Legal

Financial Services Guide (FSG)

1. Issue Date

This Financial Services Guide (FSG) is dated 28th of September 2017 and it replaces all previous versions.

2. Purpose and Contents of this FSG

The provider of the services described in this Financial Services Guide is QuietGrowth Pty Ltd (ACN 602 754 692), (QuietGrowth, We, Our, Us, or MDA Investment Manager), as an Authorised Representative (No. 001233619) of HLK Group Pty Ltd (ACN 161 284 500) (HLK, or MDA Provider), which holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL No. 435746).

This FSG provides you with important information regarding our services to consider before you deciding whether to use our financial services or products. The FSG is designed to provide you with an understanding of what to expect from our relationship and includes the following:

• who we are, and how you can contact us
• who is your adviser
• the financial services we are authorised to provide
• the costs of our services, how we are remunerated for these services
• any potential conflicts of interest we may have, and
• our internal and external dispute resolution process

If you choose to use any of our financial services and products, you may also receive other important documents. These documents may include a statement of advice and product disclosure statements.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us by email or by phone.

You can contact QuietGrowth at:
Email address: info@QuietGrowth.com.au
Postal address: Level 4, 11 York Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia
Phone: 02 8005 7330

3. Name of Authorising Licensee and its Contact Details

The authorising licensee is HLK Group Pty Ltd (ABN 93 161 284 500) (HLK), and the Principal Contact there is Jason Holdsworth, Director/Responsible Manager. The contact details of the authorising licensee is: HLK Group Pty Ltd, Suite 804, 3 Spring Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia. Phone: 1300 669 605

4. Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) details & Financial Services provided

QuietGrowth, as well as its nominated representatives, is authorised by HLK to provide general and/or personal financial product advice to retail and wholesale clients in relation to the following:

• deposit and payment products
• securities
• interests in managed investment schemes limited to MDA services

QuietGrowth can undertake trades pursuant to client instructions (non-discretionary), or manage such investments on their behalf (discretionary) utilising a comprehensive range of financial products and services.

The website of QuietGrowth, which is www.QuietGrowth.com.au, provides general information as well as advice about investing. The personal investment advice provided by QuietGrowth to its clients is limited in reference to long term investing, and the products offered are QuietGrowth Model Portfolios.

5. Who is your Advisor

QuietGrowth has been authorised by HLK as a Authorised Representative to provide financial services. As the licensee, HLK is responsible for the advice you receive from QuietGrowth.

The details of your Authorised Representative are:

Name	:	QuietGrowth Pty Ltd
ACN	:	602 754 692
AR no	:	001233619
Address	:	Level 4, 11 York Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia
Tel	:	02 8005 7330
Email	:	info@quietgrowth.com.au

6. Method of providing financial services

If you wish to utilise our services, you may issue us with instructions:

• electronically, via the website of QuietGrowth.

We reserve the right to service you if you issue instructions:

• in writing by email. You must check and confirm with us that instructions sent via email have in fact been received by us or
• via the telephone (please note that telephone calls may be tape recorded)

7. Nature of Advice

Personal financial advice

If we provide you with personal financial advice, then you will initially receive a Statement of Advice (SOA) when, or as soon as practical after the advice is given. This statement will set out the advice, the basis on which the advice was given and any remuneration or other benefit that we may receive. We will also include details of any matter that might reasonably be expected to be capable of influencing us in providing this advice.

If you maintain an advice relationship with us, then generally we will not provide an SOA for further advice situations unless there have been significant changes to either your personal circumstances or the basis of the advice since your last SOA was provided. In these circumstances however, we are still required to keep a Record of Advice (ROA). You have the right to request a copy of your SOA or ROA at any time.

We will maintain a record of your personal profile including details of your objectives, financial situation and needs. We also maintain records of any recommendations made to you. For information on how to access these records, please refer to the section 'Privacy Policy'.

We will not give you personal advice in our regular updates, research reports or marketing material, or when you contact our Client Services team.

General financial advice

There may be times we offer you general financial advice. You should note that general financial advice does not relate specifically to you and therefore may not be appropriate to your particular financial needs, objectives and financial circumstances. You need to take this into account before deciding whether or not to act on it. This FSG contains general information. If you have further questions after reading it please contact us.

8. Documentation

QuietGrowth will provide clients with the following documentation where applicable:

Transaction Documentation:

QuietGrowth will provide clients with the relevant documentation to facilitate requested transactions (i.e. client agreement, terms & conditions).

Factual information:

QuietGrowth can provide you with factual information and research, and facilitate the execution-only requests.

Product Disclosure Statements:

If we make a recommendation for you to acquire a particular financial product or offer to provide or arrange for the provision of a particular financial product, you should also receive a Product Disclosure Statement which contains important information regarding the features, benefits, risks and fees applicable to investment in such product, and should be read carefully to enable you to make an informed decision about whether to acquire or utilise such products.

Statement of Advice (SOA):

An SOA is a document that sets out your situation and goals, and our corresponding financial recommendations. If you are a retail client, you will normally receive a SOA when we provide you with personal advice that takes into consideration your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. The SOA will contain:

• the advice
• the basis on which it was given
• information about fees, commissions and associations related to the provision of this advice.

Record of Advice (ROA):

On an ongoing basis, a Record of Advice (ROA) will be provided instead of an SOA if there have been no significant changes in your personal circumstances and/or the basis of the advice has not significantly changed since your last SOA was provided. You have the right to request a copy of your SOA or ROA for up to seven years after the advice has been given.

9. Managed Discretionary Account (MDA)

This FSG complies with the conditions of MDA relief extended to MDA Service providers by ASIC in accordance with ASIC Corporations (Managed Discretionary Account Services) Instrument 2016/968 and ASIC Regulatory Guide RG179. QuietGrowth provides an MDA service that enables clients to delegate the investment management and trading discretion for exchange traded funds and securites to QuietGrowth. This means QuietGrowth will invest in financial products on your behalf without prior reference to you for each individual transaction.

All securities and financial investments involve risks. QuietGrowth has an effective risk management system in place to ensure that all risks are recognised and measures to minimise the risks are implemented. QuietGrowth maintains a focused approach to risk management by monitoring regularly.

The risks associated with investing through the MDA service include:

• Investment objective risk: risk that an investor's objectives will not be met by the MDA.
• Manager risk, the risk that past performance results are not necessarily indicative of future performance.
• Concentration risk, the reliance on a group of securities, instruments or asset class that may significantly affect the performance of your portfolio.
• Product Risk, the risks for clients in utilising the MDA service also include those existent in non-discretionary dealings in exchange traded funds. These risks are referred to in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) of the relevant financial product. The PDS should be carefully read and reviewed before acquiring the product.
• Counterparty risk, risk of loss due to a counterparty not honouring a financial commitment which may cause the value of the MDA to fall. Counterparties include brokers, settlement houses, banks and other authorised deposit taking institutions
• Market risk, changes in the prices of investments that may result in loss of principal or large fluctuations in the valuation of your investment within short periods of time. Factors that drive changes in asset prices include changing profitability of companies and industries, economic cycles and conditions, volume of security issuances, investor demand levels, business confidence and government central bank policies.
• Volatility risk, the potential for the price of your portfolio to vary sometimes distinctly over a short period of time. The greater the volatility of the returns the more likely it is the returns will differ from those expected over a given time period.
• Liquidity Risk, when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell preventing closing out a position or re-balancing within a timely period and at a fair price
• Inflation risk, the risk that the prices of goods and services will rise faster than the value of the investments
• Company specific risk, investment in a company's securities is subject to risk of that particular company's performance due to factors that are relevant and applicable to the company, the sector of the market to which the company belongs, or the equity market generally. Where it has exposure to that security it may affect the performance of the MDA
• Regulator Risk, changes of law and other statutory restrictions, including but not limited to taxation and corporate regulatory laws, practice and policy
• Key Employee Risk, relevant service providers employ specialist investment personnel who have responsibility for implementing the investment process. If key investment staff were to leave this would be destabilising and could lead to falls in the value of the MDA and in extreme circumstances could lead to the termination of the MDA. We actively develop alternative MDA strategies and are continually seeking new specialist investment personnel to mitigate key employee risk.
• Business Continuity Management, is a fundamental part of our ability to protect our staff and fulfil our fiduciary responsibilities to clients in protecting against business continuity risk. We maintain Crisis Response and Business Recovery Plans to facilitate the management of any incident which has the potential to harm our staff, damage our premises or disrupt our business.
• Strategy Risk, the risk that the investment processes of the MDAs do not successfully reproduce historical or intended results. This may have an adverse effect on the performance of the invested MDAs. The asset allocation process involved in the MDAs is entirely driven by the underlying quantitative model. The investment decisions are implemented via a strict framework of rules and limits, so no arbitrary discretionary investment decisions occur in the process.
• Currency Risk, the assets of the MDA may be exposed to currencies other than Australian dollars. The value of such investments may be affected favourably or unfavourably by fluctuations in exchange currencies. In all cases, back-testing for quantitative efficiency for each investment strategy is conducted by normalizing returns for currency fluctuations.

For MDA services, QuietGrowth will have to consider your personal circumstances, needs and objective. We will provide you with specific personal advice and issue you with an SOA and Client Agreement - MDA Contract.

It is important that you provide us with accurate information as the MDA contract may not be suitable for you if you have provided to us limited or inaccurate information relating to your relevant personal circumstances. The MDA contract may also cease to be suitable if your relevant personal circumstances change, therefore it is important that you communicate with QuietGrowth if you experience major changes in your circumstances.

Clients must enter into a formal Client Agreement - MDA Contract prior to accessing this service. The Client Agreement - MDA Contract provides all relevant communication protocols, and includes an investment program that is prepared in accordance with the requirements in Division 3 of Part 7.7 and Division 2 of Part 7.7A which details the following:

• the nature and scope of the discretion that QuietGrowth will be authorised and required to exercise
• any significant risks associated with the MDA contract.
• the basis on which we consider the MDA service suitable for you; and
• warnings about any applicable limitations relating to the MDA contract which you must consider before signing the MDA contract

QuietGrowth will review the SOA, MDA Contract and Investment Program at least once every 12 months.

QuietGrowth's MDA service does not include custodial or depository services so as a client you will directly hold legal title to the portfolio of assets. Therefore for the service to be implemented, you will need to authorise HLK as the MDA Provider and authorise QuietGrowth, which is HLK's Authorised Representative, as the MDA Investment Manager to trade on your behalf and to provide instructions to your external MDA custodian (i.e. the custodian who will hold your assets that are covered under the MDA Contract), and enter into a custody agreement with an external MDA custodian to provide custodial or depository services to you and who will act on the MDA provider's instructions in relation to dealing with your portfolio of MDA assets. You should also be provided with, and read and understand, the FSG of the external MDA custodian.

QuietGrowth will provide MDA clients with electronic access to information on a substantially continuous basis detailing your investment portfolio. The information details:

• all transactions effected as part of the MDA service
• the value of the assets in the client's portfolio
• all revenue and expenses (including fees and charges) relating to the MDA service
• a statement of the time at which the information is current

You will also receive an Annual Report summarising the information provided.

If you wish to instruct QuietGrowth in relation to corporate actions (proxy voting) or otherwise regarding the financial assets held in your MDA portfolio, please contact us.

10. Trading Account

The execution broker that QuietGrowth utilises is Saxo Capital Markets (Australia) Pty Ltd (ABN 32 110 128 286; AFSL 280372). The contact information of Saxo is Level 25, 2 Park Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia. Phone: +61 2 8267 9000.

Our partner Saxo Capital Markets (SCM) holds the Client money in a pooled ‘segregated’ Client trust account operated by HSBC Bank Australia (Segregated Client Account). The Segregated Client Account is kept separate from SCM’s own money and assets.

Although Client money is pooled together in the Segregated Client Account, SCM will not use money deposited by (and belonging to) one Client to meet the loss of another Client. Moreover, SCM does not use Clients’ money in the Segregated Client Account for its own purposes.

To ensure SCM complies with the Australian Client Money Rules, SCM calculates the value of Clients’ funds in the Segregated Client Account on a daily basis and reconciles this with the funds available in the Segregated Client Account.

SCM has appointed Saxo Bank as the principal custodian to hold securities on behalf of SCM in an omnibus account, which is designated as a client trust account.

11. Professional Indemnity Insurance

In compliance with s912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and ASIC RG 126 and subject to the terms and conditions, HLK maintains a Professional Indemnity Insurance to cover the financial products and services that HLK or its Corporate Authorised Representatives / Individual Representatives / Employees provide, including any claims in relation to the conduct of its former representatives/ employees. As QuietGrowth is a Corporate Authorised Representative of HLK, the Professional Indemnity Insurance covers the financial products and services that QuietGrowth provides.

12. Our record-keeping obligations

QuietGrowth will seek to ensure that comprehensive and accurate records of client profiles, together with all advice/ recommendations provided, are properly maintained.

13. Who do we act for?

QuietGrowth is responsible for the financial services we provide to you under the Australian Financial Services Licence for which we are the Authorised Representative. We may provide you with financial products and services from either related or non-related product providers.

QuietGrowth does not act as a representative of any other licensee in relation to the services or products we provide.

14. Remuneration / commission / benefits

Please note that QuietGrowth does not take financial renumeration from any of the ETF issuers whose ETFs we include in our QuietGrowth Portfolios. QuietGrowth is remunerated through the fees that we charge for the services we provide.

The 'fees' section in this FSG provides an indication of standard fee and commission rates applicable to the approved products of QuietGrowth (all quoted exclusive of any Goods and Services Tax). These rates are subject to change from time to time. A detailed description of the fees, charges and commissions payable for each of the financial products offered by QuietGrowth can be found in the SOA and Product Disclosure Statement for the relevant financial product.

The employees and directors of QuietGrowth are remunerated by way of salary, equity and other employee benefits. They may also be eligible for a discretionary bonus that is based on achievement of pre-determined business objectives such as contribution to profit, client service, risk management and leadership/team contribution.

All remuneration paid by you to QuietGrowth or to our employees, directors and representatives is included in the ‘fees’ section in this FSG.

QuietGrowth does not hold any client money and therefore does not retain any interest on client money. QuietGrowth’s product providers may hold client money in segregated accounts and it must maintain pursuant to the Corporations Act. The provider of each segregated account determines the rate of interest, details can be found in the Product Disclosure Statement for the relevant financial product.

A service provider who may receive financial or non-financial benefits from us may have referred you to us. That service provider might have disclosed any of their arrangement with us to you.

15. Disclosure of any relevant conflicts of interest

QuietGrowth will advise you of any material interest that could reasonably be expected to influence our recommendation of a financial product to you either, verbally or within an SOA or ROA. We manage, and will clearly disclose any conflicts that we believe may influence our advice.

16. Dispute Resolution

QuietGrowth has an internal dispute resolution process in place to resolve any complaints or concerns you may have, quickly and fairly. Any complaints or concerns should be directed to the Complaints Officer by email to compliance@QuietGrowth.com.au, or by telephone to the telephone number provided in this FSG.

We will seek, in a reasonable manner, to resolve and respond to complaints promptly.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) [contact details below], an approved external dispute resolution scheme, of which HLK is a member (Member number: 32001). You may also make a complaint via the ASIC free call Info line on 1300 300 630.

FOS

GPO Box 3, Melbourne, VIC, 3001
Telephone: 1300 780 808
Facsimile: +613 9613 6399
Email address: info@fos.org.au
Website: www.fos.org.au

17. Privacy

QuietGrowth respects your right to the privacy of your personal information. Any personal information provided by you to QuietGrowth will be handled in accordance with our privacy policy. Our privacy policy details how we comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles in the handling of your personal information.

A copy of that policy is available in the QuietGrowth website www.QuietGrowth.com.au.

18. Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Finance Act

As a financial service provider, we have an obligation under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Finance Act to verify your identity and the source of any funds. We use the services of a third-party provider to verify your identity online to meet the AML/KYC norms. In case such your online identity verification fails, we will ask you to present identification documents such as passports and driver’s license. We will also retain copies of this information. We assure you that this information will be held securely. We cannot provide you with services if you are unwilling to provide this information.

Our brokerage partner might also verify your identity and might create a brokerage account for you only after they are satisfied about your identity.

19. Fees

 

Type	Amount	Description
Initial advice fee	$0	No initial advice fee is payable.
Ongoing advice fees	$0	No ongoing advice fees are payable.
MDA service fee / QuietGrowth fee	0.4% to 0.6% per year + GST, based on assets under management	Deducted from your Trading Account, at the end of each month. No QuietGrowth fee is charged for the first $10,000 of assets under management for the new client.
Brokerage/trading fees	$0	No brokerage/trading fees are payable for buying and selling of your securities.
Rebalancing fees	$0	No rebalancing fees for the automatic and periodic rebalancing your portfolio. Rebalancing is done only for portfolios with assets under management of $10,000 or more.
Ongoing portfolio design	$0	No fees payable for ongoing portfolio construction and asset allocation.
Performance fees	$0	No performance fees are payable.
Entry fees	$0	No entry fees are payable.
Exit fees	$0	No exit fees are payable.
Establishment fees	$0	No fees payable to open your QuietGrowth account.
Contribution fees	$0	No fees payable to deposit an amount online to your QuietGrowth portfolios.
Withdrawal fees	$0	No fees payable to withdraw an amount online from your QuietGrowth portfolios.
Platform fees	$0	No platform fees are payable.
ETF management fees	As applicable	Charged by each fund issuer (of each of the securities in your portfolio), and are included in the traded unit price of each ETF. These fees are not paid directly by you, but they do impact the performance of your portfolio.
Bid-ask spread	As applicable	Included in the traded unit price at which we execute the buy or sell trades of ETFs.
Online access fee	$0	No fees payable to access the interfaces in our website. Also access your account through our iOS and Android apps for mobile phones and tablets.

Note:

• There might be various external service providers to this MDA service of QuietGrowth. This might include Execution and Clearing, Licensing, Online Verification, Audit and Compliance Services, among others. Fees to these external service providers are paid by QuietGrowth.
• Please note that the QuietGrowth fees are subject to change over time. Whenever QuietGrowth fees are changed, we will inform our clients over email.

* Not applicable: QuietGrowth fees and costs are not negotiable.

This document shows fees and other costs that you may be charged. These fees and costs may be deducted from your money, from the returns on your investment or from your assets held under our MDA service.

You should read all the information about fees and costs because it is important to understand their impact on your investment.