EU/EEA Terms of Business

We are delighted that you have considered Kota. These Terms of Business set out the basis on which Kota will provide business services to you as a client of the firm. They also contain details of our regulatory and statutory obligations and the respective duties of both the firm and you in relation to such services.If there are any material changes to these terms we will notify you.

These terms relate to insurance and pension products sold in Ireland and Europe only.

Please take a few minutes to read through our terms of business document and if you have any questions we will be happy to answer them. If you have any queries we will be happy to deal with them and you can contact us at:

Yonder Technology Limited, trading as Kota, 128 Baggot Street LowerDublin, D02 A430, Ireland

Email: [email protected]

About Kota

Yonder Technology Limited, trading as Kota, (C498552), trading as Kota, is registered with the Central Bank of Ireland as a Tied Insurance Intermediary under the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018.

Kota is a Tied Insurance Intermediary of NFP Ireland Consultants Ltd.

Kota is a member of Brokers Ireland (membership no. 202246).

NFP Ireland Consultants Ltd t/a NFP Ireland is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (C42649). NFP is an Insurance Intermediary registered under the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018 and is an Investment Intermediary authorised under the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995.

The Central Bank of Ireland holds registers of registered firms. You may contact the Central Bank of Ireland on 1890 777 777 or alternatively visit their website at www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.

Kota is subject to and complies with the Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code and the Fitness and Probity Standards as laid down by the Central Bank of Ireland. These Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank.ie

Our Services

Our principal business is to arrange transactions on behalf of clients in relation to the below products. We will offer assistance in relation to existing policies in processing changes to policies and in seeking renewal terms. We do not provide advice as part of our services.

You may opt to work with us on an execution only basis, where we do not assess your needs and do not provide options of suitable products. In this case, you will have chosen the product and the product provider, without any assistance from us.  On receipt of your instructions we will transmit orders on your behalf to the relevant product producer.

Life and Pensions:

We provide Group Life & Pension and Permanent Health Insurance products  on a limited analysis of the market and only from the below providers. 

• Ireland: Irish Life Assurance plc

General Insurance:

We can arrange products from the following product range: 

• Group Health Insurance

We provide general insurance advice on a limited analysis basis (providing services on the basis of a limited number of contracts and product producers available in the market), for whom we exclusively conduct insurance distribution business. We provide products from the following product providers:

• Ireland: Irish Life Health d.a.c 

• Europe/EEA: AWP Health & Life SA 

It is your responsibility to read the policy documents, literature and brochures to ensure that you understand the nature of the policy cover. 

We will provide assistance to you for any queries you may have in relation to the policies or in the event of a claim during the life of the policy and we will explain to you the various restrictions, conditions and exclusions attached to your policy. However, it is your responsibility to read the policy documents, literature and brochures to ensure that you understand the nature of the policy cover; particularly in relation to permanent health insurance.

Specifically on the subject of permanent health insurance policies we will explain to you;  

1. the meaning of disability as defined in the policy;

2. the benefits available under the policy;

3. the general exclusions that apply to the policy; and

4. the reductions applied to the benefit where there are disability payments from other sources.

To ensure continuity of cover, where you have an existing policy which is due to expire and where the Insurer or Kota have been unable to contact you, we may put continuing cover in force whilst awaiting your instruction. This continuing cover will be based on existing details and employee list, if you have not provided up to date information.  You will be liable for any premiums payable to the relevant insurer for the period of time between renewal and when we receive your instruction. You have the right not to avail of this service. 

Commission and Charges

Kota receives remuneration through commission from the product providers and from our platform fee.

Our schedule of fees and charges may vary. The latest version is also available on our website and you should ensure you review the latest version.

In certain circumstances we may charge you a fee or an admin charge for the services provided. If we do this, we will provide you with a written estimate of this in advance of providing any such business service and get agreement from the customer in advance.

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 which may result in you having insufficient insurance cover and/or inappropriate investments.

Conflict of Interest

It is the policy of Kota to avoid any conflict of interest when providing business services to its clients. However, where an unavoidable conflict may arise we will advise you of this in writing before proceeding to provide any business service. If you have not been advised of any such conflict you are entitled to assume that none arises.

As noted above, we are a party to a profit-share arrangement with Tailored Finance Limited as we are acting as their Tied Intermediary.

Default on payments by clients

Kota will exercise our legal rights to receive payments due to us from clients (fees and insurance premiums) for services provided. In particular, without limitation to the generality of the foregoing, the firm will seek reimbursement for all payments made to insurers on behalf of clients where the firm has acted in good faith in renewing a policy of insurance for the client.

Product producers may withdraw benefits or cover in the event of default on payments due under policies of insurance or other products arranged for you. We would refer you to policy documents or product terms for the details of such provisions.

When your policy ends or is cancelled, we will send you any documentation and information that you are entitled to on request.

Quotations

All quotations are valid on the day the quotation is offered. All quotations and cover are issued subject to acceptance by the insurer. A full copy of the insurers’ policy wording, terms and conditions is available under ‘My Documents’ in the Kota website and Mobile Application.

Money Laundering

Kota reserves the right to request any facts about you which it reasonably believes it needs to know in order to comply with the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts 2010 - 2018.

Cancellation

Either party may, at any time, cancel the policy. If you wish to cancel your policy, you must send written instructions to Kota or your insurance provider. Kota may instruct your insurers to cancel your policy. Policies can be enforced/cancelled by, but not limited to, non-payment, non-disclosure, provision of incorrect information over the phone and online or where the necessary documentation is not submitted within a required time frame. If you cancel during the first year of insurance (outside the cooling off period) short term rates apply in accordance with the terms and conditions of your insurance policy. Please note – our set up charge is non refundable.

Cooling Off Period

A consumer has the right to withdraw from an insurance policy within 14 working days of the start date of the policy without penalty and without giving any reason. If within 30 days you want to cancel your PRSA, you must sign a cancellation notice and return it with your original PRSA certificate. This is known as the cooling off period.The right of withdrawal may be exercised by notice in writing to your insurance or pension provider quoting your policy number. The right to withdraw applies provided that no claim or adjustment has been made or is intended to be made or no incident has occurred which is likely to give rise to a claim. Should this right be exercised the insurance company may charge for the period you are on cover. Please note that the policy set up charge is non refundable if you choose to withdraw from the policy within the cooling off period.

Complaints Procedure

Any complaint that you may have in relation to the services provided should be made in writing to us outlining the nature of your complaint. Any complaint (whether verbal or written) will be acknowledged within 5 days of receipt, updates will be advised at intervals of not more than 20 working days. The complaint will be fully investigated by Kota and we will endeavour to have a full response within 40 business days or sooner if possible. In the event that you remain dissatisfied with our handling and response to your complaint you can contact Yonder Technology Limited at our address and ultimately you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, 3rd Floor, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2.

Consumers: Duty of Disclosure when completing documentation for new business or renewals and midterm adjustments

You are required to answer all questions posed by us or the insurer honestly and with reasonable care – the test will be that of the ‘average consumer’.

Before renewal of the contract of insurance, specific questions will be asked. Again, you will be required to answer honestly and with reasonable care. Where you do not provide additional information (after being requested to do so) it can be presumed that the information previously provided remains unchanged.

Failure to answer all questions honestly and with reasonable care can result in the Insurer being able to rely on proportionate remedies for misrepresentation, which include but are not limited to the insurer voiding the contract of insurance. If a policy is cancelled by an insurer for any reason including payment default you may encounter difficulty in purchasing insurance in the future.

You are under a duty to pay your premium within a reasonable time, or otherwise in accordance with the terms of the contract of insurance.

A court of competent jurisdiction can reduce the pay-out to you if you are in breach of your duties under the Act, in proportion to the breach involved.

If you make a false or misleading claim in any material respect (and know it to be false or misleading or consciously disregards whether it is) the insurer is entitled to refuse to pay and to terminate the contract.

Commercial Customers: Non-Consumers Disclosure of Information

It is essential that you should bring to our attention any material alteration in risk such as changes of address or use of premises. Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void.

Investor Compensation Scheme

Kota is a member of the Investor Compensation Company Ltd (ICCL) Scheme established under the Investor Compensation Act, 1998. The legislation provided for the establishment of a compensation scheme and to the payment in certain circumstances, of compensation to certain clients of the firm (known as eligible investors) covered by the Act. However, you should be aware that a right to compensation would only arise where client 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 clients’ loss, which is recognised as being eligible for compensation, or €20,000.

Brokers Ireland Compensation Fund

We are also members of the Brokers Ireland Compensation Fund. Subject to the rules of the scheme the liabilities of its members firms up to a maximum of €100,000 per client (or €250,000 in aggregate) may be discharged by the fund on its behalf if the member firm is unable to do so, where the above detailed Investor Compensation Scheme has failed to adequately compensate any client of the member. Further details are available on request.

Data Protection

Kota is subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.

Kota is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We wish to be transparent on how we process your data and show you that we are accountable with the GDPR in relation to not only processing your data but ensuring you understand your rights as a client.

The data will be processed only in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was given and as outlined in our Data Privacy Notice, this will be given to all our clients at the time of data collection.

We will ensure that this Privacy Notice is easily accessible. Please refer to our website

Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any concerns about your personal data.