Under laws and regulations, financial firms are required to have procedures and measures in place to prevent and manage conflicts of interest. Below you can read how Vive has incorporated the conflict of interest policy into its operations and the measures taken by Vive to protect the client's interest. At all times, the applicable laws and regulations take precedence and are also the guiding principles in cases of conflicts of interest.
Principles of policy
Vive has established the policy pursuant to its license as an investment firm. The policy applies to all Vive Group affiliates.
The policy
Vive recognizes that, as with any other investment firm, there may be potential or actual conflicts of interest. Vive's policy is to protect the client's interest so that a client cannot be materially harmed as a result. Vive has defined in this policy the circumstances that may lead to a conflict and the measures taken to manage and/or prevent these conflicts.
Potential conflicts of interest
Conflicts of interest may arise in the following (non-exhaustively) listed situations, among others:
Because Vive's services are highly automated, the likelihood that Vive, or an employee of Vive, will have an improper influence on the manner in which asset management is conducted on behalf of a single client, or a group of clients is considered extremely low. Where clients may have a conflict of interest among themselves, or otherwise have differing interests, this is reported to the Compliance Officer. Although the likelihood of this conflict of interest, given the services provided and the far-reaching method of automation, is considered low, the Compliance Officer will designate persons to represent the interests of these potentially conflicting clients. The Compliance Officer shall, in case of conflicting interests, together with the board member who is not responsible for commercial matters, weigh up the interests.
With regard to the provision of services by affiliated parties, the decision-making process is set up in such a way that, in case of a conflicting interest, the interest of the affiliated party is subordinate to the interest of (the clients of) Vive. To ensure this, the Compliance Officer will decide, together with the management of Vive, that the person in whom the related party is or may be represented does not participate in the decision-making.
Vive has established various measures, procedures and policy guidelines to recognize, prevent and manage a conflict of interest. Below is a non-exhaustive list of some of the measures taken by Vive to safeguard the client's material interest.
Internal supervision
Vive has a board member who is ultimately responsible for compliance matters. In addition, the Compliance Officer oversees compliance with the conflict of interest policy. Agreements with related parties will be assessed by the Management Board in conjunction with the Compliance Officer on the "at arms length" principle, with the final decision-making authority resting with the Management Board member who is not involved with the related party. Periodically, at least annually, the effectiveness of the anti-conflict of interest policy is evaluated and if necessary updated. In the event that a conflict of interest arises for which the policy does not provide, the Compliance Officer will immediately update the policy accordingly.
Compensation Policy
A specific remuneration policy has been established whereby the service model and the manner in which the fees charged to clients are not based on service that does not serve the client's interest.
Private investment transaction
The personnel policy states that if an employee, wishes to make a private investment transaction it must be reported in advance to the Compliance Officer.
Donations
In addition to the regulation of private investment transactions, the personnel policy includes the regulation of gifts and regulation of ancillary activities to manage conflicts of interest.
Provision
Vive receives no commissions, fees or monetary or non-monetary concessions paid or provided by any third party.
Market abuse
To prevent employees of Vive from using (price) sensitive information for their own gain, Vive has established a regulation on private investment transactions. The regulation should ensure that (the appearance of) insider trading and mixing of business and private interests is prevented.
Separation of functions
To ensure that persons cannot abuse the system, segregation of duties is ensured. A separation is made between functions in which investment services are provided and functions in which the operational processes are handled for the purpose of operations.
Communications
Any (possible) conflict of interest within Vive will be reported to the Compliance Officer, who will inform the Management Board. Compliance will investigate the reports in consultation with the Management Board. Each report will be assessed against the conflict of interest policy. A written record will be made of each relevant report in which Vive indicates how the conflict of interest was handled. Given the specific nature of conflicts of interest, Vive will assess each report on an individual basis. If the organizational and administrative arrangements put in place by the investment firm to prevent or manage a specific conflict of interest are not sufficient, this will be disclosed at least to the, in this case, affected clients.