FAQs about the Transfer of Aion’s ETFmatic Investment Services to Finax
You can find answers to all questions related to the transfer of Aion’s investment services and products to Finax that come up to your mind.
Radoslav Kasík | News | 27. April 2024
FAQs:
2. DO I NEED TO SIGN A NEW CONTRACT? DOES THE CONTRACTUAL DOCUMENTATION CHANGE SOMEHOW?
4. WHAT ARE THE FUTURE PLANS OF FINAX WITH ETFMATIC? WHAT IS THE VISION OF THE COMPANY'S FUTURE?
6. IS THERE GOING TO BE A CHANGE IN FEES? IF YES, WHEN AND WHY?
7. HOW CAN I WITHDRAW THE MONEY IN CASE I WANT TO EXIT MY INVESTMENT?
8. IS THERE ANY CHANGE IN THE BANK ACCOUNT WHERE I NEED TO SEND MY DEPOSIT?
9. CAN I OPEN A FINAX ACCOUNT WHILE I HAVE MY CURRENT ETFMATIC ONE?
10. CAN I STILL USE THE ETFMATIC APP? UNTIL WHEN?
11. WILL THE CUSTODIAN OF MY SECURITIES CHANGE? IF YES, IS IT SAFE TO INVEST WITH FINAX?
13. CAN I SELL MY PORTFOLIO AND TRANSFER IT DIRECTLY TO A NEWLY OPENED ACCOUNT AT FINAX?
14. WHO SHOULD I CONTACT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS OR NEED CUSTOMER SERVICE?
15. HOW WILL MY CURRENT PORTFOLIO RETURNS BE DISPLAYED?
16. WHAT IS FINAX? WHERE WILL FINAX OPERATE FROM?
17. WHAT IS FINAX'S EXPERIENCE? IS FINAX TRUSTWORTHY?
18. HOW OFTEN DOES FINAX TRADE?
19. WHO OWNS AND MANAGES FINAX?
20. WHAT IS FINAX BEST KNOWN FOR?
21. WHAT DIFFERENTIATES FINAX FROM ITS COMPETITORS?
1. WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH MY CURRENT ETFMATIC ACCOUNT FROM JANUARY 1st, 2024? IS MY INVESTMENT SAFE?
The terms and conditions of your contract stay the same as they were before, aside from the fact that Finax will become your new service provider, as Finax is acquiring Aion Bank’s investment services and products.
We seek to enable you to resume deposits into your portfolios from January 2024. The investment strategy and composition of your portfolios will not change. However, it will not be possible to open new ETFmatic portfolios.
2. DO I NEED TO SIGN A NEW CONTRACT? DOES THE CONTRACTUAL DOCUMENTATION CHANGE SOMEHOW?
No. The terms of your contract will almost entirely stay the same as they were before. They will be only marginally adapted to reflect the fact that Finax will become your new counterparty in the same contract. New pre-contractual documentation will be sent in a dedicated email, by December 15th, 2023.
3. WILL MY PRODUCT CHANGE OR CAN I CONTINUE WITH DEPOSITS AND INVESTMENTS IN MY CURRENT PORTFOLIO? WHEN WILL I BE ALLOWED TO DEPOSIT AGAIN?
The investment strategy and composition of your portfolios will remain unchanged. However, it will not be possible to open new ETFmatic portfolios.
We seek to enable you to resume deposits into your portfolios as soon as possible. Deposits to existing portfolios will be available from January 1st, 2024. We will provide you with new bank account information in subsequent email communication.
4. WHAT ARE THE FUTURE PLANS OF FINAX WITH ETFMATIC? WHAT IS THE VISION OF THE COMPANY'S FUTURE?
The ETFmatic business will cease to exist as a separate brand once we launch the option for its clients to log in to their accounts via the Finax website and smartphone app.
In the early months of 2024, we will begin migrating the ETFmatic front end to Finax’s channels. This means that you will be able to log into your account and check the development of your portfolio via the Finax website and smartphone app. We will be regularly updating you about this process development. After completing this process, we would like to enable you to open any of Finax products. In effect, you may therefore expect to receive access to a wide range of products and services. You can learn the details about them on the product subpages of our website. Of course, you will keep your current portfolios with their present conditions.
5. WHAT KIND OF CHANGES ARE GOING TO HAPPEN TO ETFMATIC? (ARE THE SAME PEOPLE GOING TO MANAGE MY INVESTMENT?)
Finax is acquiring Aion Bank’s investment services business. Key ETFmatic staff will be welcomed as the new members of the Finax team. ETFmatic clients' investment strategies will stay the same. They are automated and based on a passive approach. Finax has extensive experience and expertise in this field of asset management. Its current investment strategies are very similar to the ones offered by ETFmatic, including rebalancing. These facts guarantee the continuity of services and strategies.
6. IS THERE GOING TO BE A CHANGE IN FEES? IF YES, WHEN AND WHY?
No, Finax has no plans to change the fee structure on existing portfolios.
7. HOW CAN I WITHDRAW THE MONEY IN CASE I WANT TO EXIT MY INVESTMENT?
In case you would like to exit your investment, you can follow the standard ETFmatic procedure and opt either for a liquidation of the whole portfolio or a partial liquidation of your existing portfolio (rounded to hundreds).
8. IS THERE ANY CHANGE IN THE BANK ACCOUNT WHERE I NEED TO SEND MY DEPOSIT?
We seek to enable you to resume deposits into your portfolios from the beginning of January 2024. You will have to send the amounts to a new bank account that Finax holds with Citibank Europe plc, Republic of Ireland. The payment details will be provided to you once deposits are re-launched at the beginning of 2024.
All deposits can be made as SEPA payments, so their duration and costs depend on the pricing and conditions of your bank.
9. CAN I OPEN A FINAX ACCOUNT WHILE I HAVE MY CURRENT ETFMATIC ONE?
Finax kindly asks you for patience and to postpone opening an account with us until you formally become a Finax client. Merging two contracts and two logins into one might be an unnecessary complication. Finax wants to enable you to open other portfolios from their offer as soon as possible (by 31st March 2024). This requires a successful migration of client logins to their front-end platforms (web and app).
10. CAN I STILL USE THE ETFMATIC APP? UNTIL WHEN?
Yes, you can continue to use the ETFmatic application. Finax will work hard throughout the first quarter of 2024 to migrate your portfolio to the Finax website and app. We will maintain the option to log in via both systems for a couple of weeks to provide you with an opportunity to view your investments in both platforms and get more familiar with the Finax system.
11. WILL THE CUSTODIAN OF MY SECURITIES CHANGE? IF YES, IS IT SAFE TO INVEST WITH FINAX?
The terms of your contract will almost entirely stay the same as they were before. They will be only marginally adapted to reflect the fact that Finax will become your new service provider. This leads to a few changes in terms of safeguarding of your financial assets.
All your savings will remain protected. The securities you purchased belong to you, the acquisition just means that Finax will take care of the business operations and provide portfolio management and custody services to you from January 1st, 2024.
Finax is a properly licensed regulated broker headquartered in Slovakia. Its supervisory body is the National Bank of Slovakia.
Clients’ assets are fully segregated from Finax’s assets. This is the key to client asset protection in the safekeeping of your assets. The Slovak Investment Guarantee Fund provides insurance on assets up to the amount of € 50,000.
Finax keeps client investment accounts in KBC Bank NV, a Belgian regulated bank. Its bank accounts are primarily held with Citibank Germany. Finax will not continue cooperation with ETFmatic’s current custodian Saxo Bank.
12. CAN I MAKE DEPOSITS IN A LOCAL CURRENCY IF I LIVE IN ONE OF THE COUNTRIES IN WHICH FINAX OPERATES?
This will not be available immediately after the deal. Until the full integration of Finax’s and Aion’s systems, ETFmatic clients will have separate bank accounts dedicated to them. Finax will allow you to send deposits to local bank accounts after the completion of the integration.
13. CAN I SELL MY PORTFOLIO AND TRANSFER IT DIRECTLY TO A NEWLY OPENED ACCOUNT AT FINAX?
There’s no need for such an action. You will become a Finax client, anyway, eventually getting the option to open a Finax portfolio.
14. WHO SHOULD I CONTACT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS OR NEED CUSTOMER SERVICE?
Please direct all your questions to Aion’s ETFmatic customer service until the end of December 2023. From January 1st, 2024, you will officially become a client of Finax entitled to receive the full support of its customer service centre (phone or email).
15. HOW WILL MY CURRENT PORTFOLIO RETURNS BE DISPLAYED?
All the data of your current portfolio will be preserved, and it will not be changed.
16. WHAT IS FINAX? WHERE WILL FINAX OPERATE FROM?
Finax is the first robo-advisor in Central Europe, the first Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) provider in the entire EU, and a fully licenced regulated broker headquartered in Slovakia. Its supervisory body is the National Bank of Slovakia. Clients’ assets are fully separated from Finax’s assets, and your assets will become a part of the Slovak Guarantee Fund protection scheme.
Finax offers automated investment services. Its offer currently consists of 13 portfolios with a wide variety of risk profiles and 2 life-cycle PEPP strategies. Finax manages 530 milion euros for 51,000 clients mostly from 6 countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania).
17. WHAT IS FINAX'S EXPERIENCE? IS FINAX TRUSTWORTHY?
Finax is the first robo-advisor in the Central and Eastern Europe region, the first PEPP provider, and the creator of a portfolio management app. Finax has a successful 6-year history, being a well-recognised investment service provider in Central Europe. It has won several investment awards in Slovakia and Poland, such as the Best Investment Product, the Most Innovative in Investing, Passive Revolutionist, Deloitte Fast 50 Company, or CESAwards Startup of the Year.
Finax is a regulated licenced broker supervised by the National Bank of Slovakia and the Polish financial regulator Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego. Finax manages 530 million Euros for approximately 51,000 clients in 6 countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
18. HOW OFTEN DOES FINAX TRADE?
Finax will trade daily after the acquisition of Aion’s investment activities is completed. Currently, it performs trades once a week for its clients.
19. WHO OWNS AND MANAGES FINAX?
Finax was launched by its founders Juraj Hrbatý and Rado Kasík who are still in charge of the company. The firm received two rounds of financing in 2019 and 2021 from the investment holding of Ivan Chrenko, a major shareholder of HB Reavis, the largest office developer in Europe. Ivan currently holds 52% stake in Finax. Juraj Hrbatý owns 43% of the company, and the remaining shares are held by Finax directors.
20. WHAT IS FINAX BEST KNOWN FOR?
Finax started its operations as a pure robo-advisory platform offering managed portfolios composed of global equity and bond ETFs. The company was the first to provide this investment option in the Central and Eastern Europe region. Its services got traction quickly, and the company soon expanded into other various countries of the region.
The company entered the pension market last year obtaining a licence to provide the Pan-European Personal Pension Product as the first financial institution in the entire EU. Finax is known as a reliable financial educator, producing tons of high-quality financial content in the native languages of the countries which it operates in.
21. WHAT DIFFERENTIATES FINAX FROM ITS COMPETITORS?
Strong expertise and knowledge, innovation, ease of use and simplicity, quality product, high flexibility, strong and first-rate financial education, low fees, strong, quick, and professional client support, localisation of services, communication, tax optimisation and education.
