FINSA / Regulatory Information

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התחלה ROC מדוע עלינו שירותי כוונון משפטי / FINSA

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FINSA / REGULATORY CLIENT INFORMATION

INTROCUCTION

At the beginning of 2020, the new Financial Service Act (FINSA) and the new Financial Institutions Act (FINIA), including the implementing ordinances, came into force in Switzerland.

The Swiss Financial Services Act (FINSA) aims to strengthen investor protection and to create comparable standards for financial service providers. Where necessary, ROC Investment Ltd. (hereinafter "ROC") will supplement its existing processes with FINSA requirements. The FINSA must be fully implemented by the end of 2021.

For the purpose of an overview, we summarize the most important information on the FINSA and FINIA for you below.

If you would like to learn more about the FINSA and how we implement the following requirements and aspects, please read our brochure “Client Information FINSA”, which you can obtain via email from ROC or download via the following link: Brochure “Client Information FINSA” (PDF, 200KB)

FIELD OF ACTIVITY, CONTACT INFOS AND SUPERVISORY-/ APPROVAL STATUS

ROC is an independent Swiss asset management company according to Art. 2 para 1 let. A FINIA (Financial Institutions Act). Our core business is Asset or Wealth Management and complementary services such as “Execution-Only”. Below is our contact information:

ROC Investment Ltd., Rämistrasse 31, 8001 Zurich
+41 (0)44 209 15 55, info@rocinvestment.ch, www.rocinvestment.ch

ROC is supervised by the following Swiss supervisory organization: AOOS, Schweizerische Aktiengesellschaft für Aufsicht (www.aoos.ch), Clausiusstrasse 50, 8006 Zurich. AOOS is a Swiss supervisory organization for asset managers authorized and regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA in Bern (www.finma.ch) in accordance with the Financial Market Supervision Act.

Until now, ROC was licensed as an independent asset manager by the industry association VSV Verband Schweizerischer Vermögensverwalter (www.vsv-asg.ch). Since November 2020, ROC is affiliated to and supervised by the above mentioned supervisory organization AOOS. According to the new Financial Institutions Act (FINIG), asset managers are also subject to a new licensing requirement. By the end of 2022, all asset managers and other financial intermediaries must submit a license application to FINMA. ROC submitted this mandatory application to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA in mid-2022.

At the end of October 2022, FINMA granted ROC Investment AG a license as asset manager pursuant to Art. 2 para. 1 lit. a FINIG based on the positive audit result.

CONSIDERED MARKET OFFER / INVESTMENT UNIVERSE

With a high proportion of Swiss francs and investments in Swiss equities, we underline our investment approach with a clear Swiss focus. With the exception of very specific investment products, we use funds and structured products very cautiously. Whenever possible and reasonable, we prefer to invest directly in equities and bonds. The asset classes and financial instruments used can be seen in Appendix 1 of our asset management agreement.

The market offering considered when selecting investment products (e.g. units of collective investment schemes or structured products) exclusively comprises financial instruments from carefully selected external product providers. In order to avoid conflicts of interest, ROC completely refrains from manufacturing its own investment products. Furthermore, ROC is in no way bound to the products of any institution or partner and is therefore in the privileged position to select the best financial instruments from the entire universe of investment products of carefully selected fund providers.

SUITABILITY ASSESSMENT

In the case of asset management mandates, ROC must assess or verify whether the investment strategy requested by the client is suitable for him, considering his risk capacity and willingness.

In the case of Execution-Only Mandates, ROC does not undertake an assessment of the appropriateness and suitability of the financial instruments acquired by the client. The client acknowledges that the asset manager will inform him only once about the non-performance of the appropriateness and suitability check.

CLIENT SEGMENTATION

Client segmentation in accordance with the Swiss Financial Service Act (FINSA) serves to ensure a level of protection appropriate to the client. Based on your knowledge and experience with financial instruments and/or your financial situation, your are classified as either a private client or a professional client.

Private clients receive the highest level of investor protection as well as more comprehensive information on risks, product features and advice. Professional clients have less investor protection. Due to their knowledge, experience and ability to bear the investment risk of financial services or transactions, professional clients are considered knowledgeable investors. For this reason, they are given access to a larger investment universe.

The classification is explained to the client by means of the ROC form “Client Segmentation (FINSA)” and subsequently documented.

RISK INFORMATION

Investments in financial instruments (for example, shares, bonds, funds, structured products) offer opportunities, but also entail risks. It is important that clients understand the risks of financial instruments and the services offered by ROC. The brochure "Risks in Trading with Financial Instruments" published by the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) contains general information on typical financial services as well as on financial instruments and the associated risks.

The brochure "Risks in trading with financial instruments" can be downloaded here (PDF, 1 MB) or obtained from ROC.

Further risk information regarding the asset management and execution-only services offered by ROC can be found in the above-mentioned brochure “Client Information FINSA”.

BEST EXECUTION PRINCIPLES

When we execute investment transactions, we always aim to achieve the best possible result for you in terms of financial, timing and quality. To execute our transactions, we engage our carefully selected custodian banks in Zurich (99% of trades) and a bond specialist broker in Geneva (1% trades, bonds only), all of which are regulated and supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA and thus provide assurance of overall best execution in terms of price, timing and quantity ("best execution").

ROC is neither owned nor controlled by any third party shareholders. ROC is exclusively owned and managed by its operating partners. In the selection of custodian banks, brokers and also investment product providers (third parties) we are therefore absolutely independent and are not bound by any exclusivity obligations. Any pecuniary advantages (retrocessions, etc.) received from third parties are passed on in full to our clients. We regularly check the quality and reliability of these third parties.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Already at the time of its foundation in 2012, ROC took various organizational measures (no retrocessions or passing on of retrocessions, no own investment products, no third party shareholders and participations) with the aim to exclude the most important conflicts of interest found in the financial industry and thus to focus its service solely on the interests or investment success of its clients. See also our best execution policy above.

In order to identify other potential conflicts of interest, which may exist despite the above measures, and to prevent them from having a detrimental effect on the customer, ROC has taken additional precautions and issued rules (Internal Directive defining independent controls and processes).

If the measures taken cannot prevent disadvantages for clients or can do so only with disproportionate effort, ROC discloses the conflict of interest in an appropriate manner.

COMPENSATION BY OR TO THIRD PARTIES

Third-party refunds are fees paid by banks, brokers or investment product providers to asset managers based on trading volumes or product portfolios. Accepting such fees may create incentives and conflicts of interest that negatively impact their investment behaviour.

ROC rejects all types of such compensation - also known as "retrocessions" or "retros" - or passes them on in full to its clients. In most cases, however, ROC invests in "retro-free" financial instruments. Our financial compensation is thus fully transparent and comes exclusively from our clients.

Intermediaries who refer clients to us receive a share of the management fees collected by ROC. We inform you about the amount of this possible compensation in our form “Information about FINSA and FINIA – Client Confirmation”.

HANDLING OF COMPLAINTS / OMBUDSMAN’S OFFICE

ROC accepts anytime your concerns and complaints. If a customer considers a response to be inadequate, ROC appreciates feedback so that it can reconsider the matter. If you are not satisfied with the way your concern has been answered, you can initiate a mediation process through the following Ombudsman's Office:

CONTACT DETAILS

OFS Ombud Finanzen Schweiz

16 Boulevard des Tranchées

1206 Geneva, Switzerland

+41 (0)22 808 04 51

contact@ombudfinance.ch

https://www.ombudfinance.ch