Investment club

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An investment club , Aktienclub , securities club or investors Club is an association of private investors with the objective of common investment . The collective assets are usually managed in a club-made deposit, in which the individual members have a stake.

classification

A distinction must be made between:

  • regional clubs, which usually consist of a manageable number of members who know each other personally
  • Supraregional clubs with hundreds of members, a separate investment committee and largely professional structures

How many regional clubs there are in the German-speaking area is not known, as there is no central office that keeps statistics on this. There are a few dozen on the Internet. But it may well be that the number in Germany is 7,000 and more such regional clubs.

There are different reasons for founding or joining an investment club:

  • Bundling of smaller investment amounts
    • for risk diversification
    • in order to even reach minimum investment amounts, for example for funds
    • to optimize fees, as most banks charge degressive fees based on the order volume
  • Bundling knowledge about the financial markets and mutual learning from one another

Many of the regional clubs sometimes serve social gatherings in addition to these primary goals.

Differentiation from savings clubs

Savings clubs - as they are often found in restaurants - differ from an investment club in that they are in a savings club

  • the amounts (savings installments) usually deposited in a savings box are smaller, e.g. B. a few euros per week
  • the funds are not invested, but at most collected in an ordinary savings account
  • be paid out in full once a year

A savings club is also mostly informal. It is usually neither a registered association nor a company.

Differentiation from financial service providers

Most investment clubs are not financial services providers. In contrast to a fund, for example, an investment club is not intended to be paid in money and then hoped for others to increase it. Rather, an investment club lives from the fact that the individual members actively participate in investment decisions.

Legal status by country

Germany

General

An investment club under German law is a community of investors who jointly invest and manage capital. In most cases the legal form is a GbR .

Up to a limit of 50 shareholders and EUR 500,000 paid-in capital, an investment club is not subject to any supervision, provided there is no commercial activity and no fee is paid for running the club. As soon as one of these limits is exceeded, the law for the protection of investors requires approval as a financial service provider by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority . However, this is tied to very strict requirements which, of course, cannot easily be met by investment clubs. In particular, the managing director must have previously worked as a manager in portfolio management for the club to receive approval. In practice, this requirement can only be met if an external service provider is involved for portfolio management. However, the costs for such service providers are higher than the management fees of standard investment funds, so that the club loses its profitability.

Since the shares of the investment clubs are offered to the public, a sales prospectus must also be prepared in accordance with the Sales Prospectus Act. This explains the structure, the risks and the fees. Stricter rules apply to the prospectus requirement than to the authorization requirement, so that they can exist even if the club has fewer than 50 shareholders or 500,000 euros in capital. A prospectus does not have to be created if the offer is limited to a maximum of 20 club shares and it has been determined from the outset that a maximum of EUR 100,000 new deposits will be collected within twelve months. In addition, reference must be made to this exception in the public offer. Of the estimated 5000 stock clubs in Germany, around half a dozen currently have a sales prospectus.

The basis of the investment club is the articles of association, which must be signed by all shareholders.

The umbrella organization of German investment clubs is the German Association for Protection of Securities Holdings (DSW) .

It has recently been difficult for investment clubs to find a custodian bank, because on the one hand the cost of accepting new shareholders is very high for the bank and on the other hand the club competes with the bank's investment sales business. The DSW and the Sparkassen Broker have entered into an extensive cooperation, so that the custody account management is taken over for all clubs.

Withholding tax and directive on markets in financial instruments

The introduction of the final withholding tax has a major impact, especially for investment clubs, as speculative profits are often subject to double taxation without the active counteraction of the club management. This double taxation only affects the remaining shareholders, so that an investment club has to reclaim the excess tax paid in the annual tax return.

The Financial Markets Directive (MiFID) does not result in any changes for investment clubs with regard to the criteria for the management's authorization requirement according to Section 32 of the Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz - KWG).

Switzerland

An investment club under Swiss law is a team of organized investors who invest and manage jointly invested capital according to their own rules. The legal form is a simple company.

Such investment clubs are not subject to the Collective Investment Schemes Act (formerly the Investment Fund Act), or KAG for short, if they adhere to the following four rules.

  • no public advertising may be carried out
  • the club cannot have more than 20 members
  • Deceptive names such as “investment funds” or “investment funds” may not be used
  • the club's assets must be managed by the club members themselves

It is believed that the club members know each other personally and that there are no legal entities involved. Any capital gains are treated tax-free as with natural persons.

Reasons for founding an investment club are collective investment and savings in bank fees, expenses and brokerage because higher amounts of money can be traded.

The club regulations regulate everything that is not already mandatory in the law. This must be signed by all members and deposited with the relevant bank.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leaflet - Notes on the financial supervisory authorization requirement of investment clubs and their managing directors. BaFin, July 2013, accessed on May 23, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Compulsory prospectus for investment clubs? In: TeamInvest Forum. October 29, 2009, archived from the original on June 20, 2012 ; accessed on May 23, 2016 .
  3. ↑ [1]
  4. ↑ Letter from BaFin dated January 3, 2008. (PDF; 810 kB) Archived from the original on May 26, 2012 ; accessed on May 23, 2016 .