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Important information about your Smart Investor relationship

Hi, I’m Clare Francis.

We know we send you lots of information to read and it might feel like it’s complicated stuff that you perhaps don’t need to know.

But we’ve created some easy-to-read reference guides that give you important information about our services and products.

They will help you to understand the ins and outs of your relationship with Barclays and also what your rights are.

But if you have any questions then we’re always on hand to help.

An overview of the key documents you may receive

Account opening

  • Your Application Form(s), which gives us the mandate to provide you with our Smart Investor services.
  • Your Welcome Letter, which includes key information on the breakdown of our costs and charges.
  • The Smart Investor Terms, which are legal terms governing the provision of the Smart Investor services.
  • Best Execution Policy [PDF, 1.3MB] sets out how we arrange and execute transactions for you.
  • Data Privacy Notice on how we collect, hold and process personal data.

Account literature

Browse Smart Investor for explanatory information on topics including:

How to use Smart Investor

Our homepage sets out how you can set up an account, and choose and manage your investments. You can also find out how to get our app.

Fee and charges tariffs

You can find up to date information on our costs here.

Communications

  • Reports, contract notes and statements will be periodically sent to you to keep you updated on your accounts.
  • Notices of any material changes to the way that we provide our services.
  • Marketing or other information if there are products or services we think might interest you and if you have agreed to receive this from us.
  • Accessibility Statement on adjustments we can make to meet any needs you may have.

Frequently asked questions

Summary of other key terms

  • Services

    Topic

    Summary

    Learn more

    Execution-only dealing service

    (Barclays Investment Solutions)

    We will execute and arrange settlement in transactions for you when you instruct us to do so. We do not advise you on transactions, i.e., we do not provide you with any personal recommendations based on your personal circumstances.

    As we provide execution-only services:

    • We do not have to ensure that the transaction is suitable for you.
    • You should ensure you have appropriate information to enable you to make your own independent assessment of each order and transaction.
    • We are not liable for any losses you suffer as a result of relying on any representations, tools, or information you receive from us, because these are not recommendations or advice.

    We will sometimes need to obtain certain information from you to ensure you have the necessary experience and knowledge to understand the risks involved in relation to the product or investment services which you are seeking from us. This is only applicable for complex products, such as leveraged funds.

    Smart Investor Terms page 15

    How we provide our execution-only service

    (Barclays Investment Solutions)

    You can only give us instructions to execute orders which relate to investments available through your account. You cannot tell us to sell any assets that you do not own.

    When we execute transactions for you, we will act in line with our Best Execution Policy, which you can find on our website here. We may deal with other investment firms to carry out your instructions in line with our Best Execution Policy. We may not be able to obtain the best price or result that would otherwise be available to you where you give us specific dealing instructions.

    We will not act on your instruction if there is not enough cash or assets in your account. If you are unable to settle in full within the relevant settlement cycle (two working days for most UK securities), we can:

    • If practicable, not execute the transaction
    • Settle the transaction on your behalf at our expense and recover that expense from you
    • Sell the investments for which settlement is outstanding to recover any shortfall, and
    • Sell your other assets to recover any shortfall.

    Smart Investor Terms page 16

    Types of orders you can place

    (Barclays Investment Solutions)

    These are some of the different types of orders you can place with us through your account:

    • Regular investment order: An order to purchase a particular security on one or a number of pre-defined dates in a month. You can specify how much you want to purchase, based on a percentage of the amount of cash in your account, or give us a specific value.
    • At best order: An order to buy or sell a security at the best price available to us in the relevant market for the size of your order at the time we deal it. At best orders guarantee execution for the entire size of the order where there is a willing counterparty but does not guarantee the price at which your order is dealt at.
    • Fund order: This is the same as an at best order, except it is an order to buy or sell a fund (otherwise known as an open-ended investment company). We place the order with the managers of the fund, rather than on a market or exchange.
    • Quote & Deal order: An order to buy or sell a security at a specified price we make available to you while the market is open. This type of order guarantees execution and dealing at the specified price, if there is a willing counterparty.
    • Limit order: An order to buy or sell a security when you set the threshold price (i.e. A price ceiling when buying and a price floor when selling). We will only execute the order if the conditions set by you are met. You can find more detailed information in the Account Literature.

    Smart Investor Terms page 17

    Custody services

    (Barclays Investment Solutions)

    Where we hold your assets in custody, we’ll keep your assets separate from ours. We’ll maintain records that show that the assets we’re holding belong to you so that investments can be traced back to you if we become insolvent.

    We may appoint other members of the Barclays Group or third parties to hold your assets, including sub-custodians and nominee companies.

    Assets held with third parties will usually be held in a “pooled” account (i.e. together with the assets for all our clients). If there are not sufficient assets held in these accounts (e.g. because of insolvency of the third party), you may have to share in the shortfall with other clients of ours. It may be possible for you to have your assets in an individually segregated account, but you may have to pay extra for this.

    Smart Investor Terms page 22-23

    Investment ISA

    (Barclays Investment Solutions)

    If you have opened an Investment ISA, Barclays Investment Solutions will act as your ISA manager.

    You can open and subscribe to an Investment ISA if you are:

    • A tax resident in the UK and aged 18 or over, or
    • Married to, or in a civil partnership with a Crown Employee working outside the UK.

    You must tell us immediately if you are no longer eligible for an Investment ISA. Subscriptions by you to the Investment ISA may not exceed the maximum subscription limit permitted by the prevailing ISA regulations in any tax year. We can tell you what the maximum subscription limit is.

    Smart Investor Terms page 26 - 27

    Investment Saver Account

    (Barclays Bank UK)

    Barclays Bank UK may hold your cash on deposit in an Investment Saver Account. The Investment Saver Account is used for holding cash that is not committed to investment transactions you are making through your Investment Account with Barclays Investment Solutions. The Investment Saver Account is part of the Smart Investor service. It does not offer normal daily banking facilities, such as payment cards, direct debits, or third-party payments.

    You have given Barclays Investment Solutions authority to pass on instructions you give to Barclays Bank UK, where the instructions relate to managing your Investment Saver Account. Barclays Bank UK will accept instructions given by Barclays Investment Solutions on your behalf.

    Smart Investor Terms page 28 - 30

    Joint accounts

    We will not act on instructions from any one joint account holder to register shares in a single name, change the account address details or to close an account. In these situations, all joint account holders must give instructions.

    • Where you and at least another person are joint account holders, you’re each responsible for the money owed to us (unless we agree otherwise in writing).
    • Any of you can give us instructions, for example: sell assets, withdraw assets, or close an account.
    • If we think there’s a dispute or conflict of interest between joint account holders, we’ll ask for individual instructions from each of you.
    • We’ll send the information about the account to the person named first on the account, unless you request differently. Any of you can receive notices from us on behalf of the other account holders.
    • You can ask us to remove someone from a joint account, or convert the account to a sole-person account. We might need permission from all the account holders to be able to do either of those options.
    • If a joint account holder dies, the other joint account holder(s) can continue using the account. The money is not part of the deceased person’s estate. However, we may have to act on the instructions of the deceased person’s personal representative or liquidator.

    Smart Investor Terms page 7

    Cancelling the service or product

    If you change your mind, you may cancel a service / product contract with us within 14 calendar days (subject to exceptions). This right to cancel applies to your Investment Account, Investment ISA, and Investment Saver Account separately.

    The cancellation period starts:

    • On the date on which we agree to provide that service / product, or
    • If later, the date that you receive the terms.

    You can send us instructions to cancel a product or service in the usual way that you provide us with instructions. We will not charge you any fees for cancelling a service / product, but you will bear any costs, if we have carried out transactions on your behalf during the cancellation period.

    Smart Investor Terms page 6

  • Rates and Fees

    Topic

    Summary

    Learn more

    Costs and charges

    We’ll give you the information on costs and charges (for example fees, commissions, debit interest) both before and after we provide you with services or products.

    Please see the Account Literature section for where to find the latest copy of this information. We may also agree with you separate costs and charges in writing from time-to-time.

    You must pay any costs and charges you incur. We’ll tell you in advance if we are going to increase those costs and charges.

    Smart Investor Terms page 9

  • Protections

    Topic

    Summary

    Learn more

    Notifying you of changes to our agreement

    We may sometimes make changes to our products and services which we need to give you notice about. We will usually give you 30 calendar days’ notice of this.

    When we give you notice of a change, we’ll tell you the date the change comes into effect. We’ll assume you accept the change, if within the notice period you haven’t told us that you want to:

    • Close your account, or
    • End the service.

    If you don’t want to accept the change and want to end our agreement and close the account, or end the service, you must tell us before the date on which the change will happen. If you close your account for this reason, we will not charge you termination fees.

    We don’t have to give you notice of changes to our agreement if the change benefits you, or if it is as a result of regulatory requirements.

    Smart Investor Terms page 10

    In the event of your death

    In the case of your death, your estate will still be bound by our legal agreements until it’s ended by your personal representative, or we give notice to your personal representative that it’ll end. Your relatives or personal representative should get in touch with us and we will guide you through what the next steps are.

    Smart Investor Terms page 8

    Security that we take

    We may retain your assets as security if you owe us money. This is order to:

    • Settle any of your transactions, or
    • Pay any of your outstanding liabilities from transactions.

    We’ll contact you if we plan on selling your assets, unless it’s not possible to do so. We’ll tell you which assets we plan to sell.

    We (or another Barclays Group member) can take these steps in relation to your assets, if we reasonably believe that you won’t be able to settle your transactions or pay your outstanding liabilities.

    Smart Investor Terms page 12

    Set-off rights: If you owe us money and we owe you money

    A “set-off right” is where we pay you the difference between the amount you owe us and the amount we (including Barclays Group companies) owe you.

    We may use these rights if we think you’ll be unable to pay us when the amount you owe us is due.

    If we think you will do something to prevent us from using our set-off right, we can use it without telling you in advance.

    Smart Investor Terms page 12

    Our liability to you

    We’re not responsible for your losses while using our products or services, unless:

    • It’d be unlawful for us not to be liable for the loss, or
    • The loss was directly caused by our negligence, wilful default, or fraud.

    Smart Investor Terms page 10

    Tax advice

    We’re not legal or tax advisors, and we don’t provide legal and/or tax advice. You should get your own independent legal and/or tax advice for your own circumstances. Any information we provide cannot substitute independent advice.

    You confirm that you’re in compliance with all tax declarations and reporting obligations for the assets held in your Account, and any income or gains you receive from them.

    You must tell us if you are subject to tax or reporting in another country or jurisdiction where we are required by applicable law to report information about your accounts or assets on an ongoing basis.

    Smart Investor Terms page 9-10

    Keeping your personal data safe

    How we collect and process your personal data is set out in our privacy notices. We may share your personal data with Barclays Group companies to onboard you and provide you with the relevant products or services.

    The data that’s shared may include:

    • Checks for the purposes of security, detecting and preventing fraud and money laundering,
    • Verifying your identity, and
    • Conducting sanctions checks.

    Smart Investor Terms page 31

  • Closing the account

    Topic

    Summary

    Learn more

    You want to end the relationship

    You can normally end your relationship with us, or any service or any product, at any time.

    You can give notice in the same manner that you give us instructions. You have to allow us enough time to:

    • Execute an order to sell all your investments held in your Investment Account and pay you the proceeds of sale; or
    • Transfer your investments to another provider of investment services that can accept the investments held in your Investment Account.

    Smart Investor Terms page 13

    We decide to end the relationship

    We’ll give you 30 calendar days’ written notice if we decide to end the relationship or end a product or service.

    A notice can be sent by post or electronically, including a notice sent with a statement.

    If we think that you’ve broken the terms of our agreement, we can end the relationship immediately and close your account. This might happen if you:

    • Give us any false information
    • Inappropriately authorise a person to give instructions on your account
    • Fail to comply with the terms of any transaction
    • Breach dealing limits
    • Try to use your account illegally for market abuse or for criminal activity, or you let someone else do this
    • Behave in a threatening or abusive manner to our staff
    • Become bankrupt, or
    • Put us in a position where we might break a law, regulation, code, or other duty that applies to us, or we might be open to action or censure from a governmental entity.

    We can also close an account or stop a service if you’re not eligible for it.

    Smart Investor Terms page 13

    The end of the relationship

    Once your account closes or a service or product ends, any related benefits that we provide will also end.

    If you ask us to close your Investment Account so that you do not have any remaining Investment Accounts with us, we will also need to close your Investment Saver Account.

    On the date an account closes or a service or product ends, you’ll pay:

    • Fees that are due on that date
    • Any of our reasonable expenses from closing an account or ending the service or product, and
    • Any losses we incur as a result.

    Smart Investor Terms page 13

    What happens to your assets when you close your Investment Account

    Your assets include your investments and any uninvested cash. If you close your Investment Account, you need to tell us if you’d like your assets:

    • Transferred to another service provider
    • Registered in your own name, or
    • Sold.

    If you do not tell us what you’d like to do with your assets, we’ll try to contact you and we’ll try to return your assets to you.

    If you have not told us what you’d like to do with your assets, or if we close, or transfer a business, we can sell your assets and send you the money from the sale.

    If we cannot transfer your investments and you cannot sell them, Barclays Investment Solutions will hold the investments in custody for you. You’ll be charged a fee for this, but we’ll not do anything else but hold the investments for you.

    Smart Investor Terms page 13

More information

Contact us

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

  • Telephone: 0800 279 3667 (toll free)
  • Visit the Contact Us page for more ways to get in touch

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Get started in minutes and secure your annual allowance with a debit card, a monthly Direct Debit or by moving money from your Barclays account. There’s no charge to hold cash if you need some time to decide where to invest. 

You can also transfer an existing ISA1 to benefit from our award-winning ISA service.2

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