Help and support

There is one consumer principle:

“A firm must act to deliver good outcomes to retail customers” – meaning FCA-regulated firms should operate with your best interests at heart.

There are three cross-cutting rules that apply to every aspect of a firm’s conduct:

• Act in good faith towards retail customers
• Avoid causing foreseeable harm to retail customers
• Enable and support retail customers to pursue their financial objectives

There are four outcomes that firms must therefore pursue:

• Products and services
• Price and value
• Consumer understanding
• Consumer support

Putting our customers’ needs first is not a new concept to us. Our shared beliefs are at the core of everything we do at Baillie Gifford. These are the principles that guide us every day, defining our firm’s culture. They include:

• Our clients come first.
• Our firm must be an engaging and progressive place to work.
• Our actions and behaviours should support society as a whole.

You will see that they resonate with Consumer Duty strongly, especially our belief that we must put our clients’ interests ahead of our own.

The first outcome covered under consumer duty is products and services. Products and services must be fit for purpose and designed to “meet the needs, characteristics and objectives of a target group of customers and distributed appropriately”.

In other words, you should expect what we offer you to work as we have said it will and to be appropriate for your needs. Use the links provided to learn more about our products and services, including how we approve new products. You can search using different methods, including document type, fund range and investment style.

The second outcome relates to price and value. It is about safeguarding ‘fair value’ for our customers, so you only pay what is reasonable for what is being offered. It is important that our funds’ costs and charges are transparent so that you can understand the value our products provide. This helps ensure that we maintain value for everyone and allows our customers and advisers to select funds best suited to their needs.

Every year, we publish a value report for our Irish Worldwide Funds and for our UK Funds (OEICs). You may notice that there are differences in the scope of the value reports. This is because the two fund ranges are prepared according to different regulations.

The third outcome, consumer understanding, focuses on providing you with the information you need to make an informed decision. We keep consumer understanding at the forefront of the design and delivery of our communications.

Baillie Gifford produces a wealth of content describing our products and services in our literature and documents library.

We recently partnered with a third-party research company to test various retail-facing materials, including written content, podcasts, events and webinars.

We are using the feedback from these sessions to better provide our customers with useful and informative communications in an engaging format.

This testing and feedback is an ongoing process. You can share your feedback on any of the materials and forms on our website by emailing us.

If you wish to make a complaint about any of our materials or forms, please read the complaints handling procedure.

The final outcome covers consumer support. In short, we support you at all times during your relationship with us, and if your needs change, we can adapt the support we provide.

Our customer service

It is of the utmost importance to us that we treat all customers with respect and according to their needs, as this embodies our core beliefs.

We want you to fully realise the benefits of the products you invest in, pursuing your financial objectives in a way that is in your best interests.

With excellent customer service at the heart of our business, we fully embrace the consumer support outcome. We recognise the importance of adequately supporting you throughout your investment with us.

Our promise of excellent customer service applies whether you invest with us directly or indirectly through other providers. We respond to your calls and enquiries fully, quickly and efficiently.

If you call and we’re unable to answer, you’ll be directed to our in-person messaging system and we will respond to it accordingly.

Customers in vulnerable circumstances

If you find yourself in a vulnerable situation following events such as bereavement or illness then your needs may change in terms of how we interact and communicate with you, but rest assured that our Client Relations staff have received training from a range of organisations. These staff can direct you towards appropriate help and deal with your enquiries with empathy and understanding.

Accessibility

We also aim to ensure that we are as accessible as possible. For example, we can provide our literature in braille, audio or large print on request.

We have redesigned our website to be more accessible for all users, including those who are neurodivergent or have physical or sensory differences.