Regulatory Information

Compensation Schemes
CHI are participants in the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme which provides a measure of protection in the event that an investment firm is unable to meet its obligations to a client to the extent of 100% of the first £30,000 and 90% of the next £20,000 with a maximum compensation of £48,000. More information on this scheme is available from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and details can be found at: www.fscs.org.uk

Treating Customers Fairly (“TCF”)
As part of our Regulator’s move to more principle-based regulation, the FSA have defined six ‘consumer outcomes’ that firms need to fulfil in their undertakings with clients.


Church House welcomes the FSA’s TCF initiative whole-heartedly. We believe our ethos and practise has always embedded these outcomes in our culture and also believe our management information provides clear and consistent evidence of this.
 


For reference, the six FSA consumer outcomes are as follows:

Outcome 1: Consumers can be confident that they are dealing with firms where the fair treatment of customers is central to the corporate culture.



Outcome 2: Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly.

Outcome 3: Consumers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before, during and after the point of sale.



Outcome 4: Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances.



Outcome 5: Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect.



Outcome 6: Consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint.
 


Money-Laundering:
It is notoriously difficult to put an exact figure on the extent of the problem of money-laundering, briefly, the process by which criminals attempt to hide and disguise the true origin and ownership of the proceeds of their criminal activities. Current figures issued by the International Monetary Fund estimate that some $500 billion to $1.5 trillion a year is laundered the world’s financial system. This equates to between 1.5% and 5% of world GDP. In the UK, the laws relating to anti-money laundering are now covered by two main statutes: the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Terrorism Act 2000.
 


In order to fulfil our obligations as a responsible financial organization, we are required first, to verify the identity of a new client and, secondly, to confirm his or her proof of residence. In order to open an account for you, we will therefore require sight of the ORIGINAL of ONE DOCUMENT from each of two sections listed below 
 


1. PERSONAL IDENTITY DOCUMENTS

• Current signed passport
• Residence permit issued by Home Office to EU National on sight of own country passport
• Current UK Photo-Card Driving Licence
• Current full UK Driving Licence
• Benefit Book or original notification letter from the Benefits Agency confirming the right to benefits
• Self–Employed in the Construction Industry – tax exemption certificate with photograph of holder (Forms C155, C156 or SC60)
• Inland Revenue Tax Notification
• Firearms Certificate

2. DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE OF ADDRESS

• Record of home visit
• Confirmation from an electoral register search that a person of that name lives at that address
• Recent Utility bill or a certificate from a supplier of utilities confirming the arrangement to pay for the services on pre-payment terms (Mobile telephone bills are not acceptable)
• Local authority tax bill (valid for the current year)
• Current UK driving licence (old full or new photo-card licence) if not used for evidence of name
• Bank, building society or credit union statement or passbook containing current address
• The most recent original mortgage statement from a recognised lender
• Solicitor’s letter confirming recent house purchase or land registry confirmation (in such cases the previous address should be verified)
• Local council rent card or tenancy agreement
• Benefits book or original notification letter from the benefits agency confirming rights to benefit (if not used for evidence of name)

You should not send by post originals of valuable identity documents such as passport, identity card, or driving licence.

Certifying Documents
If for some reason you are not meeting someone from Church House face-to-face, you may arrange for copies of valuable identity documents to be certified by a UK lawyer, banker, authorised financial intermediary, MCCB-regulated mortgage broker, accountant, teacher, doctor, minister of religion, or post master/sub-post master.

Please always provide the name, address and telephone number of the person undertaking the certification so that Church House can contact them, if necessary.

Certified copies of identification evidence should be dated, and signed “original seen”. In situations where a good reproduction of photographic evidence of identity cannot be achieved, the copy should be certified as providing a good likeness of the applicant.

In the case of a passport, national identity card or documentary evidence of address for a non-UK national, the copy can be certified by an embassy, consulate or high commission of the country of issue or by a lawyer or attorney.

We apologise in advance for imposing this extra burden on a new client (whom we will anyway hope to have got to know well before getting to the account-opening stage) but hope that you can understand the necessity for complying with it.

Any additional Regulatory information that we feel you should know about we will post here.