| To protect retail investors who use investment advisory services, the new Corporations
Regulations, which commenced on 1 October 1998, impose new legal obligations on licensed
securities dealers and investment advisors who provide investment advice on securities to
retail investors. As a valuable client of Sino Investment Services Pty Ltd, we would like
to provide you with the following information as required by the new Regulations. (A)
Licensee
Sino Investment Services Pty Ltd ("Sino") (ACN 006 643 152) of Level 3,
43-51 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 is an Australian Financial Services licensee
(Licence No: 246936) under the Corporations Act and has been established since 1987. Sino
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sino Securities International Ltd, a company listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange.
(B) Advisors
The following advisors, being employees of Sino, are authorised to act on behalf
of Sino as its representatives to give securities dealing advice and recommendation to
you.
- Mr. Richard Li
- Mr. Ian Johnston
- Mr. John Kuo
Sino is responsible for any advisory services provided to you by any one of the above
authorised employees.
(C) Investment and Advisory Services
Sino offers the following investment and advisory services:
- investment advice;
- investment management;
- securities transaction execution;
- nominee and custodian services; and
- cash management trusts.
We provide general securities dealing advice and reports on securities listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange ("ASX"). You should, however, consider whether these
securities are suitable for your personal investment needs, objectives, and financial
circumstances.
(C) Investment and Advisory Services (continued)
If you require advice that is tailored to your personal investment needs, we will
require additional information about your individual investment objectives, needs, and
financial circumstances before we can make any investment recommendations. If you do not
wish to divulge such information it is your right not to do so. If you decline to divulge
this information, we are required to advise you of the possible consequences of us not
having your full personal financial information and you should consider such advice
carefully.
We offer on-market securities transaction execution and settlement services for
transactions involving securities listed on the ASX. Sino will act as your agent and
instruct an executing broker on your behalf to execute and settle securities transactions.
The executing broker we use is ABN AMRO Equities Australia Ltd ("ABN AMRO"). If
we instruct any other broker to execute and settle your transactions we will inform you of
this beforehand. Details of brokerage charged are provided in section D below. We also
offer off-market securities transfers service.
We provide complete nominee and custodian services. Your securities can be registered
either in our nominee companys name or in your own name and can then be held in our
office on your behalf. If you prefer to secure your own custodian services, we are also
able to assist in this regard. An annual fee may be charged for nominee and custodian
services, as detailed in section D below.
We can arrange to have a Cash Management Trust account opened and maintained for you
with Macquarie Investment Management Ltd. An annual fee may be charged for this service,
as detailed in section D below.
We also provide ongoing investment portfolio monitoring service. An annual fee may be
charged for this service, as detailed in section D below.
(D) Brokerages and Fees
We will not charge any fees for providing general securities dealing advice or
for providing reports on securities listed on the ASX. However, we may charge $200 per
hour for providing investment advice to suit your personal investment objectives, needs,
and financial circumstances. You will be advised beforehand if such a charge will be
imposed.
Brokerage will be charged to you directly for executing and settling your on-market
securities transactions, by either ABN AMRO or any other executing broker appointed by
Sino. Sino will share the brokerage charged to you directly by the executing broker. The
brokerage rate and the way it is shared between Sino and the executing broker will be
agreed upon by Sino and ABN AMRO or any other executing broker appointed by Sino.
If you require Sino to provide off-market securities transfers service, a fee of $50
per transfer may be charged.
Should you require us:
- to provide nominee and custodian services, or
- to maintain cash management trust accounts, or
- to provide ongoing monitoring of your portfolio,
we may charge you an annual fee of $200 for each of these services.
All of the above brokerages and fees are subject to the final discretion of Sino. Other
than the brokerage for on-market securities transactions, you will not be charged any fees
without having been previously advised of the amount of those fees.
(E) Your Rights
You have the right:
- to know about details of commissions and other benefits your advisor receives for making
investment recommendations. Should there be any additional commissions or other benefits
which have not been previously disclosed to you for a transaction executed on your behalf,
we will provide this information to you when we make specific recommendations;
- to be informed of any significant risks on investments and strategies which we recommend
to you;
- to receive advice that is suitable to your personal investment objectives, needs and
financial circumstances if and only if you provide us with sufficient information on your
personal investment objectives, needs and financial circumstances; and
- to specify how you would like to give us instructions, eg., by telephone, fax or other
means.
(F) Complaints
Internal Complaints Resolution
If you have any complaint about the advisory service provided to you, you should take
the following steps.
1. Contact your advisor and tell your advisor about your complaint.
2. If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved within 3 days, please detail your
complaint in writing and forward it to Mr. Richard Li, Managing Director, Sino Investment
Services Pty Ltd, Level 3, 43-51 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000. We will try to
resolve your complaint as quickly and fairly as possible.
External Complaint Resolution
Sino is a member of the Life Insurance Complaints Service Ltd ("LICS") which has
been approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission ("ASIC")
as a scheme for the purpose of receiving complaints relating to the provision of
investment advice on securities to retail investors.
If your complaint is not resolved within 45 days by Sinos internal complaint
resolution system, your complaint will be referred to LICS. You may also lodge your
complaint with LICS if you are not satisfied with Sinos resolution of your
complaint.
If you require more information or clarification on the matters discussed above, please
do not hesitate to contact us on (03) 9629-6615. You can always contact the ASICs
freecall Infoline 1300 300 630 to obtain more information about your rights.
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