Investor Categorization

Based on the current legal framework, SOLIDUS Securities Investment Services Firm classifies its clients into one of the following three categories: a) Retail Clients, b) Professional Clients, and c) Eligible Counterparties. This classification is imposed to ensure that Investment Firms provide their clients with appropriate and proportional protection according to each client's characteristics when providing investment services.

Retail Clients

Retail Clients are clients who cannot be considered Professionals or Eligible Counterparties. Retail Clients enjoy the highest level of protection among all categories of investors. In the category of Retail Clients, the highest level of protection and information regarding the provision of investment services is provided. SOLIDUS Securities Investment Services Firm classifies all of it’s clients as Retail Clients unless otherwise agreed between the Company and the Client.

Professional Clients

Professional Clients are mainly legal entities that have the experience, knowledge, and expertise to make their own investment decisions and assess the risks they undertake. Professional Clients receive a lower level of protection compared to Retail Clients, regarding the level, form, and timing of the information provided to them. Professional Clients are categorized as:

• Professionals by nature
• Professionals by size

Professionals by Nature

Professionals by nature are considered the following:

• Businesses that are required to obtain a license or are subject to regulatory rules to carry out their characteristic activities in financial markets, whether they have obtained a license from a member state under EU legislation or are licensed or subject to regulatory rules of a member state without reference to a directive, or are businesses that have obtained a license or are subject to regulatory rules of a third country. Such businesses include the following: banks, investment firms, other financial institutions that have obtained a license or are subject to regulations, insurance companies, collective investment undertakings and their management companies, pension funds and their management companies, commodity derivatives dealers and related derivatives, and other institutional investors.
• National and regional governments, public entities managing public debt at national or regional level, central banks, international and supranational organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank, and other similar international organizations.
• Other institutional investors whose main activity is investing in financial instruments, including entities whose exclusive purpose is to securitize assets or other financial transactions.

Professionals by Size

These are large companies that meet at least two of the following size criteria individually:

• Balance sheet total: 20,000,000 euros.
• Net turnover: 40,000,000 euros.
• Own funds: 2,000,000 euros.

Potential Professional Clients

Potential Professional Clients are those Retail Clients, including public bodies, local authorities, municipalities, and individual investors, who meet specific criteria and can therefore request to be treated as Professionals. The inclusion criteria in this category are as follows, at least two of which must be fulfilled to be included in this category:

• The client has conducted an average of ten (10) transactions of significant size per quarter in the relevant market over the last four quarters.
• The value of the client's financial instrument portfolio, defined as cash deposits plus financial instruments, exceeds five hundred thousand (500,000) euros.
• The client has held or held for at least one year a professional position in the financial sector requiring knowledge of the planned transactions or services.

Eligible Counterparties

Eligible Counterparties are treated by SOLIDUS Securities Investment Services Firm as clients with specialized knowledge of investment matters and the financial ability to bear the risk of each investment they undertake. For this reason, this category of clients receives a lower level of protection compared to Professionals and Retail Clients. Eligible Counterparties include investment firms, banks, insurance companies, UCITS and their management companies, pension funds, and generally financial institutions licensed or regulated under EU law.

Change of Categorization

In the event that the above conditions are met and you wish to change your categorization to be treated as a Professional Client for one or more types of investment products or transactions or one or more investment services, you should submit a written request to SOLIDUS Securities Investment Services Firm for consideration if you meet the legal requirements.

In any case, even if the legal requirements for your categorization as a Professional Client are met, SOLIDUS Securities Investment Services Firm reserves the right to reject your request, especially if, taking into account the content of the transactions you intend to carry out and the investment services you will receive, it deems that reduced protection is not justified based on your experience and knowledge of investment decisions.

The main consequence of your categorization as a Professional Client is that the framework of obligations and rights, including disclosure, best execution, and order handling, will be mainly based on our agreements and arrangements.