Elective Professional Clients
According to the applicable regulations in the UK, for the purposes of providing services to you, Stake will categorise and treat you as a “retail client” as defined by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom. Retail clients are given the highest level of investor protection.
Due to regulations, certain instruments offered by Stake, classified as "Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products" ("PRIIPS") such as US Exchange Traded Funds ("ETFs") cannot be offered to UK retail clients without the provision of a Key Information Document ("KID"). This restriction means that only ‘Professional or Elective Professional Clients" (i.e non-retail customers) that meet certain criteria can invest in US ETFs.
Information on the procedure for reclassification from retail to ‘Elective Professional’ Client
Upon client's request, Stake is allowed to reclassify a retail client to an elective professional client. Before doing so, Stake needs to undertake an adequate assessment of the expertise, experience and knowledge of the client that gives reasonable assurance that the client is capable of making their own investment decisions and understand the risks involved.
In the course of that assessment, at least two out of the following three criteria must be satisfied.
You have carried out transactions, in significant size, on the relevant market (e.g. stocks, ETFs, or similar products in a Stake or another brokerage or share dealing account) at an average frequency of 10 per quarter over the previous four quarters;
The size of your financial instrument portfolio, defined as including cash deposits and financial instruments, exceeds EUR 500,000;
You work or have worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position, which requires knowledge of the products you trade in or want to trade in.
Documentary evidence must be provided to confirm your responses to the above.
Once your request for such reclassification is received, additional information will be sent to you for your review. You must read carefully and confirm that you understand all the information and warnings provided by us as in general, elective professional clients are afforded with a lower level of investor protection and may be treated differently than retail clients. Detailed information on this will be included in the documentation that will be provided.
It is clarified that Stake has the right to reject such requests at its absolute discretion. For further information on the Elective Professional categorisation, please contact us at support@hellostake.com.