Choose Location
Jersey Flag Jersey

Guernsey Flag Guernsey

Terms of Business

Jersey

Regulation

Polygon Insurance Brokers Limited (PIBL or the “Company”) a Jersey registered company (Company Number 94484) is licensed by the Jersey Financial Services Commission under the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998, as amended under General Insurance Mediation Business and regulated in the conduct of general insurance mediation business (GIMB0104). As an independent insurance intermediary and after consultation with you as to your insurance cover requirements, PIBL will arrange the most suitable policies of insurance for you based upon the information provided by you and current market availability. Our services also include assisting you with any changes that need to be made to your insurance policies and assisting you in the event that you need to make a claim. Our employees are authorised by us to only give advice on matters in which they are competent.

Instructions

Instructions may be given to us by telephone, email or in writing but in order to avoid dispute or error we would prefer to receive such confirmation in writing.
We reserve the right to insist on being provided with written confirmation of instructions.

Duty of Disclosure

Contracts of insurance are contracts of utmost good faith. You are under an obligation to disclose all material facts to your insurers as it is upon this information that your insurers will assess the risk presented to them and whether they are prepared to accept that risk and, if so, on what terms and premium. It is important that you understand that any information provided or statements or answers made by you to your insurer or PIBL are your responsibility and must be accurate and correct. Your attention is particularly drawn to the importance of the declaration on any insurers’ proposal form or statement of fact, as any failure to disclose factual material to the insurers or any inaccuracies in your answers may invalidate your insurance cover in part or in whole. Factual material to the insurers are matters or information which may influence your Insurer as to the acceptability or otherwise of your proposal or renewal and must be disclosed at the earliest opportunity and certainly at each renewal date. You are advised to keep copies of documentation
sent to or received from us for your own protection.

Postage – service of documents

Any letter or document shall be deemed to be served upon you if sent to your last notified address. Any letter or document sent by post shall be deemed served on you on the second business day following posting (if within the Channel Islands or United Kingdom), or the fifth business day following posting (if elsewhere). Any document sent by recorded delivery will be deemed received on the date recorded.

Remuneration

Payment for the provision of our services will be received as either a commission from the insurer or as a fee, or a combination of the two.

Payment of premiums and fees and return payments

Premiums and fees are payable immediately they fall due and before cover commences, unless arranged with our prior agreement. Failure to pay premiums by the due date may mean that the insurers may withdraw cover without further notice. Any charges for payments made by BACS or similar will be your responsibility, and we reserve the right to reclaim such charges from you where appropriate. PIBL reserves the right to charge administration fees. Such fees will be clearly identified to you and may take into account circumstances where instructions have been received from you to arrange insurance cover which is subsequently cancelled or withdrawn. Should you cancel any insurance policy cover before the annual renewal date or expiry then you must be aware that insurers may not be obliged to provide a refund of any unexpired premium. Furthermore, either the insurers or PIBL may be entitled to charge short-period or additional premium charges to cover administration during the period of insurance. A scale of fees and charges are available on request. PIBL reserves the right to retain all commission or fees earned if a policy is cancelled before its natural expiry date.

Insurance client monies

PIBL will act as an intermediary within the terms and regulations of the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998 and in conjunction with such business, client money will pass through the company’s Insurance Broking Trust Account established specifically for insurance intermediary business. Such transactions may be in respect of money from a client to be paid to an insurer/provider, or from an insurer / provider to a client or from a client to another specialist broker with whom PIBL may also have a business relationship. It is company policy that any interest earned on the Insurance Broking Trust Account is retained by PIBL.

Insurance intermediary located outside Jersey

Where we consider it appropriate and for your benefit, it may be appropriate for us to recommend a more localised or specialist insurer or intermediary to act and assist in the placement or provision of the insurance, for example accessing the Lloyds of London insurance market. In such cases, we will provide specific instructions to meet your insurance requirements. We are therefore obliged to inform you that: insurance money may be passed to another insurance intermediary outside Jersey, and if the money is so passed, the legal regulatory regime applying to the insurance intermediary with which the insurance money will be held will be different from that of an insurance intermediary located in Jersey and in the event of failure of the intermediary the insurance money may be treated differently than it would be if the insurance money were held by an insurance intermediary in Jersey.

Your duty to understand policy documentation

It is imperative that you read and fully understand the contents of insurance policies, cover notes, contract notes and confirmations and other correspondence you receive from us, insurance companies or insurance providers. Having read such documents, we will be happy to clarify any issues or questions that you may have regarding their contents.
We will not accept any liability whatsoever arising from a client’s failure to read and fully understand the contents of insurance policies, cover notes and other correspondence.

Call recording

We reserve the right to record calls to and from PIBL for monitoring or training purposes and take the opportunity to inform you of this in line with the Codes of Practice for General Insurance Mediation Business.

Anti-money laundering / terrorist financing / proliferation financing

We comply with all applicable Jersey anti-money laundering and terrorism laws and regulations and may seek identification and then verification of such identity, references and/or details of the source or destination of funds, as appropriate. We reserve the right to refuse to act if this information is not provided upon request.

Complaints procedure

We always aim to give the highest quality of service to our clients. However, if you should have reason to make a complaint against us, we will implement our internal complaints procedure and will endeavour to resolve the issue to your satisfaction as soon as possible. Complaints in the first instance should be made in writing to: Head of Compliance, Polygon Insurance Brokers Limited, PO Box 420, 5 Anley Street, St Helier, Jersey, JE4 OWQ.

We will acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days and wherever possible conclude the matter as soon as possible. In the event that this is not possible, we will regularly advise you of the progress of the investigation. Upon completion of any investigations we will inform you, in writing, of the reason for any decision made and any redress offered should this be felt appropriate. If you consider that our final decision does not fully address your complaint, and if you are an individual consumer or micro-enterprise, whether resident in the Channel Islands or elsewhere you can refer your concerns to the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman (CIFO). If you want to contact the CIFO about your complaint, you will need to do this within six months from the date of our final response or they may be unable to review your complaint.

In addition, you must also contact the CIFO within 6 years of the event complained about or, 2 years after you should have become aware of the cause for complaint. The complaint must relate to an act that occurred on or after 1 January 2010. You can contact the CIFO at: Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman, PO Box 114, Jersey, Channel Islands, JE4 9QG. In addition, you must also contact CIFO within 6 years of the event complained about, or 2 years after you should have become aware of the cause for complaint. The complaint must relate to an act that occurred on or after 1 January 2010. You can contact the CIFO at: Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman, PO Box 114, Jersey, Channel Islands, JE4 9QG.

Should you have a complaint against the insurance company please refer to the policy document as this will provide details on their own complaints procedure.

Applicable Law In the absence of any indication to the contrary Jersey Law will apply.

Last reviewed: January 2024

Guernsey


Polygon Insurance Brokers Limited (PIBL or the “Company”) is licensed as an insurance intermediary by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (the “GFSC”) pursuant to the Insurance Managers and Insurance Intermediaries (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 2002 (as amended, the “IMII Law”), with GFSC reference number 2272183.

PIBL is a Guernsey registered company with company number 70256 and its registered office address in Guernsey is Les Vardes House, La Charroterie, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1EL.
Services

 

As an independent insurance intermediary and after consultation with you as to your insurance cover requirements, the Company will arrange the most suitable policies of insurance for you based upon the information provided by you and current market availability. Our services also include assisting you with any changes that need to be made to your insurance policies and assisting you in the event that you need to make a claim.

Products

As a broker, we have access to a wide range of types of insurance policies from a range of providers which we can liaise with in order to arrange your insurance cover.

Expertise

Our broking staff are authorised to advise on all personal and commercial lines of insurance business other than long term insurance business (as defined in the IMII Law). Our broking staff are authorised by us to only give advice on matters in which they are competent. Where we do not offer advice, we will make you aware of this.

Instructions

Instructions may be given to us by telephone, email or in writing but in order to avoid dispute or error we would prefer to receive such confirmation in writing. We reserve the right to insist on being provided with written confirmation of instructions.

Duty of Disclosure

Contracts of insurance are contracts of utmost good faith. You are under an obligation to disclose all material facts to your insurers as it is upon this information that your insurers will assess the risk presented to them and whether they are prepared to accept that risk and, if so, on what terms and premium. It is important that you understand that any information provided or statements or answers made by you to your insurer or PIBL are your responsibility and must be accurate and correct. Your attention is particularly drawn to the importance of the declaration on any insurers’ proposal form or statement of fact, as any failure to disclose facts material to the insurance or any inaccuracies in your answers may invalidate your insurance cover in part or in whole. Facts material to the insurance are matters or information which may influence your Insurer as to the acceptability or otherwise of your proposal or renewal and must be disclosed at the earliest opportunity and certainly at each renewal date. You are advised to keep copies of documentation sent to or received from us for your own protection.

Remuneration

Payment for the provision of our services will be received as either a commission from the insurer or as a fee, or a combination of the two. Details of such remuneration can be provided to you upon request.
Payment of premiums and fees and return payments
Premiums and fees are payable immediately as they fall due and before cover commences, unless arranged with our prior agreement. Failure to pay premiums by the due date may mean that the insurers may withdraw cover without further notice. Any charges for payments made by telegraphic transfer or similar will be your responsibility and we reserve the right to reclaim such charges from you where appropriate.

Should you cancel any insurance policy cover before the annual renewal date or expiry then you must be aware that insurers may not be obliged to provide a refund of any unexpired premium. Furthermore, the insurers may be entitled to charge short-period or additional premium charges to cover administration during the period of insurance. The Company reserves the right to retain all commission or fees earned if a policy is cancelled before its natural expiry date.
The Company reserves the right to charge administration fees in certain circumstances (including without limitation where instructions have been received from you to arrange insurance cover which is subsequently cancelled or withdrawn prior to its natural expiry date) and, unless otherwise agreed with you, the Company will charge a rate of £150 per hour (excluding any applicable sales tax) for the time of each employee engaged in such administrative matter. The Company will notify you as soon as possible in advance of any such fees being incurred.

Any additional fees for consultancy or any other insurance advisory services shall be separately agreed between us in advance.

Insurance client monies

The Company will act as an intermediary within the terms and regulations of the IMII Law and in conjunction with such business, is required to follow rules prescribed by the GFSC with regards to the holding of client monies.

The Company holds client and/or insurer money in a segregated bank account. The Company may act as agents for the insurer for the collection of premiums and payment of claims and refunds of premiums. This means that any monies received as agent of the insurer, as stated in individual arrangements between ourselves and an insurer, is deemed to have been received by them if received by us and that any claims money or premium refund is treated as received by you when it is actually paid over to you. Any interest earned on client money held by us will be retained for our own use.
We will not be liable to you for any loss resulting from the failure of any bank holding client money to meet its obligations as a result of insolvency or similar default.

Payments to third parties

Where we consider it appropriate and for your benefit, it may be appropriate for us to recommend a more localised or specialist insurer or broker to act and assist in the placement or provision of the insurance, for example accessing the Lloyds of London insurance market. In such cases, we will provide specific instructions to meet your insurance requirements. Accordingly please note that insurance money may be passed to another insurance broker or settlement agent outside of Guernsey. If the money is so passed, the legal and regulatory regime applying to such insurance broker or settlement agent may be different from that of Guernsey and in the event of 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 Guernsey. Please notify us if you do not wish your money to be passed to a person in a particular jurisdiction.

Your duty to understand policy documentation

It is imperative that you read and fully understand the contents of insurance policies, cover notes, contract notes and confirmations and other correspondence you receive from us, insurance companies or insurance providers. Having read such documents, we will be happy to clarify any issues or questions that you may have regarding their contents. We will not accept any liability whatsoever arising from a client’s failure to read and fully understand the contents of insurance policies, cover notes and other correspondence. Please contact us immediately if you believe any contents are incorrect.

Selection of insurance

We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs, this will include the type of cover you seek together with the costs. Any failure to disclose material or accurate facts to us will hinder our ability to advise on the suitability of insurance products for your specific needs.

Prior to placement of your cover(s) we will inform you of the basis of our market selection and where a fair analysis has not been undertaken. Please note that we are not under a contractual obligation to conduct business exclusively with one or more insurance undertakings although on some occasions we may offer cover from only one market but you do have the right to request a list of the insurance undertakings with whom we may and do conduct business
Our service includes arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your requirements and helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make. To assess the insurance product that most suits your needs, we may use another intermediary to help place your business and we will inform you when this is the case. We will also advise you of any inability to place your insurance.

Call recording

We reserve the right to record calls to and from the Company for monitoring or training purposes and retain such recordings in line with our regulatory obligations.

Anti-money laundering / terrorist financing

In order to comply with any applicable Guernsey anti-money laundering /terrorist financing laws and regulations we may seek identification and then verification of such identity, references and/or details of the source or destination of funds, as appropriate. We reserve the right to refuse to act if this information is not provided upon request.

Group Companies

We are part of the Polygon Group Limited group of companies (known as the “Polygon Collective”) and have a separate sister company regulated for insurance brokerage business in Jersey (called Polygon Insurance Brokers Limited with Jersey registration number: 94484).
Unless otherwise agreed, you will be contracting with the Company (a Guernsey insurance intermediary entity regulated by the GFSC) under these Terms of Business.

Complaints procedure

We always aim to give the highest quality of service to our clients. However, if you should have reason to make a complaint against us, we will implement our internal complaints procedure and will endeavour to resolve the issue to your satisfaction as soon as possible. Complaints in the first instance should be made in writing to: Managing Director, Polygon Insurance Brokers Limited, Les Vardes House, La Charroterie, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1EL.
We will acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days and wherever possible conclude the matter as soon as possible. In the event that this is not possible, we will regularly advise you of the progress of the investigation. Upon completion of any investigations we will inform you, in writing, of the reason for any decision made and any redress offered should this be felt appropriate. If you consider that our final decision does not fully address your complaint, and if you are an individual consumer or micro-enterprise, whether resident in the Channel Islands or elsewhere you can refer your concerns to the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman (“CIFO”). If you want to contact the CIFO about your complaint, you will need to do this within six months from the date of our final response or they may be unable to review your complaint.

In addition, you must also contact the CIFO within 6 years of the event complained about or (if later) 2 years after you should have become aware of the cause for complaint. You can contact the CIFO at: Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman, PO Box 114, Jersey, Channel Islands, JE4 9QG, email: enquiries@ci-fo.org, Guernsey local phone: 01481 722218.

Should you have a complaint against the insurance company please refer to the policy document as this will provide details on their own complaints procedure.

Data Protection

All personal information about you will be treated as private and confidential, even when you are no longer a customer, except where the disclosure is made at your request, with your consent, in relation to arranging your insurance, or where we are required to disclose by applicable law. You hereby expressly consent to the processing of special category data for the purpose of us providing insurance services to you

To understand how we use, share and retain your data please see our privacy policy. A copy of which is available upon request

Postage – service of documents

Any letter or document shall be deemed to be served upon you if sent to your last notified address. It is your responsibility to update us of any address changes. Any letter or document sent by post shall be deemed served on you on the second business day following posting (if within the Channel Islands or United Kingdom), or the fifth business day following posting (if elsewhere). Any document sent by recorded delivery will be deemed received on the date recorded.

Liability for Directors, Officers or Employees

You acknowledge and agree not to make any claim personally against any employee, director or officer arising out of the work and services provided under these Terms of Business. This clause does not in any way limit or affect any other liability to you as set out in these Terms of Business.

Governing Law

These Terms of Business shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Island of Guernsey and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Guernsey, unless otherwise agreed in writing by us.

Updated: January 2024