Regulatory Protection

The unit trust industry has historically been a lot more tightly regulated and transparent than most other investment alternatives. The recent promulgation of the Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISCA) and the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) has ensured that many other formerly unregulated investment 'schemes' are now subject to the same regulations.

We believe that unit trust investing continues to offer a greater degree of safety and transparency for investors, both in terms of the simplicity, and therefore, ease of understanding of unit trusts as investment vehicles, and in the wide range of investment alternatives and asset classes, which offer investors ease of diversification, comparison and flexibility.

South Africa is one of the few countries where the selling of unit trust investments via life assurance endowment or other policies dominates. There are major disadvantages to this for investors, in that you are generally tied in to term arrangements with stiff penalties, you are sold the product basedon performance projections that are generally meaningless, and you generally pay substantially higher fees than you could otherwise. Your assets also 'belong' to the product provider, and can be attached in the case of liquidation claims (which has happened with some pretty large and respectable companies.)

With Equinox.co.za you are ALWAYS the legal and beneficial owner of any unit trusts purchased on your behalf.

When you invest via Equinox.co.za, we act solely as a service provider. Your money and your units are held on your behalf by an independent custodian company, EFS Nominees (Pty) Ltd. As a nominee company, it is strictly regulated in accordance with the requirements of the Financial Services Board and the applicable laws and statutes. EFS Nominees (Pty) Ltd. has an independent board of directors, is independently audited, and insured against possible claims. Annual statements, a directors report and separate auditors report are submitted to the FSB. All expenses that the nominee company incurs are met by EFS Investment Solutions, and the only liabilities it carries are to the investors who own the units held by it.

Even in the unlikely event that EFS were to be liquidated, your ownership of your investments would not be affected.