Consent to Receive Documents Electronically

This disclosure and informed consent applies to all communications for accounts, products and services offered by Vontobel Swiss Financial Advisers AG (“Vontobel SFA”) and the Vontobel SFA online portal (“Vontobel SFA Online”) used to access those accounts, products or services, to the extent they are not otherwise governed by the terms of a separate disclosure and informed consent.

 

You are entitled to receive and we are required by law to provide certain records and disclosures about our advisory relationship and transactions in your account on paper. With your affirmative consent, we can provide the documents to you electronically instead via the secure message functionality of the Vontobel SFA Online platform (“E-Delivery”). The information below will help you understand the conditions and requirements relating to E-Delivery. You can always find the most up-to-date version of this important information at vontobelsfa.com/sfa-paperless.

E-Delivery applies to all documents, communications and disclosures related to your Vontobel SFA account(s) (“E-Delivery Documents”). E-Delivery Documents include: tax forms, trade confirmations, shareholder materials, statements and account documents (e.g., account statements and other account-related documents associated with the account, including account agreement amendments and program disclosures, fund prospectuses, and investment advisory service disclosures). These document categories are described in detail below. E-Delivery Documents also include new account agreements and account and program information and disclosures delivered to you as part of the account opening process. Electronic documents specific to your transactions and account will be available online for up to 10 years from the date of initial delivery. Your consent to receive documents electronically is not limited in duration and does not expire.

Depending on where you reside, the initial scope of your E-Delivery enrollment, and whether you have made modifications to your enrollment, not all document categories may apply to you and not all documents may be available for electronic delivery. Certain documents may continue to be delivered to you via postal mail. In the future, these documents may be made available to you electronically in accordance with your informed consent to this disclosure. If you are uncertain which documents are covered by your E-Delivery enrollment, please contact your Wealth Management Consultant.

You indicate your consent to E-Delivery by selecting the electronic delivery option within Vontobel SFA Online indicating assent to or acceptance of the conditions and requirements relating to E-Delivery Documents, and we record your consent. If you do not provide consent, we will send you paper copies. Your consent will be effective until you cancel your enrollment in E-Delivery or we notify you that the program is discontinued. If you are a joint account holder, your consent binds the other account holder. If you are a collective account holder, all account holders must consent collectively.

By providing consent, you confirm that you have the ability to access https://sfa.vontobel.com on the web, and the ability to open, view, save, retain, and print PDF documents as described below. These abilities demonstrate that you can receive the documents we will deliver to you. You also confirm that you have provided a valid email address as part of the Vontobel SFA Online enrollment process.

We may, if necessary and at our discretion, end your participation in E-Delivery, or change the terms and conditions relating to E-Delivery and electronic communications. It is your responsibility to review any updates in a timely manner. We will provide you with notice of any discontinuation or update as required by law.

 

Electronic Delivery 

E-Delivery Documents will be delivered to you via the secure message functionality within your Vontobel SFA Online portal. To access your E-Delivery Documents use your personal access information to log in to Vontobel SFA Online at https://sfa.vontobel.com E-Delivery Documents will appear in the "Documents" section of the menu. Select a document to view, download, save, or print.

 

Our Contact Information to Ask Questions or Withdraw Your Consent 

To request a paper copy, ask questions about, or report problems concerning E-Delivery, please call +41-58-283 81 11 (or toll free from within the United States at 1-855-853 4288), or contact your Wealth Management Consultant, who will be pleased to assist you.

You may withdraw your consent to receive E-Delivery Documents at any time by contacting your Wealth Management Consultant or by calling +41-58-283 81 11 (or toll free from within the United States at 1-855-853 4288). Please allow three working days for processing.

 

Electronic Notification When a Paperless Document Is Ready

We send you an email to let you know a document is available. The email will go to the email address you provided when enrolling in Vontobel SFA Online. For some documents, the email itself will be the E-Delivery. For other documents, the email will contain a link to Vontobel SFA Online, and your login will be required prior to such access.

 

Keeping Your Email Address Current and Actions Vontobel SFA Will Take If There Is a Problem

It is your responsibility to notify us of any change in your email address by contacting your Wealth Management Consultant, who will ask you to complete an email waiver form to register the change. In addition to the process outlined above, if we receive any indication either that the email notification did not reach you successfully or that there is a problem with your email address or service, we will take the following actions:

  • Tax Forms – Send a letter by postal mail within two business days to inform you that we were unable to deliver your tax form electronically. In certain circumstances, as may be required by law or regulation or for other reasons, we may send you the tax form itself by postal mail within the time period prescribed by the relevant legal or regulatory requirements.

  • Statements and Account Documents – Send a letter by postal mail informing you that we were unable to deliver your statement or account document electronically. Account Documents that are required by law will be sent by postal mail within the time period prescribed by the relevant legal or regulatory requirement.

  • Shareholder Materials – Send a paper copy of the shareholder materials via postal mail within 24 hours. We will send you a letter informing you that we were unable to deliver your shareholder materials electronically. The account will be unenrolled from E-Delivery and we will begin to send you paper shareholder materials.

Please note that after three consecutive months of unsuccessful email notification attempts regarding your tax forms, trade confirmations, or statements and account documents, your account(s) will revert back to postal mail delivery. This will cancel your enrollment in E-Delivery and withdraw your consent to receive E-Delivery Documents.

 

Hardware and Software Requirements

E-Delivery requires you to have access to a device (computer or smartphone) with Internet service and an active email account and address, along with the following:

  • A current version of a common Internet browser, with JavaScript enabled.
  • A current version of a program, such as Adobe Reader, that accurately reads and displays PDF documents. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your device, you can download the free software at adobe.com.
  • An operating system on your device that supports the above.
  • A printer that connects to your device, if you wish to print documents.
  • Electronic storage connected to your device, if you wish to retain records in electronic form. (If you are using your computer, just save documents to your local hard drive.)

If you have questions relating to hardware and software requirements, please call or email us using the contact information on the previous page.

 

Security and Privacy Information

For more information, please visit: 

Records and Disclosures Included in Vontobel- SFA E-Delivery Documents Program

Tax Forms (“eTax Documents”)

A tax document provides important information you need to complete your tax returns. Much of the information we provide in tax documents is also reported to the IRS. This includes any corrected tax documents and accompanying notices. When a tax document is ready, we will send an email notification with the subject line “eDelivery Notification” and containing a web link to Vontobel SFA Online.

 

Statements and Account Documents (“eStatements”)

An account statement provides important information about your account, including, but not limited to, an overview of your asset allocation, the price and quantity of the positions you hold, the performance of your program account, and a summary of the transactions performed within your account.

Account statements are sent at least quarterly. With your account statements, we often include accompanying account-related notices and other regulatory information, as described below. At account opening and from time to time thereafter, we also send you notifications about your account. Collectively, we call these documents, notices, and disclosures “account documents.” When you consent to E-Delivery, you consent to paperless account statements and paperless account documents.

 

Investment Advisory Service Disclosures (A Sub-Category of Account Documents)

Your consent to E-Delivery includes consent to receive all account documents electronically, including, but not limited to, investment advisory program disclosures (Wrap Fee Program Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A)), brochure supplements with information about individual representatives (Form ADV Part 2B), Client Relationship Summary (Form CRS), and related materials such as periodic updates or annual summaries of any changes to those documents (collectively, “Form ADV Disclosures”), as well as the Client Privacy Notice, as Vontobel SFA makes these available in the future. These investment advisory program disclosures are required by regulation and contain important information about the services, fees, and conflicts of interest associated with your investment advisory account. Paperless Form ADV Disclosures may accompany your account statements or be sent independently.

 

Shareholder Materials (“Electronic Delivery”)

Shareholder materials include regulatory information such as prospectuses; prospectus supplements; quarterly, semi-annual, and annual reports; shareholder meeting notices and proxy materials. You will receive an email notification with a web link to shareholder materials if you have a position in an equity or mutual fund as of the record date for a particular shareholder distribution and the materials are made available electronically by the issuer or third party. If the issuer or third party does not make shareholder materials available electronically, you will instead receive the standard printed materials by postal mail. By providing your consent to receive electronic delivery of shareholder material, you also consent to electronic householding. This means that if you and someone else enroll in this paperless service using the same email address, we may send one email announcement to this email address if each account holds securities of the same issuer. If you no longer want electronic householding of your shareholder materials, you must modify your E-Delivery enrollment as described above.