Last Updated : January 2010

You must read the following information before proceeding. It provides information on some of the laws and regulations applicable to this web site.

The information on this Site is issued and approved by Witan Investment Services Limited (WIS). Witan Investment Services Limited is registered in England no. 5272533 of 201 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3AE. Witan Investment Services Limited provides investment products and services and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. We may record telephone calls for our mutual protection and to improve customer service.

WIS's investment products are only available through this web site to UK residents and by proceeding this far you are representing and warranting that you are resident for tax and investment purposes in the United Kingdom. What follows is not an offer or invitation to acquire an investment, and should therefore not be relied upon by, any person anywhere other than the United Kingdom or any person in any jurisdiction where such an offer or invitation would be unlawful. Persons in respect of whom such prohibitions apply must not access this web site.

Where access to any part of this web site or a linked site is restricted or requires possession of a valid password, no other person should attempt to gain access to such part of the web site. Any prices and other information on this web site or a linked web site are provided solely to enable you to make your own investment decisions and do not constitute personal recommendations or advice.

You should be aware that the internet is not a completely reliable transmission medium. We shall not have any liability for any data transmission errors such as data loss or damage or alteration of any kind, including, but not limited to, any direct, indirect or consequential damage, arising out of the use of the services provided herein.

Messages that you send to us by e-mail are not secure. We recommend that you do not send any confidential information to us by e-mail. If you choose to send any confidential information to us via e-mail you do so at your own risk with the knowledge that a third party may intercept this information. Instructions sent by you via e-mail and to the Site are processed exclusively at your risk.

An application for any of  WIS’s investment products should be made having read fully not only the relevant application form, but also, for UK investors, the relevant terms and conditions of the key features document, prospectus, and latest annual or semi-annual report applicable to the chosen product. All these relevant documents can be found on this web site. It is your responsibility to review such documentation and in any event by making an On-Line ISA / Share Plan Application you will be deemed to be representing that you have read such applicable documentation and agree to be bound by its contents.

Our affiliates, officers and/or employees may have holdings in WIS’s investment products and may otherwise be interested in transactions that you effect in those products.

Please remember that past performance of an investment is not a guide to future performance. The value of an investment and the income from it can fall as well as rise as a result of market and currency fluctuations and you may not get back the amount originally invested. Tax assumptions may change if the law changes, and the value of tax relief (if any) will depend upon your individual circumstances. Investors should consult their own tax advisers in order to understand any applicable tax consequences.

If you are unsure about the meaning of any information provided on this web site, then please consult your financial or other professional adviser. We do not offer investment advice.

Otherwise than as specifically set out, the information on this web site must in no circumstances be copied, reproduced or redistributed in whole or in part. You may download or print copies of some of the documentation contained on this web site for your own private use only, provided that you do not change any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notices. All intellectual and other property information contained in this web site shall continue to be held by us and no rights of any kind in it shall pass to you.

This web site may contain or be linked to advice or statements of third parties. We make no representation as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or suitability of such information, and we have not and will not review or update such information and caution you that any use made of such information is at your own risk. Some of the information contained on this web site may also have been prepared or provided by third parties and may not have been verified by Witan Investment Services. Witan Investment Services hereby excludes any liability arising out of any preparation or provision of such information for the web site and makes no warranty as to the accuracy, suitability or completeness of any such information.

This web site is governed by the laws of England. On-line ISA / Share Plan Applications will also be governed by English law.

This Important Legal Information may be updated from time to time. You will be advised within this site of the last date on which any updates have been made. If you choose to bookmark pages within the web site for future use, you agree that it is your responsibility to check if any such updates have been made since you last visited this web site.

PRIVACY POLICY

We take the privacy of our customers very seriously and we are concerned to protect your personal data. We believe it is important that you know how we treat the information about you that we receive through this web site. Therefore we will only use your personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions in relation to the information we hold about you or our use of that information, please feel free to contact us.

Personal Data

In general, you may visit this web site without revealing any information about yourself. Our servers collect the domain names of visitors and this data is only held for the period you are logged onto the web site. This information is anonymous and we aggregate it to measure the use of and to improve the content of our web site.
We will, however, retain and use all personal information (for example name, e-mail address and your financial details) that you provide to WIS via this web site, including for example, when you register for the WIS's Online Service, request a brochure, or apply for an account.

Use of Your Personal Data

We will use the personal data which you provide to us on the web site to process any applications you make and to keep you informed (via e-mail and other methods of contact) about our products and services and those of our affiliate companies which may be of interest to you. If you do not want us to use your personal data to inform you of such products and services please indicate this in the tick box provided online. We may also pass your data to third parties, selected by us, with respect to certain activities. We will ensure that any such third parties will only use your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. For administration purposes your personal data may be transmitted to other entities, including entities located outside the European Economic Area in countries where laws do not exist to protect personal information. These entities will be required to ensure that your personal information is protected to the standard applicable under United Kingdom data protection law.

Cookies

A cookie is a small amount of data which is transferred to your browser by a webserver. We may use cookies to track your visits to this Site.

SUMMARY OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST POLICY

Conflicts of Interest

A regulatory requirement arising from the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive on 1 November 2007 is the need for us to provide you with a summary description of our policy on conflicts of interest and when a material interest or conflict of interest may or does arise, to disclose to you the manner in which we will ensure your fair treatment.

Witan Investment Services Ltd – Conflicts of Interest Policy: A Summary Description

Our policy remains to always manage any conflict in your best interests, to always disclose any conflict where relevant and to not undertake the activity if a conflict cannot be effectively managed (and disclosure would not be appropriate). Our aim is to ensure that there is effective management of conflicts that may arise when our interests and yours differ or where discharging our duties to one client could make it difficult to comply with the duties owed to another client. For instance a potential conflict could arise in instances where we aggregate your order to purchase or sell shares with those of another client or where we act for both the buyer and seller in a transaction. Additionally, a conflict could arise between our interests and yours when the underlying investment trusts undertake transactions in their own shares. We will ensure that we will not knowingly act on your behalf in relation to a transaction unless we have taken reasonable steps to ensure your fair treatment. Where we are unable to manage a specific conflict, we will notify you of the circumstances in order that you are able to take an informed decision of whether to proceed with the transaction or not. 

We operate a Conflicts of Interest Policy which is communicated to all relevant employees and which identifies the types of conflict that may arise and provides instructions on the management of those conflicts. Under the Policy we maintain a record of identified potential conflicts. Further, we regularly review our business to identify potential conflicts of interest and to assess whether we are taking appropriate steps to manage those that could have an adverse effect on clients. Formal reports are made to the Board and senior management. There are also specific policies and procedures on when and how employees are permitted to undertake personal account transactions, restrictions on the offering and receiving of gifts to or from clients, and an outright ban on any gift that could be construed as an inducement. As part of our conflicts management policy we also consider the way in which our staff are remunerated, in order to ensure that remuneration structures do not create a conflict between  incentives given to staff and our clients’ best interests. Any client who wishes, may receive a copy of the full Conflicts of Interest Policy.

Pillar 3 Disclosure

Background
There are three supervisory pillars set out in the revised Basel Accord, which have been written into European Law through the Capital Requirements Directive (‘CRD’), and further developed in the Pillar 2 guidance issued by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (‘CEBS’).
Collectively Pillars 1, 2 and 3 form an overall framework for prudential supervision of banks, credit institutions and investment firms. The first pillar revises existing minimum regulatory capital standards for three major components of risk that firms face: credit, market and operational risk. The second pillar requires firms to assess the amount of internal capital they consider adequate to cover all of the risks to which they are, or likely to be, exposed. The third pillar requires firms to publish certain details of their risks, capital and risk management process. The Pillar 3 disclosure must be done in accordance with a formal disclosure policy which sets out our policies for assessing the appropriateness of our disclosures, including their verification and frequency. The rules provide that firms may omit one or more of the required disclosures if we believe that the information is immaterial. Where we have considered a disclosure to be immaterial, we have stated this in the relevant section. We are also permitted to omit one or more of the required disclosures where we believe that the information is regarded as proprietary or confidential, which if it were shared, would undermine our competitive position. Information is considered to be confidential where there are obligations binding us to confidentiality with our customers and counterparties. Where we have omitted information for either of these two reasons we have stated this in the relevant section and the reasons for this.

Information covered under this Disclosure
In this document we disclose information, unless it is has been determined as immaterial or of a proprietary or confidential nature, on:

• our risk management objectives and policies;


• the scope of application of directive requirements;


• our capital resources;


• our compliance with the rules in BIPRU and on Pillar 2 requirements; and


• market risk.

Scope of the Disclosure
The disclosures in this document are made in respect of Witan Investment Services Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.  Witan Investment Services Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Witan Investment Trust Plc and was originally established to market, administer and service the product plans of clients investing directly into its parent’s investment trust but also other investment trusts.
For the purposes of the Capital Requirements Directive, Witan Investment Services Ltd is not consolidated with its parent, Witan Investment Trust PLC, providing its own unconsolidated financial returns to the FSA. There are no known current or foreseen practical or legal impediments to the prompt transfer of capital resources or repayments of liabilities between the parent and subsidiary undertaking.

Risk Management objectives and policies
Our risk management policy reflects the FSA requirement that we must manage a number of different categories of risk. These include: credit, market, business, operational, insurance, liquidity and group risk. In respect of this disclosure it is the first four of these risks that are relevant and further information is provided on these risks below.

Credit risk
The extent to which we provide credit to clients and, therefore, the extent to which we are subject to credit risk and how we mitigate this is governed by the terms and conditions of individual agreements with those clients. With regard to bank deposits, we only deposit money with approved counterparties on agreed terms. For sales debtors in investment plans, the risk of not receiving sums due to us is mitigated as we have the right to sell shares to pay for the annual management fees.  The risk is further reduced by the sheer size and depth of our investor base, which comfortably exceeds 25,000 individual accounts.

Market Risk
Under Pillar 1, we do not have any exposure to either foreign exchange risk or position risk, which together make up market risk.

Business Risk
Our Pillar 2 business risk assessment principally takes the form of a fall in assets under management following a market downturn that leads to lower management fees. Different economic scenarios are modelled as part of the Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP) to establish the impact of economic downturns on our financial position.

Operational Risk
Most of our risk management efforts are focused on operational risk. This includes everything, from risk to our high-level strategy to risk of administrative errors, fraud and theft. Our policy is to operate a robust and effective risk management process, embedded within the governance and management structures of our business. Our risk management framework defines what operational risk means to us and this is approved by our Board. The main initiative is the establishment of a ‘Risk Map’ which includes analysis of the key risk areas identified by the senior management. These areas cover specific risk items within the following areas: Financial; Strategy; Customer Service: Third Party Outsourcing; Operational; and Legal and Regulatory.We seek to identify the impact and probability of each risk item and rank it as high, medium or low. We also identify and implement measures to mitigate the risk and monitor any residual risk on an ongoing basis. The Risk Map is appended to the ICAAP which is formally approved by the Board.

Capital resources
The value of share capital and audited reserves is £1,016,000 at 31st December 2009. Our capital resources are comprised of core Tier 1 capital only and therefore there are no other items or deductions. In accordance with GENPRU 2.1.45R (calculation of variable capital requirement for a BIPRU firm), our capital requirement has been determined as being the higher of our fixed overhead requirement, £329,000 and our winding up costs, £388,000. Our Pillar 1 Capital Resources Requirement, based on our winding up costs, has been calculated as being £388,000 for 2010.

Credit and Market risk
Our credit risk and market risk capital requirements have been calculated as £55,000 and zero respectively as at 31 December 2009. Disclosures in relation to these have been considered immaterial under BIPRU 11.3.5R (Exemption from disclosure: Materiality), as our capital requirement under GENPRU 2.1.45R (Calculation of the variable capital requirement for a BIPRU firm), is our winding up costs rather than the sum of our credit risk capital requirement and our market risk capital requirement.

Compliance with rules in BIPRU and Pillar 2 rule requirements
Our overall approach to assessing the adequacy of our internal capital is set out in our Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP). The ICAAP process involves separate consideration of risks to our capital combined with stress testing using scenario analysis. The level of capital required to cover risks is a function of impact and probability. We assess impact by modelling the changes in our income and expenses caused by various potential risks over a 1-year time horizon. Probability is assessed subjectively. Following the risk and capital requirement analysis undertaken by the senior management team, we have concluded that no additional capital is required under our Pillar 2 calculation. We hold in excess of £1,000,000 as cash in the bank, which comfortably meets the fixed overhead requirement. In addition, the Witan Group’s PII policy provides cover up to £10million on any one claim which, in our opinion, mitigates the need to apportion capital in Pillar 2. Therefore, our Pillar 1 requirement is the minimum regulatory capital requirement that we will hold.

Further Information

Please note that we may change this Privacy Policy or Important Legal Information from time to time so please check it regularly.

You have the right, at any time, to access and correct your personal information and privacy preferences or request to be removed from our mailing lists by writing to us at Witan Investment Services Ltd, 14 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9AA.

We may record telephone calls for our mutual protection and to improve customer service.

This web site may contain links to other sites. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those other sites.

© 2006. Issued by Witan Investment Services Ltd, authorised and regulated in the UK by Financial Services Authority.