What is a giro?

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The word Giro has its origins in the Netherlands in the context of administering investments.

The name Giro is translated from Dutch to English in names such as: Investment Giro, Investor Giro, Securities Giro. The name Giro is also used for investments or investors administration for funds. 

When administering investments the name 'Giro' is a generic term used for a non-bank, administrative account on which investments and transaction are registered.

Investments may include listed shares, mutual funds, ETFs, participations in private equity, real estate or collective projects.  The investments that are registered are collectively held in an administrative 'Asset Pool'. The Assets are held on an account in the name of a foundation, investment firm or investment institution at one or more bank depots or custodians.

Investors can be natural persons, institutions or companies.

Regulated structures

A Giro can be regulated in various structures in the Netherlands, but also in the EU. Legal requirements and detailed rules apply to each structure and country. The various structures are: 

  • Investment Giro, Investors Giro, Securities Giro, Beleggers Giro based on the Dutch Wft 
  • Holding assets at the Investment Company and Dutch 'Bewaarinstelling' for cash based on the Dutch Wge 
  • Investors or Investment administration - based on the Dutch Wft

All offered services for the various structures are compliant with:

  • Anti-Money Laundering and PEP (Wwft);
  • Markets In Financial Instruments Directive II (Mifid II);
  • Alternative Investments Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD);
  • Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities V (UCITS V)

IQ-EQ Investment Giro Services

IQ-EQ provides Investment Giro Services for various legal Giro structures and complies with all these various legal requirements and provisions.Together with IQ-EQ you can determine which Giro structure applies best to your product or service.

We provide an investment Giro service to execute buy and sell orders on various stock exchanges. In the IQ-EQ Giro portal, the Account Holder will find an overview of their portfolio providing a non-bank, administrative account on which investments and transactions are registered.

Below you can read an explanation on some typical Giro aspects that apply for the IQ-EQ Investment Giro Services. 

Transaction Days

With the provider of a product or service who wants to use a Giro, IQ-EQ can agree to carry out transactions for the various Account Holders of the Provider on fixed days in the month. This can vary from one to several times per month. In addition to the fixed transaction days, the provider can agree with IQ-EQ  that in special situations an extra transaction day can take place.

Transaction types

On a Giro account, the following transactions can be carried out:

  • Purchases from cash deposits, which take place in monetary amounts and result in a position in fractions up to 4 digits behind the comma
  • Sales can be specified in cash amounts, numbers or percentages
  • Switches for example from one fund to another ETF
  • Switches from one Model to another Modelportfolio
  • Rebalance of a model portfolio
  • Periodic purchases or sales. Account Holders can make automatic periodic deposits or withdrawals. In case of a deposit the amount can be automatically invested according to a model. In case of a withdrawal, a pro rata amount of the portfolio is sold.
  • Proceeds from sales are automatically used for purchases (switch or rebalance) or transferred automatically to the account of origin of the Account Holder ​

General

  • No limits can be used when entering transactions
  • ​No short selling
  • ​No purchases on margin

Trade Execution and Pricing

  • At a fixed time on the transaction day, the so-called 'cut-off-time', all the purchase - and sale transactions of all the Account Holders of one Provider are added together.
  • After the cut-off-time, the transaction orders cannot be changed or cancelled by the Account Holder or Provider.
  • Purchases and sell orders of Account Holders for example in the same Fund or ETF are internalised. The remaining number or amount to buy or sell is offered as one total order and is sent to the broker/depot bank to execute on a regulated stock exchange in accordance with the instructions and best executions of the Provider.
  • A non-listed investment, for example an investment fund or cooperative project, is offered as a single total order , for example, the transfer agent of that investment fund or administration of the cooperative project.
  • The price at which an order is carried out is therefore not determined by IQ-EQ, but on a regulated stock exchange or by the investment fund or cooperative project based on the NAV.
  • Based on the traded price or the NAV the transactions are processed on the Giro account of the investor. ​
  • IQ-EQ has no trading position and is not a counterparty of the orders of the Account Holders. IQ-EQ can have an account, the so-called processor account, where it holds the administrative rounding positions. This can never be more than for example 1 ETF or other investment (long or short).

Reconciliation

The task of IQ-EQ is to check if the total of all the administered investments on the Giro account of all the investors is equal to the total investment position of the 'Asset Pool' that is held in custody on the account(s) at the depot Bank(s) or fund institutions. This task is called reconciliation.

Online access

​Web portals are a 'must have' for Giro Services. The  IQ-EQ Giro portal gives  the Account Holder an overview of their portfolio showing the  number of investments in fractions, quotes and returns.

Logging into the Web portal is 'Account Holder' based.This means that the person who logs into his secure environment sees all the accounts they have with one Provider. 

Within the web portal the Account Holder can specify transactions and change information such as its address. The transactions the Account Holder can specify depends on the product and product conditions of the Provider. IQ-EQ has the ability to adjust this.

Documents such as deposit and redemptions statements, transaction notes, confirmation of address changes, quarterly reports and fiscal annual statements are made available via the web portal. Once a document is available, the account holder will receive a notification email.

The web portal can efficiently create and open new accounts.

Cost effective

Transactions are carried out as a single order on the total 'Asset Pool' account at the depot bank or fund institution for the purposes of all investors of a single provider. So only transaction fees will be charged by the depot bank for that single total order.

As an example the rate of XYZ Bank or broker: 0.10% with a minimum of €9 and a maximum of €75

  • In a total order of for example 75 account holders with an average transaction amount of €10,000 the cost per account holder is €1

This is as opposed to the structure for a securities bank depot, such as for example at the XYZ Bank or broker, where transaction per client account is carried out

  • Based on the above example, a client at XYZ Bank on average pays at least €10 per order

Operating a Giro  gives account holders  a large cost advantage in the case of purchase and sale of relatively small amounts. Transaction costs are no longer an obstacle to:

  • rebalance
  • distribution of purchases and sales
  • distribution in model portfolios over relative small depots

No bank service costs

Depot banks often charge service costs for their account. In the structure with a Giro, all assets of the account holder of one Provider are held on one single account at the depot bank. So the clients no longer pay service costs. 

The Provider may bear in mind the large total assets on that account at the depot bank. That asks for a competitive rate which is lower that the costs incurred by each client in maintaining their own account.

Typical Giro investments

The kind of investments that can be administered depends on the legal structure of the Giro. Examples are Investments Funds, ETF's listed stocks, private equity, real estate.

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