Hurst Financial Consultancy Limited (HFC) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The registration details can be checked on the FCA Register by visiting:

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000000MfXbmAAF

or by contacting the FCA on 0845 606 1234 and quoting our Reference Number 448150. As a client of an authorised firm, you might be able to receive compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the event that we are unable to meet our obligations towards you. Bank and Building Society deposits are covered to a maximum of £85,000. Most types of investments, mortgages and long-term insurance (e.g. life assurance) business is covered to a maximum of £50,000. Claims in respect of non-investment insurance contracts (e.g. home and general) are covered for 90% of the claim with no upper limit.

The provisions of this Client Agreement and Terms of Business are in force with immediate effect and will be effective until being replaced by an updated version. You, or we, may terminate this Client Agreement and Terms of Business at any time without penalty. If provided verbally, notice of termination must be confirmed in writing. Such termination will not affect the completion of any transaction already initiated on your behalf. Remuneration (whether by way of fee or commission) due for such transactions will remain liable for payment to us either from you or a product provider, as appropriate.

Telephone calls are routinely recorded for training and monitoring purposes. Whenever advice is being given in meetings, these meetings can upon request be recorded and a copy of the recording kept on file. This ensures all parties understand what has been agreed upon and assists in our on-going training. Copies of recordings can be made available on request. Whilst this is not a requirement of the Financial Conduct Authority, we regard this is as good practice. Please let us know if you would like this feature of meetings to apply to you.

Your completion of an application form, either for a new contract or for an amendment to an existing contract, will be deemed to be an instruction to us to act on your behalf. For other matters, we will accept written or oral instructions but, for the latter will require subsequent written confirmation. When we have arranged any investments or other contracts for which you have given us instructions, we will not give you further advice unless otherwise agreed but will be glad to do so at any time should you wish us to do so.

We offer independent advice but occasions could arise where we, or one of our other clients, may have some form of interest in business which we are transacting for you or some other conflict of interest. Should this occur, you will be informed in writing and your consent obtained before proceeding.

It is a requirement of the FCA that all our clients are categorised. Unless otherwise agreed, you have been categorised as a “Retail Client”. This gives you the highest level of regulatory protection. You are able to request a different categorisation and we would advise you of any limitations to your regulatory protection resulting from such a change.

A copy of a summary of our ‘Complaints Procedure’ is available on request at any time. Should you ever have a concern or a reason to complain about the advice we have given or the service we have provided, please write to the Compliance Officer at our business address. In the event that we are unable to agree a resolution to a complaint made against us, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk) for their independent review.

We are independent of any product provider or insurer and will act on your behalf in advising you on investments, pensions, collective investments, life assurance, insurance and mortgages. Advice will be based upon the products available to Intermediaries from the whole market. However, for mortgages, some providers only deal directly with the public and, whilst we are able to advise on the merits of these products, we are unable to implement them on your behalf.

We keep records of all our business transactions for at least six years and, in some cases, indefinitely. The information we hold about you can be held both electronically and in paper form. This information will only be disclosed to third parties for the purposes of processing investments, pensions, mortgages and any other contracts of insurance or for the purposes of compliance verification, or upon request by any statutory regulatory authority. You (or your agent) may inspect copies of any papers or computer records which relate solely to your own affairs. Unless you notify us otherwise, we are able to use the information provided to contact you by telephone, post, facsimile or e-mail to bring to your attention products or services that might be suitable for you or to assist in the servicing and administration of existing investments. We are obliged to ensure that we comply with 'anti money laundering regulations' and to do so we use a specialist company to run initial checks and maintain oversight of our clients. This means that new clients will have their electronic records searched to verify identification and address – the search is 'visible' but does not leave an impact on any credit score. The service we use can be looked at here - SmartSearch All data held is subject to the provisions and requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (May 2018), as determined by the Information Commissioners Office with whom we are registered.

In order to advise you, we must obtain certain information from you regarding your financial objectives and your personal circumstances to assess your suitability for particular products and services. We will only advise and make recommendations after we have assessed your needs. If you do not disclose relevant information, this might impact upon the appropriateness of advice given to you.

HFC does NOT handle clients’ money other than in settlement of our own charges for fees or disbursement for which you will be invoiced.

Remuneration for initial ‘investment’ services provided will be by way of a predetermined charge which can be time based or related to the amount being invested. Current hourly rates are £250 and £90 respectively for an Adviser and for an Administrator – with an indication of the expected total being provided. Your agreement to continue will be sought should the time spent exceed the original estimate. Where our charge is related to the size of an investment this will typically range from 1% to 4% of the amount to be invested. For instance, if the charge is 3% and the sum invested is £50,000, then the charge will be £1,500. Where commission is received from a Product Provider – usually for insurance contracts - the amount of the commission received will be credited against the agreed fee. We require payment of fees within 14 days of your receipt of our invoice where issuance of an invoice is required.

We are required to advise you of the possibility that other costs, beyond the control of HFC, which may include taxes, might be imposed with payment of these costs being your responsibility.

For mortgage products, we would ordinarily receive an introductory commission directly from the lender and we would not normally charge you any other fee. However, should your particular circumstances require it, a pre-approved additional non-refundable fee will be charged with payment normally required in advance.

The foregoing is our standard Terms of Business and Client Agreement. For your own benefit and protection, you should read these terms carefully. If you do not understand any part of this documentation, contact us for further information. If, within 10 days of your having viewed or received this document and HFC is not informed to the contrary, your acceptance will be assumed.