Information on Survista Financial Advisors AG
Survista Financial Advisors AG (hereinafter “Survista”) offers services in the field of asset management, investment advice, as well as ancillary and other investment services. It’s registered office is located at Stockerstrasse 12, 8002 Zurich, Switzerland. Survista is registered as a stock corporation in the Swiss Commercial Register.
As an asset manager, Survista is licensed by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA, Laupenstrasse 27, 3003 Bern) in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Financial Institutions (FINIG) and supervised by the supervisory organization “AOOS”, Clausiusstrasse 50, 8006 Zurich. The provision of financial services by Survista is subject to the provisions of the Federal Act on Financial Services (FIDLEG). Survista is affiliated with the Ombudsman’s Office OFS, Scheuchzerstrasse 44, 8006 Zürich
How can I contact Survista?
The client can communicate with Survista in german, english, French and italian. Survista can be reached at the following:
Address: Stockerstrasse 12, 8002 Zürich
Telephone: +41 44 405 28 00
Fax: +41 44 405 28 04
E-Mail: info@survista.ch
Internet: www.survista.ch
Further details on the communication between the parties are regulated individually by contract.
What are the terms and conditions of the contract?
The rights and obligations between Survista and the client in connection with the provision of financial services shall be governed by the individual service agreement. This client information serves as supplementary information.
In which categories are the clients classified?
Survista is obliged to classify the client as a retail client, professional client or eligible counterparty. The scope of the individual duties of conduct varies depending on the client segment. New clients are informed about their classification and existing clients are only informed about a change of their existing classification.
Retail Client
A retail client is considered to be one who cannot be clearly assigned as a professional client or eligible counterparty category. By being classified as a retail client, the client enjoys the highest level of protection.
Professional Client
Survista distinguishes between per se and elective professional clients. All clients defined as such by the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) are considered to be per se professional clients:
- Legal entities that must be licensed or supervised in order to operate in the financial markets (namely commodity traders and commodity derivatives traders; local investors; other institutional investors);
- Large companies;
- Regional governments;
- Other institutional investors whose principal activity is to invest in financial instruments.
Elective professional clients are retail clients who have agreed a change of client classification to professional client with Survista (see “Reclassification” below).
The level of protection for a professional client is lower than for a retail client. In particular, the duties to provide information and the duties with regard to the suitability and appropriateness tests are limited for professional clients.
Eligible Counterparty
According to MiFID II, the following clients are to be classified as eligible counterparties:
- Banks;
- Investment firms;
- Other authorised or regulated financial institutions;
- Insurance companies;
- Collective investment undertakings and their management companies;
- Pension funds and their management companies;
- National governments;
- Central banks;
- Supranational organisations.
Eligible counterparties shall enjoy the lowest level of protection. The obligations of conduct in connection with the provision of investment services are largely inapplicable to eligible counterparties. In particular, Survista does not conduct a suitability or appropriateness test under any circumstances.
Reclassification
You have the following options for changing the client segmentation:
- Retail clients can request Survista to change their client segmentation to professional client. Survista may only agree to such a request if the client meets at least two of the following criteria:
- The client has conducted an average of ten significant transactions per quarter on the relevant market during the four preceding quarters;
- The client has cash and cash equivalents in excess of € 500,000;
- The client has held a professional position in the financial sector for at least one year, which requires relevant knowledge of the planned transactions or services in order to exercise it;
- (Per se) professional clients have the possibility to apply for retail client classification;
- Eligible counterparties may apply for professional client or retail client status.
Survista shall in no case be obliged to accept the client’s request to change the client segmentation.
Such a change also entails a change in the level of protection applicable to the client.
Any change in client segmentation must be accompanied by a written agreement.
The client is obliged to inform Survista of any changes that might affect his classification. If Survista realises that the client no longer meets the conditions of the of the client segment he is classified, Survista is obliged to act and adjust the client segmentation. In this case, Survista will inform the client immediately.
Which services are offered?
Asset Management
Asset management is aimed at clients who wish to entrust Survista with the discretionary management of their assets within the framework of the Survista investment policy and individually defined and written criteria (investment strategy). The investment strategy considers the knowledge and experience of the client as well as the investment objectives and financial circumstances of the client. With an asset management agreement, Survista is authorised to make investments at its own discretion in the framwork of its investment universe. The market offer taken info account may also include own products.
Investment Advisory
The investment advisory service is aimed at clients who wish to receive personal recommendations with regard to transactions in financial instruments. In contrast to asset management, the respective investment decision is always made by the client. With an investment advisory agreement, the decision-making power and thus ultimately the investment responsibility lies solely with the client. Deposits with investment advice may differ greatly in their orientation and structure from those with asset management. The market offer taken info account may also include own products.
Execution-Only (on client request in relation to mandate)
Transactions with financial instruments that are not based on an investment decision or investment recommendation of Survista, and that are carried out exclusively at the request of the client are treated by Survista as execution-only transactions. In the case of transactions with non-complex financial instruments, Survista shall neither conduct a suitability nor an appropriateness test (see below). If, on the other hand, the transactions involve complex financial instruments, only an appropriateness test is carried out.
What is meant by the suitability and appropriateness test?
The suitability and appropriateness tests by Survista are based on the information provided by the client and assumes its accuracy. If the client does not provide the requested information and data, or only provides it insufficiently, Survista is not able to provide the services to the client in an appropriate manner.
Suitability Test
In connection with investment advice or asset management, Survista must obtain various information from the client. This includes – as far as relevant – information on:
- Knowledge and experience of the client in the investment business, including: Information on the type of services, transactions and financial instruments with which the client is familiar, as well as the type, scope and frequency of transactions in financial instruments carried out by the client; in addition, educational background and occupation or previous professional activities;
- The client’s investment objectives, including: Information on the planned investment purpose, the investment horizon, the risk tolerance and the risk profile;
- the financial circumstances of the client: Information on the origin and amount of regular income, and regular obligations, total assets including liquid assets and real estate, and the ability to bear losses.
Only when this information has been obtained, is Survista able to provide the client with suitable transactions in financial instruments within the framework of asset management or make suitable investment recommendations. Only such services and financial instruments are considered suitable by Survista,
- that meet the investment objectives of the client;
- whose investment risks are financially bearable for the client;
- whose risks the client is able to understand on the basis of his knowledge and experience.
Appropriateness Test
For execution-only transactions with complex financial instruments, Survista checks whether the client has sufficient knowledge and experience to understand the risks associated with the transaction.
Presumption for Professional Clients
For professional clients (per se or elective), Survista assumes that the client has the necessary knowledge and experience.
In addition, Survista can assume for investment advisory services that per se professional clients can financially bear the risks associated with transactions in financial instruments.
Proxy Relationships and Joint Accounts
By assessing the knowledge and experience of legal persons or in the case of a power of attorney, Survista focuses on the person acting vis-à-vis Survista. If the authorised person is only collectively authorised to sign, all persons concerned must have the necessary knowledge and experience. When assessing financial circumstances and investment objectives, Survista always focuses on the account holder. In the case of an account with two or more account holders, Survista agrees with the clients relevant account holder, whose financial circumstances, investment objectives and risk capacity/willingness are taken into account.
Suitability Report
As part of the investment advisory service, Survista is also obliged to provide all retail clients with a suitability report, in principle, prior to the execution of the transaction, containing both an overview of the investment recommendations made and information on the extent to which these recommendations are suitable for the client. If the client places an order by telephone, fax, e-mail or e-banking and the prior issuance of the suitability report is not possible, Survista may send the client the report immediately after the transaction has been concluded, provided the client has agreed to the subsequent transmission and granted the client the option to postpone the transaction in order to receive the suitability report beforehand.
How are clients informed about the costs?
Ex-Ante Disclosure
Within the framework of investment advisory and asset management service, Survista is obliged to disclose to the client in advance (ex-ante) the costs and ancillary costs of the services and ancillary investment services (service costs). In addition, Survista shall disclose to the client ex-ante the costs associated with the conception and management of the financial instruments (product costs).
If such data are not available, the costs are disclosed on the basis of estimates.
In addition to the management fees individually agreed in the cooperation agreement, the product costs can be quantified in the range of approx. 0.39% – 0.45% p.a. (implementation according to model portfolio).
Ex-Post Disclosure
Survista will disclose the actual costs incurred ex-post as part of the reporting to be provided to the client, but at least annually. The ex-post information may deviate from the ex-ante disclosure.
When does the client receive a loss threshold reporting?
In the case of asset management service, the client will be informed if the total value of the relevant portfolio falls by 10% compared with the last annual report, and subsequently in 10% increments in the event of any further loss in value. Such a report shall be made as soon as possible after the threshold value has been exceeded.
How does Survista deal with client complaints?
Survista always strives to provide the best possible customer service. Should the client, nevertheless, be dissatisfied with the service provided by Survista, he has the option of submitting any complaints to the following address:
Survista Financial Advisors AG
Compliance / Complaints
Mr. Peter Gut
p.gut@survista.ch
Survista ensures that every complaint is recorded and handled efficiently. Complaints are dealt with within a reasonable time. From such complaints follows a continuous identification of the improvement potential as well as a corresponding optimisation of the processes.
Principles for dealing with conflicts of interest
Survista tries to protect and reconcile the interests of its clients, shareholders and employees. Nevertheless, conflicts of interest cannot always be completely ruled out. Conflicts of interest may arise between Survista, its employees and its clients or between the clients of Survista.
In this context, Survista has taken the following measures to deal with possible conflicts of interest:
- Creation of a compliance function within the company which is responsible for identifying, avoiding and managing possible conflicts of interest;
- Creation of organisational procedures to safeguard the interests of clients;
- Regulation on the acceptance of benefits from third parties;
- All employees with potential conflicts of interest in the course of their work are identified and required to disclose all their transactions in financial instruments;
- When executing orders [EAM] acts in accordance with its Best Execution Policy or the client’s instructions;
- Ongoing training of employees.
Conflicts of interest that cannot be avoided by these measures are disclosed to the client prior to the provision of the service.
Best Execution
The following principles apply when selecting or recommending a custodian bank by Survista or when directly executing investment decisions / client orders via brokers.
The recommendation of a custodian bank commissioned with the execution of investment decisions by Survista or the client, as well as the selection of a broker, is made considering the following criteria: costs, probability of execution and settlement of orders, speed of complete execution and settlement, security of settlement as well as the scope and type of service requested. These are weighted considering the characteristics of the client and the financial instruments concerned.
The principles do not apply to the client’s selection of the custodian bank; the client has instructed Survista to issue orders to one or more custodian bank(s) designated by him; the naming of a custodian account is already understood as the client’s instruction or selection of the custodian bank; in this case the custodian bank’s Best Execution Policy applies.
When executing execution-only orders, Survista forwards the client’s orders exclusively in accordance with the instructions contained in the client order. In doing so, Survista is released from its obligation to act in the best possible interest of the client when forwarding orders.
Status: September 2023