Client Information
Information on GIGANT SWISS CONSULTING AG
Gigant Swiss Consulting AG (hereinafter referred to as “GSC") offers asset management, investment advisory and execution-only services and has its registered office at Aeschenplatz 6, 4052 Basel. GSC is registered as a stock corporation in the Swiss Commercial Register.
GSC is licensed as an asset manager by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and is supervised by the same in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Financial Institutions (FinIA) with the involvement of [name & address supervisory organization], a supervisory organization. The provision of financial services by GSC is subject to the provisions of the Federal Act on Financial Services (FinSA).
How can I contact GSC?
The client can communicate with Gigant Swiss in the languages EN/DE/TR. Gigant Swiss can be reached as follows:
Aeschenplatz 6, CH-4052 Basel
+41 44 493 90 90
info@gigant-swiss.ch
Further details on the communication between the parties are regulated individually by contract.
What are the terms and conditions of the services provided by GSC?
The rights and obligations between GSC 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?
GSC is obliged to classify the client as a retail client, professional client or institutional client. The scope of the individual conduct duties of GSC 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 to the professional client or institutional client category. By being classified as a retail client, the client enjoys the highest level of protection.
Professional Client
Professional clients are:
- Public corporations with professional treasury;
- Pension funds and institutions which, according to their purpose, serve the purpose of occupational pension provision, with professional treasury;
- Companies with professional treasury;
- Large companies;
- Private investment structures with professional treasury for wealthy retail clients.
A professional client has a lower level of protection than a retail client. In particular, GSC may assume for a professional client that the acting persons have sufficient experience, knowledge and expertise to make investment decisions and to adequately assess the associated risks and that the risks associated with the investment decisions are financially bearable for the client.
In addition, professional clients may release GSC from applying the rules of conduct pursuant to Art. 8, 9, 15 and 16 FinSA (information, documentation and rendering of account obligations).
Institutional Clients
Institutional clients are:
- regulated legal entities such as financial intermediaries under the Banking Act (BA), the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) and the Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA), insurance undertakings under the Insurance Supervision Act (ISA);
- foreign clients subject to equivalent prudential supervision;
- central banks; and
- national and supranational public corporations with professional treasury.
They benefit from the lowest level of protection. The rules of conduct pursuant to Art. 7 to 19 FinSA per se do not apply to this client category.
Reclassification
Clients have the following options for changing the client segment:
- Retail clients may at any time request in writing GSC to change their client classification to the category of professional client if they meet at least one of the following criteria:
- The client has the knowledge necessary to understand the risks of the investments, based on personal training and professional experience or comparable experience in the financial sector, and has assets of at least CHF 500,000;
- The client has assets of at least CHF 2 million. - Pension institutions and institutions with professional treasury which, according to their purpose, serve the purpose of occupational pension provision and companies with professional treasury may declare that they wish to be regarded as institutional clients instead of professional clients;
- Professional clients have the option to request a reclassification as private client;
- Institutional clients may declare that they wish to be considered professional clients.
Such a change also entails a change in the level of protection applicable to the client.
All declarations with regard to the change of client segment must always be made in writing.
The client is obliged to inform GSC of any changes that might affect his classification. If GSC realises that the client no longer meets the conditions of the of the client segment he is classified, GSC is obliged to take action itself and adjust the client segmentation. In this case GSC will inform the client immediately.
Which services are offered?
Asset Management
Asset management is aimed at clients who wish to entrust GSC with the discretionary management of their assets within the framework of the [EAM] investment policy as well as 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, GSC is authorised to make investments at its own discretion.
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 himself. 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. Swiss law distinguishes between investment advice for individual transactions where the entire client portfolio is not considered (transaction-based investment advice) and investment advice considering the client portfolio (portfolio-based investment advice).
Execution-Only
Transactions with financial instruments that are not based on an investment decision or investment recommendation of GSC and that are carried out exclusively at the request of the client are treated by GSC as execution-only transactions. In doing so, GSC neither performs a suitability nor an appropriateness test (see below).
What is the test for suitability and appropriateness?
The suitability and appropriateness test by GSC are based on the information provided by the client which are deemed by GSC to be accurate. If the client does not provide the requested information and data or only provides it insufficiently, GSC is not able to provide the services to the client in an appropriate manner.
Suitability Test
In connection with portfolio-based-investment advice or asset management, GSC must obtain various information from the client. This includes - as far as relevant - information on:
- The client's knowledge and experience in relation to the agreed financial service;
- The client's investment objectives, including:
- Information on the time horizon and purpose of the investment, the client's risk willingness and any investment restrictions; - The financial circumstances of the client:
- Information on the nature and amount of the client's regular income, assets and current and future financial obligations.
Based on this information, GSC draws up a risk profile with and agrees on an investment strategy for the client.
Appropriateness Test
In the case of transaction-based investment advice, GSC must check whether the investment recommendations are appropriate for the client considering its knowledge and experience. In order to do so, GSC must obtain information on the client's knowledge and experience with financial instruments.
Presumption for Professional Clients
If a client is classified as a professional client, GSC assumes that the client has the necessary knowledge and experience and that the financial risks associated with the investment decisions or recommendations are bearable for the client.
Proxy Relationships and Joint Accounts
In assessing the knowledge and experience of legal persons or in the case of a power of attorney, GSC focuses on the person acting vis-à-vis GSC. 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, GSC always focuses on the account holder. In the case of an account with two or more account holders, GSC always focuses on the person with the weakest financial circumstances or the lowest risk capacity.
Which market offer does GSC consider when selecting financial instruments?
The investment universe considered when making investment recommendations or investment decisions by GSC is determined by its Investment Advisory Board, supported by a self-generated algorithmic strategy.
The investment universe of GSC includes all types of financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds, investment funds, ETFs, etc., encompassing both third-party and own financial instruments—where own financial instruments are defined as those issued or offered by companies closely linked to the financial services provider (see § 10 FinSO).
Conflicts of Interest – General Principles
GSC tries to protect and harmonize the interests of its clients, shareholders and employees. Nevertheless, conflicts of interest cannot always be completely ruled out. In general, conflicts of interest can arise between GSC its employees and its clients or between the clients of GSC In this context, GSC has taken the following organisational measures to deal with possible conflicts of interest:
- Measures to identify conflicts of interest (e.g. reporting and disclosure obligations);
- Measures to prevent the exchange of information insofar as it could be contrary to the interest of clients (Chinese Walls);
- Functionally separation of the organization and management of the staff insofar as their main activities could cause a conflict of interest among clients or between clients' interests and those of GSC;
- Measures to prevent staff involved simultaneously or in immediate succession in different financial services from being assigned tasks which could be detrimental to a proper handling of conflicts of interest;
- A remuneration system which creates no incentives for staff to disregard statutory duties or to conduct themselves in a manner detrimental to clients;
- Issuance of rules for the acquisition and disposal of financial instruments for own account by staff.
Conflicts of interest that cannot be avoided by these measures are disclosed to the client before services are provided.
Where can the client turn in the event of a dispute?
GSC always strives to provide the best possible service for its customers. Should the customer nevertheless be dissatisfied with the service provided by GSC he has the option of initiating a mediation procedure with OFS Ombud Finance Switzerland, 16 Boulevard des Tranchées, 1206 Geneva, Switzerland.