Conflicts of Interest Policy

As required by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), OhentPay maintains and operates effective organisational and administrative arrangements, taking all appropriate steps to prevent a conflict from adversely affecting the interests of its customers. To support a consistent approach, the firm has put in place a formal conflicts of interest policy to ensure that the interests of its customers are protected.

The FCA considers the identification and management of conflicts of interest to be of utmost importance to the integrity and effective management of a firm. FCA Principle for Business focuses on this: “A firm must manage conflicts of interest fairly, both between itself and its customers and between a customer and another client”.

Conflicts of interest are described by the FCA as: “cases where there is a conflict between the interests of the firm or certain persons connected to the firm or the firm’s group and the duty the firm owes to a client; or between the differing interests of two or more of its clients, to whom the firm owes in each case a duty”.

For OhentPay, this means that all reasonable steps should be taken to identify and manage:

• a conflict between the interests of OhentPay – including managers, employees or any person directly or indirectly linked to the firm
• a conflict of interest between two or more customers. All OhentPay staff members are required to comply with the requirements of this policy.

Regulatory requirement

This policy is written in compliance with FCA rules and guidance, specifically those in SYSC 10.

Requirements of the policy

OhentPay conflicts of interest policy

The firm will identify circumstances which may give rise to conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest and will establish and maintain appropriate mechanisms and systems to manage those conflicts.

If the arrangements made by the firm are insufficient to prevent the risk of damage to the interests of a customer, the firm will disclose the nature and source of the conflict and the steps taken to mitigate any risks to the customer before undertaking business for the customer. The disclosure will be made in a durable medium, containing a specific description of the conflicts of interest and sufficient detail to enable the customer to make an informed decision concerning the service offered. In the event of a situation whereby OhentPay was unable to effectively prevent the damage to the interests of the customer by disclosing the conflict of interest, the firm may consider declining to act for the customer.

If a conflict is identified during business, the firm will disclose the nature and source of the conflict to the customer. The circumstances under which a disclosure is made will be considered on a case-by-case basis with agreement from relevant senior management.

Identifying conflicts of interest

In the course of business, conflicts of interest that may arise could include:

• making a financial gain or avoiding a financial loss at the expense of the firm’s customers
• OhentPay holds an interest in the outcome of a service provided to a customer, or a transaction carried out on behalf of a customer, which is different from the customer’s interest in the outcome
• accepting gifts, hospitality, or an inducement which would be considered to affect the integrity of employees and conflict with the interests of customers
• the use of confidential customer or business information in a way which would be detrimental to the interests of our customers
• ineffective segregation of duties within business areas which leads to a conflict of interest between business areas and customers;
• the OhentPay remuneration structure encourages employees to behave in a manner which would be detrimental to the interests of customers and is not consistent with ensuring good outcomes;
• employees entering into employment or personal interests outside of OhentPay that conflict with the interests of the firm or its customers

Managing conflicts of interest

OhentPay management is required by the FCA to establish and maintain effective procedures to identify potential conflicts and to prevent them from creating the risk of damage to customers’ interests. The systems and controls OhentPay has implemented to manage these conflicts are summarised below, however, this is not an exhaustive list. The controls are considered to be appropriate to effectively manage any potential conflicts and ensure that the risk to the interest of customers is mitigated.

• Policies and procedures
  OhentPay has established robust policies and procedures to manage potential conflicts of interest. The embedding of these procedures is the responsibility of senior management and is communicated to employees via policy and individual training. Processes are subject to regular review by the Compliance Team.
• Personal account dealing
  These policies prohibit all staff from engaging in activities that may give rise to a conflict of interest or that may amount to market abuse.
• Inducements, Gifts and Hospitality
  A conflict of interest could arise when the firm provides or receives a gift, hospitality or an inducement in the form of fees and commissions. OhentPay employees must not accept or provide any gifts, hospitality or inducement unless it is compliant with the FCA requirements and does not give rise to a conflict.
• Director conflicts
  Under the Companies Act 2006, directors – both executive and non-executives of OhentPay are required to avoid situations in which they have or could have, an interest that conflicts, or possibly may conflict, with the interests of the firm. This applies in particular to an interest in any property, information or opportunity. To comply with this, directors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest, including the nature and extent of any interests that they have in any existing or proposed transactions or arrangements with the firm.
• External employment and personal interests
  OhentPay employees may have an outside business interest, employment, directorship or significant shareholding with an entity whose interests conflict with their role at OhentPay, its business interests and the interests of its customers. OhentPay employees are required to disclose any paid employment outside the firm and to apply for permission from the director of their business area before taking up external appointments.
• Segregation of duties
  A conflict of interest may occur where business areas with differing purposes are not managed appropriately. To mitigate this risk, OhentPay would identify areas where potential conflicts may arise and business areas are segregated by duties and subject to independent management.
• Development of products
  A conflict may arise where the development of a new product takes precedence over the running of existing products, is not in line with the current strategy or target market, and may adversely affect the end customer, or existing customers.
• Promotion of OhentPay products
  A conflict of interest may arise between the interests of OhentPay and those of its customers if OhentPay were to develop a product bias in promoting its products. Any material used in the promotion of OhentPay’s product is subject to a robust review process by marketing and Compliance to ensure that this is managed.
• Third-party relationships
  A conflict may arise due to the need to achieve value for money with third-party providers, and the best interests of the customers. This is managed with a robust due diligence and third-party selection process.
• OhentPay Investments
  A conflict may arise when OhentPay seeks to invest in a company where a director or non-executive holds shares. Any investment to be made by the firm must follow a standard investment research process and be subject to challenge via a robust investment governance process. All shares and personal dealings must be disclosed by OhentPay staff.
• Access to personal or associate information
  A conflict may arise when a member of staff has access to a system which includes data about themselves, a family member, or an associate. This is managed via Information Technology controls. Additionally, members of staff are not permitted to edit information on a personal OhentPay account, or access information on family members or associates, unless this is required for business purposes.

Reporting of conflicts of interests

When a conflict of interest or potential conflict is identified and cannot be prevented or managed appropriately, it must be reported to the Compliance team. It is the responsibility of all OhentPay staff members to identify and report potential conflicts of interest.

Monitoring

Adherence to the policy will be reviewed by the Compliance team annually.

Breaching the policy

Any members of staff who fail to comply with the requirements within this policy may be subject to further action.

Ownership and review of the policy

This policy is owned by the management team. They are reviewed as often as necessary, and at least on an annual basis, and changes are circulated to the OhentPay management team.