Regulatory Environment

Client Protection investorseurope was founded in 2001 and is Europe's largest independently owned Offshore Stockbroker. It is an executing broker, has no portfolio and does not run any positions. Its independence as an offshore stockbroker is an important guarantee for investors in the wake of the nationalisation of banks (and their subsidiary stockbrokers) by World Governments in 2008.

Our commitment to client protection has no equal in mainland Europe and we have the largest selection of online trading platforms in the world: offshore! Come to the Source. Open an online trading account with investorseurope.

Read our Disclaimer on Spot Forex

MiFID

Investors Europe Limited (“IEL”), of Suite 745, Europort, Gibraltar is regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission. In accordance with our regulatory obligations, this is to inform you of various changes that took effect from 1st November 2007 with the introduction of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (“MiFID”).

MiFID is an important piece of legislation governing dealings in financial instruments across the European Community. Many of the provisions in MiFID will have a direct impact on the relationship between IEL and its customers. We believe this impact will be overwhelmingly positive. As a result of MiFID, your interests will be given stronger protection and we will be required to take greater account of your particular circumstances and financial objectives. The purpose is to inform you of certain changes introduced by MiFID and how these changes will affect your relationship with us.

MiFID introduces two main categories of client, retail clients and professional clients and a separate and distinct third category of client for a limited range of business, eligible counterparty. Different levels of regulatory protection attach to each category and hence to clients within each category.

We would like to inform you that you that Investors Europe has elected to treat you as a “Retail client”. This affects the regulatory protections which you will be provided with as from 1st November 2007. You are deemed to consent to this categorisation in relation to all services, products and transactions if you conduct business with IEL after receipt of this communication.

It is important that you understand that amongst the services provided by investorseurope is spot forex trading. This activity is outside the scope of MiFID and you would therefore not be considered to be dealing in ‘financial instruments’, as defined by MiFID, if you traded spot forex and would not be given any protection under same.

As a Retail client you will be able to move between categories either generally, or in relation to one or more particular services or transactions, or one or more types of product or transaction.

MiFID provides considerable flexibility to move between categories provided certain criteria are met. As a Retail client you will be able to “opt up” to professional status either generally, or in relation to one or more particular services or transactions, or one or more types of product or transaction.

You must inform us if you wish to opt up to Professional client status and waive the additional protection afforded to Retail clients. We must then evaluate whether opting you into this regime is warranted by the scope of your knowledge, expertise or experience. It is possible that such an “opt up” will only be possible in relation to certain products or services (for example, the fact that you may be knowledgeable and experienced in relation to bonds does not necessarily mean that you are knowledgeable and experienced in relation to equity derivatives).

In addition, we must ensure that you meet two out of three specific criteria to fall within the professional category:

If you consider that you meet the above criteria and wish to be treated as a Professional client, either generally or in respect of a particular investment service or transaction, or type of transaction or product, you must inform us of the same in writing. After assessing you against the above criteria we must then give you a written warning of the protection and investor compensation rights that you will stand to lose a result of waiving your retail client status. In a separate document to your contract with us you must also state that you are aware of the consequences of waiving the protections afforded to Retail clients. Under MiFID we are required to have in place a “Best Execution” policy in relation to client orders. We are also required to have in place a “Conflicts of Interest” policy, which we must adhere to in all of our dealings with you. We are required under MiFID to disclose details of these policies to you.

Best Execution Policy

General principle
Best Execution refers to our obligation as a firm to execute orders on behalf of customers to ensure that the prices those orders receive reflect the optimal mix of price improvement, speed and likelihood of execution. This policy describes Investors Europe Limited’s (IEL’s) approach to best execution and describes the main factors that IEL evaluates to determine the best way to execute an order on behalf of the client. It applies both to retail and professional clients as defined in IEL’s general terms and conditions.

Best Execution In Practice
We will take all care to obtain the best possible result for our customer with reference to price, costs born by the customer, size, nature of the transactions, time of reception of order, speed and likelihood of execution and trading venue taking into account the state of the relevant market(s).

The relevant market(s) shall be deemed to be the market(s) offering the most favourable trading conditions also in terms of transparency, liquidity and clearing and settlement arrangements in connection with the envisaged transaction. If IEL executes in another trading venue, we will demonstrate that this has been done in accordance with the customer’s best interest.

IEL will act with due skill, care and diligence and will pay due regard to its customer’s interests – selecting the most opportune time to execute the customer order. We will endeavour to take reasonable care to ascertain the price which is the best available for the customer order in the relevant market at the time for transactions of the kind and size concerned .

We shall pass on to the customer the details of the price at which the trade was executed to meet the customer order.

Where a customer order is subject to a special condition we will disclose any additional cost involved in satisfying the special condition or in respect of the non-standard element.

An example of when IEL will take particular care to assess the timing of execution of all or part of a current customer order includes when:

We may have reasonable grounds for postponing execution of a current customer order in the best interests of the customer. An example would be if the deal is part of an aggregated transaction.

IEL will occasionally execute orders in emerging markets (i.e. markets in countries with one or more of the following characteristics: political instability, uncertainty regarding financial markets and economic growth, developing financial markets and weak economies). It will only do so on behalf of clients who have a thorough understanding of such investments and the risks involved, and who have sufficient funds to assume these risks.

Execution Venues
We have included the list below of the Execution Venues which we believe best meet customer interests for the Best Execution of their orders on a consistent basis.

When selecting a venue we have not only taken into account the fees and commissions when under taking a transaction but in addition we have also focused on the quality of execution available on the venue.

The list of venues is not exhaustive and execution may occur in alternative venues from time to time provided those venues are consistent with this policy.

American Stock Exchanges Australian Stock Exchange Austrian Stock Exchange Bolsa de Madrid Borsa Italiana Brazil Stock Exchange Bulgaria Stock Exchange Canada Stock Exchange China Stock Exchange Czech Republic Stock Exchange Danish Stock Exchange Estonian Stock Exchange Euronext Paris Euronext Portugal Euronext Brussels Euronext Nederlands Greek Stock Exchange HEX Finland Hong Kong Stock Exchange Hungary Stock Exchange India Stock Exchange Indonesia Stock Exchange Ireland Stock Exchange Italy Stock Exchange

Japan Stock Exchange Latvian Stock Exchange Lithuanian Stock Exchange London Stock Exchanges Malaysia Stock Exchange NASDAQ New Zealand Stock Exchange Norway Stock Exchange NYSE NY Stock Exchange Polish Stock Exchange Portugal Stock Exchange Rumania Stock Exchange Russian Stock Exchange Singapore Stock Exchange South Africa Stock Exchange South Korea Stock Exchange Spain Stock Exchange Stockholmsborsen Sweden Switzerland Stock Exchange Taiwan Stock Exchange Thailand Stock Exchange Toronto Stock Exchange Turkey Stock Exchange Xetra Exc Electronic Trading

Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Chicago Climate Exchange Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) International Monetary Market (IMM) New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) Eurex Euronext.liffe Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) Mercado Oficial Español de Futuros y Opciones SOFFEX Swiss Options & Financial Futures Exch Intercontinental Exchange (ICE Futures) London Metal Exchange (LME) NYMEX Europe Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE) Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) Tokyo Grain Exchange (TGE) Tokyo Finance Exchange (TFX)

Conflicts of Interest Policy

General Principle Where a conflict of interest arises we will disclose this openly to our customers. We will endeavour to act professionally and independently with the customer’s best interests always in mind. We will manage any conflict of interest situation fairly.

IEL will take all reasonable steps to identify conflicts of interest between:

IEL will maintain and operate effective organisational and administrative arrangements with a view to taking reasonable steps designed to prevent conflicts of interest from adversely affecting the interests of our clients. These arrangements will take into account any circumstances which may give rise to a conflict of interest arising as a result of the structure and business activities of each and every member of the IEL group.

We will endeavour to disclose the general nature and/or specific sources of conflict with the interest of our clients.

We will keep records of the services and activities performed by IEL in which a conflict of interest has arisen or may arise. These records will be updated regularly. Such obligation may, in some circumstances, be discharged through our Compliance Department with the requirement to prepare, maintain, and implement effective policies to minimise the potential for Conflicts of Interest to arise.

IEL continually monitors the above policy statements to ensure that they remain accurate and correct and offer the customer the best level of service expected from our firm.

In accordance with our obligations under MiFID we will also be requiring you to complete one or two questionnaires that will enable us to determine whether certain products and services that we offer are suitable and appropriate given your particular level of knowledge and experience. The Suitability and Appropriateness tests are also provided to you here:

Appropriateness Test
The purpose of this questionnaire is to enable Investors Europe Limited (IEL) to assess whether specific types of products or services are appropriate for you. To this end, IEL is obliged to gather information concerning your experience and knowledge in the investment field relevant to specific products and services. The results of the questionnaire are not set in stone, but are a starting point from which we as a firm can assess whether a given product or service is appropriate for you. We will only offer products or services that we deem appropriate for you. However, if you insist on being offered a product or service that has been deemed inappropriate, or in relation to which you have provided us with insufficient information for us to make a proper assessment of its appropriateness, we may offer the product or service to you after issuing you with a risk warning.

IEL is committed to complying with the provisions of the Data Protection Directive. In signing this questionnaire, you consent to IEL holding and processing the information provided by you for the purposes of providing its services.

Disclaimer: If you elect not to provide IEL with the information requested in this questionnaire, or you provide IEL with insufficient information in this regard, you hereby acknowledge that IEL will be unable to determine whether a given service or product is appropriate for you, and will only be able to offer you such products or services after it has issued you with a risk warning in this regard.

and you will be required to complete these before we deal in financial instruments on your behalf. Rest assured, however, that whilst the foregoing will undoubtedly give you better protection, it will in no way not stop or impede you from continuing to trade per normal.

If you wish to discuss any of the issues addressed in this communication, or any other matter relating to your dealings with us, please contact Pierre Boulle / Compliance at compliance@investorseurope.com Our members of staff will also be happy to answer your queries.

For your information, we enclose a consumer's guide to MiFID by the EU.

The Directors,
Investors Europe Ltd.,
745 Europort, Gibraltar,
31st October 2007