What you get when you invest with Equinox

Since our launch in 1999 we have always been one of the lowest cost providers of collective investment services. We intend to keep it this way.

Our investment in technology and platform design over the nine years has made us the envy of our peers. Since our registration as a registered Linked Investment Service Provider, we have enjoyed one of the lowest cost margins in our industry.

Our ongoing investment in technology enables us to keep our overheads low. As our business increases in size, we will not be under the pressure to increase our fees due to increased demands for additional administrators.

In fact the reverse will happen, the sustainability of our business due to our low cost base and scale will mean that we will be able to pass on more benefits.

Like all good businesses, we regularly benchmark our fees against those of our competitors. Unit trusts initial fees vary but can be greater than 5%, which means that performance can be severely affected by even just a single switch between fund management companies each year. As a Linked Investment Provider, EFS purchase unit trusts in bulk from the unit trust management companies at wholesale rates. The unprecedented efficiency of our online unit trust trading platform means that we can pass most of these savings on to our clients. EFS initial purchase fees are 0.25% subject to a minimum of R100 and capped at a maximum of R1 500 per unit trust fund, which means you do not pay more than R1 500 per unit trust fund no matter the amount invested, this can mean substantial savings on large investment amounts.

If you want the widest choice of collective investments come to Equinox

There are currently 855 (June 2008) collective investment funds. About 650 of these investment funds are available to retail investors.

Many of the larger Linked Investment Providers have a business model which relies on limiting their investment offerings, thereby channeling investments into selected products.

Our business model is different. We have always aimed to have the widest possible range of collective investments available to investors. We aim to meet the needs of discerning investors who follow the press and know which fund managers have a history of out performance. If a fund manager with a good track record launches a boutique investment company, we will make sure that the new funds are available on our platform. And if we don’t have your favourite fund on our website, phone us and we will make sure we add the fund to our list of funds.

We pride ourselves on the simplicity of our investment process

Our core values include simplicity and transparency. Over the last nine years we have listened to our investors, noted comments and suggestions and have designed an investment platform that we are proud of. Our team of information technology specialists have designed and built a world class paper-free administrative process for unitized products. Come try it and tell us what you think.

And if you want to switch from one collective investment to another, we make it easy

At Equinox we do not promote regular switching of collective investments for investments with a long term time horizon such as retirement funds, but if you want to switch investments, we believe that we currently offer the most seamless electronic restructure transaction option in the market.

And yes, our corporate governance is impeccable

The EFS business appointed auditors are BDO Spencer Stuart Inc and their specialist retirement fund, IT and internal control tasked to audit each division within our organisation as per regulatory requirements. Our appointed Nominee Company, EFS Nominees (Pty) Ltd has majority external directorship and audited separately by BDO Spencer Stuart.

EFS Nominees is the registered custodian for all client’s assets bulked and registered at the management company. The nominee company owns no assets and only acts as a bulk investment channel for the linked investment services provider.

We believe that the risk of operational interference is negated by sophisticated dual authorisation technology, designed to ensure that shareholders or directors of the company do not have at any given point in time to access the Nominee trading environment.

At Equinox.co.za we believe that our integrated trading and portfolio management system provides efficiency, convenience and accessibility that is unmatched in SA, and is leading edge technology even in global terms.

Furthermore, our independent advice and recommendations, information profiles, complete accessibility to every unit trust fund, and customer-orientation provide superior value and market beating returns for our investors.