Federal Government

On April 25, the Bundestag adopted the Bill of the Federal Government for the promotion and regulation of charge advice about financial instruments. St. Gallen, 05.06.2013 – thus the honorary consulting in Germany is anchored for the first time legally. Through the introduction of the protected designation of the honorary investment advisor in the securities trading Act (WpHG), as well as the honorary financial investment advisor in the business is for customers in the future more transparent, whether the service of investment advice will be compensated through commissions of the product provider or just the charge of the customer. It therefore involves enhanced disclosure and transparency to the customer. The customer (investors) can then decide which form the investment advice he would like to take advantage of. A breakthrough”, such as communications expert Michael Oehme thinks, who already has made known the topic of honorary consulting in Germany in the 1990s and wrote a manual, together with other experts. Control, the investors may in the future on the Internet site of the Federal Agency for In a publicly visible register of honorary advisors inform financial supervisory authority (BFin).

Corresponding registration obligations also for fee financial investment advisor at the central registries of the Chambers of Commerce and industry. Work on a Commission basis is then no longer possible to avoid conflicts of interest. Who receives commissions as Honorary Advisor, must pass immediately and without deduction to its customers this. Applies for investment services providers, that the investment advice while still may be offered on fee – as well as on a Commission basis. This requires that the responsible areas of organisational, functional and staffed strictly apart are inseparable but now. Thus that honorary advisers get no sales targets and the objectives of the honorary investment advice Act thus are injured ensuring. The objectives of the honorary investment advice Act are clear and ambitious: through a legal embodiment of the fee-based investment advisory aims to establish more transparency about the shape of the remuneration of the investment advice, so that a customer can decide in the future consciously for the Commission-based investment advice or for Commission-based fee advice.