Disclosure of Client Data

Bank client confidentiality is not affected by this amendment and protecting all of our clients’ data is naturally a matter of the highest priority for Aargauische Kantonalbank, without any reservations. The backdrop to this amendment is the global tendency towards increasing transparency in relation to financial market and foreign exchange transactions. There has always been some degree of tension between this transparency and bank client confidentiality, and Aargauische Kantonalbank too must engage with this issue when complying with statutory and regulatory requirements. The intended aims of this development are to combat money laundering, the financing of terrorism and corruption, to enforce sanctions and market conduct rules, to prevent insider trading and to ensure sound corporate governance. Aargauische Kantonalbank is affected by this development, as are all banks in Switzerland. It can provide services such as trading and the custody of securities and financial instruments, provided that you as a client accept and contribute to this transparency. Additional information concerning this issue is available from the Swiss Bankers Association.

• Information from the SBA concerning the disclosure of client data and further information in relation to international payments and investments in foreign securities

Depending upon the applicable legal or contractual provisions, Aargauische Kantonalbank may be obliged to disclose data relating to financial market and foreign exchange transactions. In order for Aargauische Kantonalbank to be able to execute its orders in accordance with these provisions, it needs your consent to disclose your data where necessary. You do not need to do anything if you agree to disclosure. If you do not agree to your data being disclosed, Aargauische Kantonalbank must refrain from continuing the business relationship, may no longer be able to offer certain services or may only be able to execute certain orders according to less favourable terms. This currently affects the trading and custody of financial instruments with a foreign connection, as well as any related services such as investment advice and asset management. In this context it is important to consider that a foreign connection can also arise in relation to the securities of Swiss issuers.

Disclosure obligations may arise under the local law of the countries affected by a financial market or foreign currency transaction or according to the compliance standards of any third parties involved. In such cases it is important to consider that trading (depending upon the stock exchange or trading system), subsequent actions relating to settlement and custody may potentially take place in third countries. Disclosure obligations vary from country to country. In addition, new disclosure obligations may arise or existing disclosure obligations may be altered at any time. For this reason, it is not possible to provide a conclusive list of potential disclosure obligations here. Aargauische Kantonalbank is currently obliged to disclose your data for example under the following circumstances:

• If a company requests information concerning securities issued by it.
  Example: UK company law enables public limited companies to obtain information concerning the identity (e.g. name, registered office, domicile, address, nationality, date of birth etc.) of its shareholders. A UK public limited company can therefore request information at any time concerning the persons who currently hold shares, or who have done so within the last three years. The company can request information concerning clients, authorised representatives, beneficial owners and other interested parties that hold shares either de iure or de facto or that are able to exercise voting rights in relation to them. Similar disclosure obligations apply for instance also in Australia, France, Ireland, Norway, Singapore and other countries.
   
• If a financial market infrastructure operator requests information relating to a service (for example a transaction, a deposit account or an account) provided by it.
  Example: The third-party custodians involved by Aargauische Kantonalbank may request information concerning transactions and securities holdings, including in particular the identity of the client or beneficial owner, in accordance with their compliance standards or for the operation of their monitoring systems. In many cases this is due to local requirements, including inter alia the combatting of insider trading and money laundering.
   
• If an authority requests information concerning transferable securities, financial instruments and foreign exchange issued, traded, settled, executed or held in custody in the country of the authority.
  Example: The stock market supervisory authority in Hong Kong can request information at any time from local securities traders concerning the details of transactions executed by them as well as concerning the person who instructed the transaction or the respective beneficial owners. Any requests must be answered within two days. Aargauische Kantonalbank is obliged under contract towards the securities traders to disclose the data (e.g. name, address, passport copy, ISIN, holding, background to the transaction, identity of other people involved etc.) upon request. Similar indirect or direct disclosure obligations apply for example also in Finland or Norway.
   
• If Aargauische Kantonalbank purchases or sells transferable securities or financial instruments for you as a client and is required to exchange information with traders or trading venues for this purpose.
  Example: According to Article 26 MiFIR, trading venues in the European Economic Area are obliged to report securities transactions (purchases and sales) involving direct participants from outside the European Economic Area to the national supervisory authorities. For this purpose, trading venues oblige their direct participants to disclose the necessary client data. In order for Aargauische Kantonalbank to be able to execute transactions for its clients on such trading venues, it must provide the identification number associated with nationality, first name, surname and date of birth for natural persons and the LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) for legal persons. The trading venue then makes the full report to the competent supervisory authority. If Aargauische Kantonalbank is unable to disclose the necessary client data, it will be unable to execute the order for the client, or may only be able to do so at another trading venue, potentially according to less favourable terms. A similar disclosure is also required for transactions on the Swiss stock exchange. In such cases however, disclosure occurs in accordance with Article 39 of the Swiss Financial Market Infrastructure Act [Finanzmarktinfrastrukturgesetz] (FinfraG).

Information concerning the Swiss Financial Market Infrastructure Act (FinfraG)
 

It releases Aargauische Kantonalbank from the duty to uphold bank client confidentiality and data protection in relation to the transaction or service concerned. The declaration of consent enables Aargauische Kantonalbank to disclose client data if it considers that it is obliged to do so or if this is necessary in relation to any financial market or foreign exchange transaction. This enables Aargauische Kantonalbank to execute most financial market and foreign exchange transactions for you without any delay, including in particular those with a foreign connection.

Aargauische Kantonalbank discloses exclusively the data that are actually necessary in order to execute the client order. Depending upon the specific conditions applicable, disclosure may concern the persons:

• who instructed a transaction or who have beneficial ownership of the resulting assets;
• in whose name an account or custody account is held;
• who are beneficial owners of the balance on an account or of the transferable securities and financial instruments held on a custody account or of the resulting income (for example dividends);
• who dispose of the credit on an account or the transferable securities and financial instruments held on a custody account or who are able to exercise voting rights in relation to them.

It may be necessary to disclose in particular the following information concerning such persons:

• surname, first name, date of birth, nationality, passport or other identification number, tax lD, postal address, email address, telephone number;
• company object, articles of association, governing officers, authorised signatories and controlling persons;
• IBAN and account/custody account number, current and previous holdings of transferable securities and financial instruments or balance on accounts;
• counterparty and other information concerning the transaction such as the instructing party, order, price, background and origin of assets;
• relationship with the issue of transferable securities and financial instruments
• etc.

This information may in some cases have to be supported by documentary evidence.
This therefore means that non-clients may also be affected, such as for example beneficial owners, authorised representatives etc., concerning whom you have provided or may hereafter provide information to us. You are responsible for informing these persons.

Not all countries have a level of data protection that is adequate compared to that prevailing in Switzerland. According to the list published by the Federal Data Protection Commissioner (see www.edoeb.admin.ch), it is possible that protection of the data of natural persons may not be adequate in, for example, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the USA, Turkey and other countries. With the exception of a small number of other countries, the data of legal persons do not benefit from adequate protection outside Switzerland. As a general rule, data that are transmitted to such countries may be used by other authorities (for example the tax authorities) and third parties without any restriction, unless other protection is put in place in the specific individual case.
Please contact your client advisor if you have any questions relating to the declaration of consent in our GTC.