Our compliance policy

Our SFDR policy

The EU Regulation 2019/2088 on Sustainability Reporting in the Financial Services Sector (SFDR) which came into force on 10 March 2021 requires its players to publish their policies with respect to:

  • the integration of sustainability risks into their investment decision-making process,
  • the consideration of the main negative impacts of investment decisions on sustainability factors,
  • the integration of sustainability risks into their remuneration policy (upcoming publication).

 

Information concerning Indosuez Wealth Management group:

Code of conduct

Compliance, highly-demanding principles: our Code of Conduct

Indosuez has drawn up a Code of Ethics and a Code of Conduct that puts the commitments of this code into practice.

It is intended to guide our daily actions, decisions and behaviour. Beyond the application of all legislative, regulatory and professional rules that govern our various activities, the Code of Conduct reflects our aim to do even more to better serve our clients and satisfy all of those we interact with.

Internal rules

Our compliance and risk culture contributes to the trust between our clients and us and in our relational excellence

 

Indosuez has implemented internal rules aimed at strictly following legislative and regulatory measures specific to banking and financial activities.

This approach helps preserve the trust of all those involved (clients, staff, investors, regulatory bodies, suppliers etc.).

Indeed, in an increasingly complex and regulated environment, banking institutions have been obliged to raise their standards in terms of customer knowledge over recent years. These obligations to make sure client information is correct enable banks to better know their clients, in order to better accompany and protect them.

For greater readability, we have expressed our compliance approach in:

  • Compliance: highly demanding principles;
  • Compliance listening to you;
  • Our contribution to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, fraud and corruption;
  • Our contribution to international data exchange concerning tax and the fight against tax evasion;

Information on over-the-counter derivative contracts.

Compliance, listening to you

1. Making a claim

For all claims concerning your relations with our Bank, please contact your usual contact person first. In order to facilitate the processing of your claim, your request should include your account number, your surname, first name and address, as well as a detailed explanation of the reason for your claim.

You will be sent confirmation of receipt within 10 working days.

We will do everything we can to examine this claim and respond to your request within 30 working days of the receipt date. If the claim concerns a payment service, the processing time is 15 days. If this time limit cannot be met, our Bank undertakes to keep you informed before the time limit expires.

Secondly, you may contact the department’s “Complaints Processing Manager” either by post or by secure electronic messaging via the eBanking service. We undertake to send you confirmation of receipt and to reply within the same time limits mentioned above.

If you are not satisfied with the response, or the time limit has passed, an out-of-court complaint resolution procedure may be initiated within one year of the date of the claim:

 

2. “Protecting your data and those of the third parties” (GDPR)

Because your personal data is precious, Indosuez has implemented a specific organisation and measures to ensure its total confidentiality/safety and to control its exploitation (piloting activities handling your data, management of conservation, answer to exercises of rights etc). 

In Luxembourg, the authority responsible for personal data issues is the Commission nationale pour la protection des données (CNPD - www.cnpd.public.lu). 

In Belgium, the authority responsible for personal data is the l’Autorité de Protection des Données (www.autoriteprotectiondonnees.be).

In Spain, the authority responsible for personal data is the Agencia Española de protección de datos (AEPD: aepd.es).

In Italy, the authority responsible for personal data is also designated for the implementation of the General Regulation on the Protection of Personal Data (EU) 2016/679 (https://www.garanteprivacy.it).

In Portugal, the competent authority for personal data protection is the National Data Protection Commission ("CNPD" - www.cnpd.pt).

> For further information on our data protection policy

3. Protecting you on financial markets

The financial markets offer a large number of investment and yield opportunities, but also at the same time, very varied risks that you need to clearly identify in order for us to perfectly meet your appetite for risk. 

In a backdrop of complex financial markets, Indosuez professionals provide you with all their expertise and know-how in order to accompany you as well as possible from this perspective.

 

4. Accompanying you in your investments

Alongside you, we are careful to assess your financial capacity depending on your knowledge and experience of financial products, your financial situation and your investment objective.

As such, we start out by ensuring that all of our investment advice and product recommendations are perfectly suited to your risk profile.

Moreover, prior to any transaction, our professionals provide relevant information on financial products and their risks, enabling a good understanding of operations.

> Investor's guide

 

5. Informing you of our policy to manage conflicts of interests

Several situations exist whereby conflicts of interest can arise in the exercise of banking and financial activities. Generally speaking, a conflict is likely to exist as soon as a situation could harm the interests of a client. 

The three main categories of potential conflicts of interest are the following:

  • conflicts involving one client and another client;
  • those involving the Bank (or the Group to which it belongs) and its clients;
  • those involving employees at the Bank or the Bank, or the interests of its clients.

Indosuez applies the principal of primacy of the client’s interest and has implemented suitable internal controls, including notably a periodic review of activities and specific transactions aimed at identifying the situations that could lead to the emergence of conflicts of interest.

It also has warning procedures in place concerning potential and proven conflicts of interest. Indosuez’ policy also plans for the registration of the types of services and activities carried out for which a conflict of interest including significant risk of harming the interest of one or more of its clients has occurred or is likely to occur.

> For further information on our policy to manage conflicts of interests 

 

6. Whistleblowing right

Our Bank is actively committed in the fight against unethical, illegal or criminal practices and in the respect of the anti-corruption regulations in force.

In the event of a suspicious event, we accompany any employee - internal or external - and any supplier wishing to exercise his or her right of alert.

For this purpose, a whistleblowing system has been developed. It guarantees a strict confidentiality environment allowing one to expose facts and to communicate with a referent person while protecting the whistleblower’s identity.

We need to specify that the whistleblowing right must be exercised disinterestedly and in good faith. If necessary, the tool is available via the following link: https://www.bkms-system.com/Groupe-Credit-Agricole/ethic-alerts.

 

7. Our Best Execution policy

As a client of Indosuez, you may find yourself using our investment services to execute Financial Instruments. 
Under this framework, and in line with the constant efforts of our Bank to provide the best possible service to our clients, Indosuez is committed to executing your orders in the manner described in this Best Execution Policy.

> For more information on our Best Execution policy
> RTS 2023

 

8. Our measures concerning the MiFID II directives

Luxembourg, Belgium and Spain have transposed the MiFID II Directive (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) came into force. It aims at significantly strengthening investor protection as well as the organisation and integrity of the markets.
MiFID II aims to provide each end client greater transparency, so much so that each investment firm must ensure that it is taking all of the measures necessary to obtain the best results possible on behalf of its clients.

Classification of clients

Each client is to be handled by Indosuez in accordance with their category under the framework of providing investment and/or related services, or carrying out transactions. The regulation therefore plans for a more or less extensive protection of the client depending on their category, for example, a non-professional client will receive greater protection than a professional client.

The client classification system is undertaken in compliance with applicable regulations and in consideration of the information concerning the client obtained by the Bank from the client.

The client can ask to be classified in a different category. A request to change category can result in lower protection for the client or higher protection. Before any request to change category, clients should consult the protection levels associated with each category as set out in the information document relative to client categories as well as their usual representative at the Bank.

 

9. Information for clients residing in Switzerland :

One of the purposes of the Swiss Financial Services Act (FINSA) is to regulate the provision of investment services and the offering of financial instruments in Switzerland. It introduces a number of rules of conduct applicable to financial services providers. For clients resident in Switzerland specifically, you can consult the dedicated documentation below. 

> Client disclosure document – Financial service act (FINSA)

 

Client assessment and information

Banks must assess their clients depending on criteria concerning their knowledge and experience of financial products, their financial situation and investment objectives accordingly. For example, if the bank provides a client investment advice, it must ensure that the products recommended are in line with their profile and category.

Elsewhere, financial institutions must provide suitable information to the client on financial products and their risks, before an operation or transaction. For non-professional clients, this information can take the form of a Key Investor Information Document (KIID) as set out in the PRIIP’s regulation.

International data exchange

Our contribution to international data exchange concerning tax and the fight against tax evasion

Indosuez is doing all it can to respect tax regulations, in particular: 

 

1. FATCA Regulations

FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) is a US regulation that aims to fight again tax evasion by US citizens and residents that possess financial assets outside the US. The US tax administration (IRS: Internal Revenue Service) has implemented a system to collect information concerning assets and revenues owned by US taxpayers outside the US from foreign financial institutions on an annual basis.

This regulation imposes that financial institutions implement procedures aimed at identifying US clients. If they do not, they are subject to withholding tax of 30% for all financial flows from US sources or from the US that they receive on their account or on behalf of their clients.

In order to facilitate application of this law, intergovernmental agreements have been negotiated with a large number of countries including France, with these countries pledging to transpose into their national legislation the declarational obligations of the FATCA law.

FATCA ID: CEQ4EV.00068GIIN (Global Intermediary Identification Number): CEQ4EV.00068.ME.442
Registration validation date: 07.04.2014; Effective registration date: 30.06.2014

 

2. Communication on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEI)

Under the framework of the fight against tax evasion, in July 2014, the OECD established a new standard for automatic exchange of tax information between states, the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). Around 60 countries, including France already pledged to exchange information as of 2017 following this new standard, with around 30 others following suit in 2018.

In parallel, on 9 December 2014, the European Council adopted a new revised Directive of Administrative Cooperation 2014/107/EU (DAC) amending Directive 2011/16/EU. The new directive, based on the OECD standard, widens the scope of information exchange between the tax administrations of the European Union member states.

The standard obliges financial institutions (banks, custodians, life-insurance companies etc.) located in signatory countries to identify account holders of tax residents in countries with which an exchange agreement has been signed and to annually exchange information (account holder’s details, account balances, revenues received, gross gains on disposals of marketable securities etc.) to their tax administration. The tax administration then passes on this data to the various administrations concerned.

Over-the-counter derivative contracts

Information on over-the-counter derivative contracts

In application of Article 11 paragraph 11 of the EU regulation no. 648/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL of 4 July 2012 on over-the-counter derivatives contracts, central counterparties and central reference systems, CA Indosuez Wealth (Europe) benefits from an intra-group exemption from the obligation to exchange (collateral) guarantees as follows:

  • Counterparty concerned: Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, a limited liability company whose head office is located at 12, Place des Etats-Unis , 92547 Montrouge Cedex, France, under the trade register number 304 187 701 RCS Nanterre, LEI number: 1VUV7VQFKUOQSJ21A208;
  • Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and CA Indosuez Wealth (Europe) belong to the Crédit Agricole Group;
  • The exemption is total for the Currencies, Interest Rates and Equities classes;
  • The cumulated notional amount of over-the-counter derivatives contracts to which the intragroup exemption applies: not applicable (full exemption).
  • Counterparty concerned: CA Indosuez, a limited liability company whose head office is located at 17, rue du Docteur Lancereaux, 75008 Paris, France, under the trade register number 572 171 635 RCS Paris;
  • CA Indosuez and CA Indosuez Wealth (Europe) belong to the Crédit Agricole Group;
  • The exemption is total for the Currencies, Commodities and Equities classes;
  • The cumulated notional amount of over-the-counter derivatives contracts to which the intragroup exemption applies: not applicable (full exemption).

AML/CFT

Our contribution to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, fraud and corruption

Under the framework of prevailing legal and regulatory obligations and in application of Crédit Agricole S.A. Group policy, Indosuez has a specific system in place to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and bribery and comply with embargos and asset freezes. These measures concern all its entities. 

 

1. Our international obligations

International obligations are:

  • the 40 recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) adopted in February 1990 and revised in February 2012 aimed at preventing use of the banking system to launder money stemming from criminal operations.
  • Directive (EU) 2015/849 from the European Parliament and Council of 20 May 2015 concerning prevention of the use of the financial system for money laundering or financing of terrorism, amending regulation (EU) no. 648/2012 of the European Parliament and Council and repealing directive 2005/60/CE of the European Parliament and Council and directive 2006/70/CE of Commission (text presenting the interest for the EEE). Directive (EU) 2015/849 aims to harmonise the measures of member states. It was supplemented by the new Directive 2018/843 of 30 May 2018 (the fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive), which is currently being enacted by the Member States.

 

2. Our national obligations 

Money laundering is commonly defined as the fact of facilitating by all means, the false justification of the origin of goods or revenue of a perpetrator of a crime or offence that generated a direct or indirect profit for them, as well as providing support in investing, dissimulating or converting the gains from one of these crimes. In other words, the aim is to make funds that are criminal in origin seem legal.

Financing of terrorism is the fact of providing or meeting by any means whatsoever, directly or indirectly, illicitly or deliberately, funds, shares or goods of any nature, with the intent to see them used or knowing that they will be used, partly or in full, with a view to committing or trying to commit an act of terrorism, even if they were not effectively used to this end, or if they are not related to one or more acts of specific terrorism.

If the two crimes are not controlled and managed effectively, they can have serious social, political and economic costs and favour the development of criminal organisations. Prevention, detection and enquiry measures have been implemented by the Bank with the aim of protecting the financial system against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.


3. Our commitments

A Group directive defines the organisation and obligations of a “Financial Security” business line dedicated to controlling and managing risks of money laundering, financing of terrorism, corruption, embargos and freezing of assets.
This business line is an integral part of the compliance control measures implemented by the Group.
It has set up procedures:

  • know your customer and their beneficial owners, and more specifically:
    • identifying the client and confirming their identity,
    • identifying the beneficial owner and taking reasonable measures to verify their identity,
    • assessing and, as applicable, collecting information on the purpose and envisaged nature of the business relationship,
    • assessing the business relationship on a continuous basis by keeping all documents, data and information up to date..
  • to monitor flows in application of rules on embargos (e.g. Fircosoft), asset freezing and identification of fund transfer order placers (recommendation no. 16 of the FATF);
  • to report suspect transactions and operations to the Financial Intelligence Unit;
  • to train all employees concerned. Crédit Agricole CIB participated actively in drawing up the Place LAB-FT e-Learning under the stimulus of the Centre de Formation de la Profession Bancaire (CFPB), and with the help of the Fédération Bancaire Française (FBF);
  • to control respect of procedures and measures put in place to meet the above-mentioned obligations;
  • to document, archive, conserve files and create audit ideas.

Within our Group, the Crédit Agricole, the principles of exchanging information necessary for the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism were also set.

Each of the Group’s unities has a Financial Security director responsible for rolling-out the Group’s rules and local obligations and our commitments are partly made formal in the following documents:

 

4. The fight against Fraud and Corruption

Indosuez is doing all it can to fight against internal and external fraud and corruption. All employees must adopt a business conduct in compliance with French anticorruption regulations (Sapin II) and applicable in countries where we are present. Our policy in this respect is one of zero tolerance, for example concerning facilitation payments.