Dealing with Conflicts of Interest

The English translation of the Conflicts of Interest page is for convenience purposes only. For any legal purposes, including the interpretation, only the German version shall prevail.

Information on how BIT Capital GmbH deals with conflicts of interest 

We, as BIT Capital GmbH, have the responsibility to act exclusively in the interest of our investors and to conduct our business truthfully, with the necessary diligence, honesty, in the best interest of the investment funds we manage and their investors, and the integrity of the entire market.

Nevertheless, conflicts of interest cannot always be completely ruled out when performing investment services or ancillary investment services and may include matters such as personal transactions, execution principles, remuneration structures, benefits, complaints, whistle blowing, among others.

At BIT Capital GmbH, conflicts of interest may arise in particular between the investors and BIT Capital GmbH or persons directly or indirectly affiliated with BIT Capital GmbH as well as between the outsourcing capital management company and BIT Capital GmbH. The relationship between investors and the capital management company does not affect the sphere of BIT Capital GmbH.

Identification and determination of conflicts of interest

BIT Capital GmbH will regularly identify and document in writing any possible conflicts of interest that may arise in the provision of investment services. When identifying possible conflicts of interest, in addition to the interests of BIT Capital GmbH, including its employees, the interests of other stakeholders, such as the capital management companies, the managed investment assets and the interests of investors must be taken into account.

In principle, a conflict exists if BIT Capital GmbH or one of its employees or a person or company that is directly or indirectly connected to BIT Capital GmbH through a controlling relationship in the sense of Art. 4 Par. 1 No. 37 CRR, due to the provision of the investment service:

  • could gain a financial advantage or avoid loss at the expense of a third party including the managed investment assets,
  • has an interest in the result of a service provided or a transaction carried out which is not in accordance with the interest of the third party in that result,
  • has a financial or other incentive to place the interests of one party over the interests of another party,
  • carries out the same activities for different contractors, or
  • in connection with the provision of a service, receive or may receive in the future a benefit from a third party in excess of the usual commission or fee for such service.

Measures to prevent, manage and monitor these potential conflicts of interest

BIT Capital GmbH has organizational and administrative mechanisms to identify, prevent, resolve, manage and monitor / supervise conflicts of interest in order to prevent conflicts of interest from causing serious harm to investment funds and investors.

In particular, we have established a compliance organization that independently monitors these mechanisms and regularly trains all our employees in regulatory requirements and our internal guidelines. We have set high ethical standards for our dealings with investors, customers and business partners by creating sensitive areas and Chinese walls between individual business units and between us and external third parties engaged by us, and by separating and implementing business units and responsibilities. We expect equally high ethical standards from our business partners.

BIT Capital GmbH as well as its employees are obligated to avoid conflicts of interest as far as possible in accordance with the legal requirements. Unavoidable conflicts of interest are to be resolved by BIT Capital GmbH while protecting the interests of the stakeholders.

BIT Capital GmbH has taken the following measures to avoid these conflicts of interest:

  • Disclosure of securities transactions of employees to the management, where conflicts of interest may arise in the course of their work,
  • List of portfolio positions with a market capitalization of < EUR 1 billion and/or a daily trading volume of less than EUR 50 million in which private trading is prohibited,
  • Training of employees,
  • Creation of confidentiality areas through the establishment of information barriers, separation of responsibilities and/or organizational separation of the different business units or relevant persons representing interests that may conflict,
  • Prevention of improper influence on the activities of persons engaged in portfolio management by other persons,
  • Establishment of a compensation structure for employees that avoids false incentives when providing services,
  • Rules on the acceptance and granting of grants and their disclosure. Any grants are intended to improve the quality of the services provided,
  • Disclosure of conflicts of interest that cannot be avoided.

If, in exceptional cases, conflicts of interest cannot be avoided by the above measures in individual cases, clients will be notified in accordance with this policy. In such cases, BIT Capital GmbH will, if applicable, refrain from investing in the respective financial instruments.

Updated: December 2020

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