1. What is changing and why?
Due to the UK leaving the EU on the 1st of February 2020 agreed transition period ends on the 31st of December 2020. All UK-regulated financial service providers that aim to continue serving clients located in the EEA must establish a presence in the EEA region. Fundy has secured an investment firm licence in Estonia.
We will invite our clients from EEA countries to migrate to Fundy Markets AS, our Estonian service provider. We have started the process of passporting our authorisation to other major markets in the EEA, to serve our customers as smoothly as possible post-Brexit.
Once you log in to Fundy’s platform, EEA resident investors will be asked to accept our new Platform Terms and Conditions.
2. What does this mean for my Fundy account? Does it somehow affect my investments?
This move will not affect your ownership of any investments as shown in your Fundy account.
3. Transferring your funds
If you have funds in your wallet, these will be transferred to a new client cash account opened in the name of Fundy Markets AS. No cost will be incurred by investors for the transfer. Your funds will be held as Client Money as defined by and in accordance with the Estonian Securities Market Act. In certain cases, your funds may be protected by the Guarantee Fund’s compensation scheme. You may read more about this scheme here: https://www.tf.ee/eng/protection-of-investors/
- Should you make a withdrawal from your wallet, you may notice that the transfer comes from a different bank account than the one you paid into.
- If you want to make deposits into your wallet, you will need to send the funds to a new bank account, details of the bank account are found under Wallet – Instructions for a bank transfer.
During this transition period, any funds transferred into the previous service provider’s account will be automatically transferred across to the new service provider.
4. Does this change somehow affect existing companies?
No, this move does not affect companies that have started and closed their funding rounds on Fundy, nor the status of any companies already listed on the Fundy Marketplace.
5. Does this change somehow affect new companies?
New fundraising companies from the EEA region will conclude service agreements with Fundy Markets AS (EE). We don’t foresee the process being different to how it has been so far except companies will be serviced by Fundy Markets AS. Companies outside the EEA region will continue to be served either by Fundy Markets Ltd (UK) or Fundy Markets Pte Ltd (Singapore), as appropriate.
6. What happens if individual investors do not accept the new platform terms?
EEA-based investors who do not switch their accounts to the EEA based service provider, Fundy Markets AS will unfortunately not be able to invest nor trade on the platform. Fundy cannot and will not remove their investments from the platform. Such investors will continue to hold their investments.
7. Do these changes affect the fees as shown in the Fundy price list?
Fundy does not propose any changes in the Fundy price list as a result of the post-Brexit reorganisation.
To EEA investors — there will be no changes in the Fundy price list.
To others — Fundy is not making any changes in its price list, but we anticipate that there might be a fee charge imposed externally and affecting investors using cards or other payment services issued or managed by UK banks. This depends on the final agreement between the UK and EU.
8. Will the nominee structure remain for future investment offers?
Yes, the Fundy nominee structure will continue to be available to our EEA clients even after the service provider in EEA switches to Fundy Markets AS (EE). This structure, as governed by English law, will not be affected by the end of the Brexit transition.
9. What happens if a UK company would like to fundraise on the Fundy platform?
Fundy maintains an active UK regulatory authorisation. Fundraising companies from the UK will still conclude service agreements with Fundy UK. Investors will not see any changes to the investment opportunities as previously presented, and can invest in and trade with those companies on the same basis as previously.
10. Does this change somehow affect existing companies?
No, this move does not affect companies that have started and closed their funding rounds on Fundy, nor the status of any companies already listed on the Fundy Marketplace.
11. Does this change somehow affect new companies?
New fundraising companies from the EEA region will conclude service agreements with Fundy Markets AS. We don’t foresee the process being different to how it has been so far except companies will be serviced by Fundy Markets AS (EE). Companies outside the EEA region will continue to be served either by Fundy Markets Ltd (UK) or Fundy Markets Pte Ltd (Singapore), as appropriate.
12. What happens if individual investors do not accept the new platform terms?
EEA-based investors who do not switch their accounts to the EEA based service provider, Fundy Markets AS (EE) will unfortunately no longer be able to invest and trade on the platform. Fundy cannot and will not remove their investments from the platform. Such investors will continue to hold their investments, but to take any actions in respect thereof, they will need to agree to be serviced by an appropriate provider.
Part of the investment firm licence is the right to receive and transmit clients’ orders to the Marketplace. If the client does not have an active agreement with Fundy Markets AS, the latter has no right to intermediate the orders, including the sell orders.
13. Will this have any impact whatsoever to the deadlines for raising funds?
The move does not have any impact on the deadlines for raising funds.
14. Why have you applied for an investment firm licence in Estonia?
After having analysed a number of potential jurisdictions, Fundy has selected Estonia. Estonia is well known for its digital society and its support for innovative solutions; it is also where the majority of the Fundy team continues to be based.