Investor Compensation Fund

The Investor Compensation Fund is a legal entity under public law, established in the form of a joint-stock company, based on the Articles of Association, approved in advance by the National Securities Commission (C.N.V.M.), respectively the Financial Supervision Authority (ASF). It was established in June 2005 with the aim of compensating eligible investors, in the event of the inability of Fund members to return the funds and/or financial instruments owed to or belonging to investors, which were held on their behalf, on the occasion of the provision of financial investment services or the administration of individual investment portfolios. The headquarters of the Fund is in Bucharest, B-dul Carol I no. 34-36, cam. 1-2, zip code 020922, district 2, the contact information being: phone +4021 3157348, fax +4021 3157340, e-mail office@fond-fci.ro.
 

The fund compensates investors equally and non-discriminatorily, within the limit of a maximum limit, representing the equivalent in RON of EUR 20,000/investor, the limit provided by Directive 97/9/EC on investor compensation schemes. The fund compensates investors in any of the following situations:
a) C.N.V.M./ASF found that, for the moment, from their point of view, a member of the Fund, for reasons directly related to its financial situation, is not able to fulfil its obligations resulting from the investor's claims and there is no prospect of honouring these obligations in the shortest possible time;
b) the competent judicial authority, for reasons directly or indirectly related to the financial situation of a member of the Fund, has issued a final decision, with the effect of suspending the possibility of investors to exercise their rights regarding the capitalization of their claims on the respective company

The following categories of investors are exempt from compensation:
a) professional and institutional investors, including:
(i) investment firms, as defined in art. 4 para. (1) point 2 of (EU) Regulation no. 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 26, 2013 regarding prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment companies and amending (EU) Regulation no. 648/2012;
(ii) credit institutions;
(iii) financial institutions;
(iv) insurance and reinsurance companies;
(v) collective placement bodies;
(vi) privately managed pension funds;
(vii) other professional and institutional investors;
b) international organizations, governments and other central, regional and local public administration authorities;
c) directors, administrators and members with direct responsibility from among the participants in the Fund, persons whose responsibility is the preparation of the audit of the participants in the Fund;
d) shareholders of participants in the Fund having holdings of at least 5% of the share capital;
e) investors with status similar to those mentioned in letter c) and d) within other companies in the same group as the Fund participants;
f) spouses, relatives and relatives of the first degree, as well as persons acting on behalf of the investors mentioned in letters c)-e);
g) legal entities within the same group as the participants in the Fund;
h) persons who have a responsibility for or have obtained benefits from certain situations in relation to a participant in the Fund that led to the financial difficulties of the participant or were likely to lead to the deterioration of his financial situation;
i) companies which, due to their size, are not allowed to draw up an abbreviated balance sheet according to the applicable accounting regulations.

For the recovery of payments made for the compensation of monetary funds and/or financial instruments, the Fund is legally subrogated to the rights of the investors. Thus, in the case of judicial liquidation of its members, the Fund is included in the list of creditors for an amount equal to the payments made to compensate investors.