default by a client is included in the product producer’s policy document.

Disclosure of Information

Any failure to disclose information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void.

Remuneration Policy

Life Assurance

Lyons Financial Services, in the case of life assurance where the firm is not in receipt of commission, may charge a service fee, agreed with clients, depending on complexity of the transaction, time spent and nature and extent of the transaction.  Our fees are charged as follows:

Advisor fees:                €200 per hour

Support Staff                €150 per hour

All fees are agreed with the client in advance.  We also offer all clients the option to pay in full for our services by means of a fee.

Mortgage Business

Lyons Financial Services is in receipt of mortgage commissions from lenders at a rate of up to 1% of the value of the amount borrowed.  A list of lenders whom Lyons Financial Services hold agencies with is listed in this document.

Lyons Financial Services may make sub-commission payments to Introducers of mortgage business to the company.  All recipients of such sub-commission payments must be registered by the Central Bank of Ireland as a Mortgage Intermediary.

Non-Life Assurance

Lyons Financial Services is remunerated by commission on all non-life insurances and may in certain circumstances apply a brokerage charge.  On Personal Lines policies we may apply a charge up to a maximum of €100.  This will include all mid- term adjustments.  Personal Lines cases are Private Car/Household/Travel/Musical Instruments, Personal Accident, Commercial Vehicle/property, and Public Liability.  Where a policy is being cancelled mid- term or alterations are made to the policy which produces a rebate of premium, we may apply a brokerage charge of up-to 15% subject to receipt of signed authorisation form the Customer/Consumer.  Where agreed, the premium rebate may be used to offset other premiums outstanding at the time the rebate becomes due.

Data Protection

Lyons Financial Services complies with the requirements of the Data Protections Acts, 1988 and 2003.Details of our Data Protection Policy and our Data Privacy Notice and your rights under these Acts can be found at www.LFS.ie

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. We would also like to keep you informed of mortgage, insurance, investment and any other services provided by us or associated companies with which we have a formal business arrangement; which we think may be of interest to you. We would like to contact you by way of letter, email or telephone call. If you do not wish to receive such marketing please tick this box. □

Telephone calls to Lyons Financial Services may be recorded for quality assurance or verification purposes.

Fraud Prevention, Detection and Claims History

In order to prevent and detect fraud and the non-disclosure of relevant information Lyons Financial Services may at any time:

• Share information about you with companies or organisations outside of Lyons Financial Services including where applicable private investigators and public bodies including An Garda Siochana;
• Check and/or file your details with fraud prevention agencies and databases, and if you give us false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud, we will record this.

 Lyons Financial Services may also search these agencies and databases to :

• Help make decisions about the provision and administration of insurance, credit and related services for you and members of your household;
• Trace debtors or beneficiaries, recover debt, prevent fraud and to manage your account or insurance policies;
• Check your identity to prevent money laundering, unless you furnish us with other satisfactory proof of identity;
• Undertake credit searches and additional fraud searches.

Guidelines for sharing your information with other insurance companies, self-insuring organisations or statutory authorities are contained in the Data Protection Commissioner’s Code of Practice on Data Protection for the Insurance Sector which is available at www.dataprotection.ie

Under Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 you have a right to know what information about you is held by Lyons Financial Services. If you wish to exercise the right then please contact us at the address below.

Insurance Undertakings

The following are a list of insurance undertakings and product producers from which letters of appointments are held :

Life Assurance Appointments

AVIVA Life & Pensions Ireland Limited, The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited, Irish Life Assurance Plc.,  New Ireland Assurance Company Plc.,  Standard Life Assurance Company, Zurich Life Assurance Plc., Generali PanEurope dac.

Non-Life Insurance Appointments

Irish Life Health dac, AVIVA Insurance Europe SE, Dolmen Insurance Brokers Limited, ARB Underwriting Limited, KennCo Underwriting Limited, Securus Insurance Limited, Wrightway Underwriting Ltd, DeCare Dental Insurance Ireland Ltd, Blue Insurances Limited , OBF Insurance Group Ltd. , Fingal Insurance Group Ltd. , Optis Insurance Ltd. , Aetna international Ltd.,MIS Underwriting Ltd., Footprint Underwriting DAC, Prestige Underwriting Services Ltd., Patrona Underwriting Ltd.,Dual Underwriting Ireland DAC ,Brady Underwriting Limited, NFP Commercial Insurance Solutions (Ireland) Limited, AXA Insurance DAC, Aston Lark Europe Limited, Ornella Underwriting Limited.

Lender Appointments

Haven Mortgages Limited, Permanent TSB Plc., Finance Ireland Residential Mortgages, Bank of Ireland ,Seniors Money Mortgages (Ireland) DAC t/a Spry Finance, Spry and Seniors Money, Dilosk DAC t/a ICS Mortgages.

Product Providers

BCP Asset Management Limited, Wealth Options Limited.