The Policy is property of Skilling (Seychelles) Limited (operating under its brand name “Skilling”). The reproduction in whole or in part in any way including the reproduction in summary form, the reissue in a different manner and any changes in the original policy or any translated version (V.01) is strictly forbidden and is only allowed with the prior written consent of Skilling (Seychelles) Limited. The Policy was last updated in October 2019.

Authorized and regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) under license number SD042.

 

Introduction 

Skilling (Seychelles) Ltd (hereafter the “Company”), is responsible for providing you (hereinafter referred to as the “ Client”, “ you”, “ your”) with the efficient customer service and to treat our customers fairly. By opening a trading account with the company, we shall endeavour to review and resolve any of your concerns, feedback, comments, questions and/or expressed dissatisfaction as a matter of top-priority in accordance to the below procedures. 

Legal and Regulatory Framework

In the Policy hereto, unless otherwise clearly indicated by, or inconsistent with the context, the terms used bear the same meaning as are assigned to them in this Policy is as contemplated in the rules and the applicable legislation. Every transaction in Skilling is regulated and under supervision of the Financial Services Act, 2013 ("Act"), including their Regulations, and the Rules and Directives ("the rules and directives"), or any amendments or replacements to the Acts and/or the rules and directives, (together,” the applicable legislation") entered into by us with you or on your behalf is transacted on the specific condition that the transaction is entered into subject to the Act. In alternative jurisdictions the applicable rules and regulations will apply. 

We attempt to handle our clients’ complaints in a fair, efficient and prompt manner. The Company will observe the procedures established in this Policy and pursuant to applicable FSA laws to ensure that any complaint is effectively resolved within thirty (30) business days, depending on the facts and complex nature of the complaint received.

Definitions

“Complainant” means any person, natural or legal, who is eligible to lodge a Complaint to the Company and / or who has already lodged a Complaint.

“Complaint” or “Grievance” means a statement of dissatisfaction addressed to the Company by a Complainant relating to the provision of investment services.

1. Policy

The Company has established and maintains effective and transparent procedures for the reasonable and prompt handling of Complaints or Grievances received from retail or potential retail clients, and to keep a record of each Complaint or Grievance and the measures taken for the Complaint’s resolution. In addition, the Company is required to:

• Apply a complaints management policy, which is defined and endorsed by the Compliance Department, Senior Management and the Board of Directors, who will be responsible for its implementation and for monitoring the Company’s compliance with it.
• Ensure that it has a complaints management function, which enables Complaints to be investigated fairly and possible conflicts of interest to be identified and mitigated.

The clients’ complaints or grievances are handled by the Compliance department. We shall ensure that any complaints received are investigated fairly and possible conflicts of interest to be identified and mitigated. 

The Company’s employees shall at all times conduct themselves in a professional and ethical manner, as well as strictly follow the provisions of the present Policy when they are involved in the Company’s Client Complaints handling process. The Policy as well as any subsequent amendments are binding. 

1.2. Procedural Requirements

The procedure which shall be followed by the Company when handling clients’ Complaints or Grievances shall include but not limited to the below:

a). collect information such as the client’s name and surname, the client’s Trading Account number, the client’s address, email address and an accurate description of the issue. 

b). prepare a written acknowledgment from the Company’s Compliance Department shall be sent to the client within five (5) business days confirming receipt of the complaint and the estimated time under which the client shall be given a reply, and providing a unique reference number to the client for the specific complaint; 

c). the Compliance Department shall inform the client that he/she should use the said reference number in all future contact with the Company and/or the FSA regarding the specific complaint; 

d). In the case that the Complaint or Grievance is in a language other than English, a true translation must be obtained; 

e). The Complaint/ Client will be informed at all times by the Company in regard to the handling process of his/her complaint. In particular, the findings and proposed solutions that shall be clearly explained in written form to the client within the agreed time frame.

h). In the unlikely event that the Compliance department is unable to provide the complainant with the outcome or decision within two (2) months, it shall inform the complainant of the reasons for the delay and indicates the period of time within it is possible to complete the investigation. This period of time cannot exceed three (3) months from the submission of the complaint;  

i). The Compliance Department shall analyse complaints and complaints-handling data to ensure that they identify and address any risks or issues;

j). The Complainant/ Client, if not satisfied with the resolution of the Complaint, may approach the Financial Ombudsman of the Republic of Seychelles or the International Arbitration Centre or the Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”), using the assigned unique sequential reference number provided by the Company and/or the relevant Courts;

k). The member of staff, in addition to the above, should make all best efforts to ensure that in the case of the Complaint or Grievance being of such a nature that can be resolved immediately, to do so that the client will not have to pursue the filling of a formal Complaint. The member of staff in such a case shall not:

1. Commit him/herself in any way to the client.
2. Address any issues in relation to best execution.
3. Address any issues relating to legal issues.
4. Commit the Company in taking any action prior to examining the issues in a formal manner.

1.3. Acknowledgement of Client’s Complaint

a). Within four (4) weeks of receipt, the Company shall send the client a final response or a holding response, which will explain why it is not yet in a position to resolve the complaint and give an indication of when further contact shall be made. In such case an answer shall be given within eight (8) weeks of receipt; during the investigation of the complaint, the Company shall inform the client of the handling process of his/ her complaint;

b). Within eight (8) weeks of receipt of the complaint, the Company shall send to the client either a final response or a response which explains why a final response cannot be given with an explanation as to why and an indication of the period of time within which the Company anticipates on providing a final response; This period of time cannot exceed three months from the submission of the complaint;

c). Upon sending the final response, the client shall be given a period of eight (8) weeks to respond. If a response is not received within eight (8) weeks, then the Company shall not be obliged to take the complaint further unless further correspondence is received from the client indicating that he/she is still dissatisfied;

d). If a Complaint is not resolved within the standard investigation period, the Company will inform the Complainant in details about causes of delay, a status of the investigation process and an expected date of completion of the investigation. 

1.4. Procedure to be followed when a formal Complaint or Grievance is received:

a). When a written Complaint or Grievance is received, this shall be forwarded to the relevant department, which is the most appropriate for dealing with the Complaint.

b). The Head of Backoffice/Operations Department and his assignee shall be responsible to contact and inform the client (or complainant) that the Complaint or Grievance has been received and it is under investigation.  

b). The events leading to the Complaint or Grievance should be examined and assessed based on  the information provided by the client.

c). The facts as stated by the client is examined and verified, to establish if any additional information needs to be retrieved from the Company’s archive (electronic mail, recorded telephone calls, IT data, etc.).

d). All non-trivial Complaints or Grievances shall be brought to the attention of Senior Management who will approve the resolution.  

e). Upon completion of the investigation a report shall be prepared stating the facts and brought to management’s attention, which will decide on the formal response to the client and the action to be taken.

f). Upon investigation completion, the Compliance Department shall inform the Complainant in writing, using plain language which is clearly understood, about the results of the investigation and actions taken to satisfy the Complainant’s demand(s) without any unnecessary delay.

In the case where a client Complaint or Grievance is valid, the management shall take such necessary action together with the Head of Department(s) to which the Complaint or Grievance is related, in order to identify and verify: (1) Reasons for failure to follow procedure; (2) Weaknesses of the internal controls; and (3) Implementation of internal controls to prevent any Complaint or Grievance in the future.

The Management body shall be responsible for approving all procedures at the meeting following the completion of the investigation.

The abovementioned procedure shall be disclosed in summarised form to the Complainant through the Agreement which is signed for the provision of investment services.

1.5. Complaints on an Ongoing basis

The Company undertakes to analyse, on an ongoing basis, complaints-handling data, to ensure that they identify and address any recurring or systemic problems, and potential legal and operational risks, for example by:

• Analysing the causes of individual Complaints so as to identify root causes common to types of Complaints;
• Considering whether such root causes also affect other processes or financial means, including those not directly complained of; and
• Correcting, where reasonable to do so, such root causes.
• All aspects of the Complaint must be investigated irrespective of whether they will be upheld or not. 

 

The analysis of each Complaint performed by the Compliance Officer shall take into account all risks that may arise during the provision of Relevant Activities by the Company. Depending on their seriousness / impact, Complaints are classified as Serious complaint or Regular complaints.

 

Complaints are considered to have the highest priority and examined with maximum attention and urgency. Complaints may be resolved by means of an explanation or an apology, or even financial compensation. 

1.6. Registration of Complaints Received  

Complaints received from retail clients or professional clients are registered in the Company’s Internal Complaints Register, which is managed and controlled by the Compliance Officer.  

The Compliance Department, or her/his designee, shall maintain a central record of all Complaints that includes the information regarding the particulars of the clients, the type and description of complaint. 

 

The Company shall assign a unique registration number to each Complaint and is enclosed to the record of the Client’s Complaint in the Complaints Register. 

 

The registration of each Complaint received shall be performed no later than one (1) business day following the date of receipt, and the access to the Complaints Register should be restricted to authorised employees only. 

1.7. Submission of Complaint to the Company 

A Complainant shall complete and sign the Complaint Form provided by the Company, made available on the Company Website. Once completed, it should be sent either: 

• as a hard copy along with a copy of the Complainant's identification document and any additional documentation that would be relevant to the Complaint, to the Company’s registered office at _______; or 
• by e-mail to Compliance@skilling.com

 

“Any specific complaints made by a client via telephone, email, fax and/or written letter will be recorded by the Company for monitoring and regulatory purposes. Note that your complaint will be given a unique reference number which will also be communicated to our Regulator (“FSA”). It is the Client’s responsibility to inform and/or report to the Company about any dissatisfactory services and/or decision before further contacting the Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”)” or other Authorities.

1.8. Reporting and Accountability to FSA

The Company is required by law to provide to the Commission information regarding the Complaints it receives. 

We will be required by law to submit a Report to FSA of whether or/ not the Company has received any complaints from its clients.

1.9. Record-keeping of Complaints or Grievances received

The responsible department for the record keeping of Complaints or Grievances received is the Compliance Department. In particular, the Compliance Department will maintain records of each Complaint and the measures taken for the Complaints resolution.

This obligation applies irrespective of whether the complaint involves an allegation of financial loss or material distress or inconvenience, and irrespective of whether they are resolved.

The Compliance officer, or her designee(s), will ensure  that records of each complaint and the measures taken for the complaint’s resolution (including all communication with the clients) are stored correctly. Records shall be stored in a medium so that they are readily accessible and available to clients on request, and such records shall be presented in the same language(s) as that used to provide investment services to clients. 

1.12. Policy Review

The Company must analyse on an on-going basis the Complaints-handling related data in order to identify common issues arising from various types of Complaints, to identify systemic deficiencies as well as to understand whether such root causes affect other processes or financial means so as to initiate appropriate actions to make the Complaints redressal mechanisms more efficient and effective.  

The Company’s Policy is assessed and periodically reviewed, at least on an annual basis, or more frequently, should the need arise and any amendments to this Policy shall be approved by the Company’s Board of Directors, the client shall be notified in writing of the nature of the changes deemed appropriate by law, and the revised Policy will be available on the Company’s Website.