Remember your first online purchase? Gingerly keying in your credit card details and hitting enter. The quick rush of adrenaline you get from shopping and the nerves that you had trusted your personal details into the ether of the internet.
That first purchase required you to trust that your card details and your money would be safe.
Investing with Stockspot can feel similar, particularly if you have previously dealt with a traditional financial adviser in person. You need to trust that your personal details and your money will be kept safe and secure.
It’s something we take seriously and it’s as important to us as it is to you.
When you invest your money anywhere, you want to know that:
- your money is safe; and
- Your personal information won’t be compromised.
Both are legitimate concerns.
That is why we focus on both structural protection and digital protection.
Structurally, your investments are held in your own name under CHESS sponsorship on your own Holder Identification Number (HIN). Digitally, your account is protected by encryption, active monitoring and mandatory multifactor authentication.
In this article we’ll answer some common client questions about how we are protecting their money and personal details.
- Is Stockspot regulated?
- Is my money safe with Stockspot?
- Can I access my money whenever I need?
- Are there any risks investing in ETFs?
- How does Stockspot protect my data?
- Will you sell my personal data?
- What happens if Stockspot stops operating?
- What happens if an ETF shuts down?
Is Stockspot regulated?
Yes.
Stockspot is authorised by the financial regulator, ASIC, to provide a range of financial services including personal investment advice and managed discretionary account (MDA) services.
We’re a fully licensed Australian Financial Services provider (AFSL 536082).
As Australia’s first robo adviser, we’ve long advocated for stronger regulation and transparency in digital financial advice.
In 2015 Stockspot was part of the consultation process to formulate regulation on providing digital financial product advice. Officially known as CP254, Regulating Digital Financial Advice Product, ASIC’s approach to the regulation of digital financial advice in Australia.
Furthermore many of the recommendations to strengthen regulation submitted by Stockspot were included in ‘RG255 – Providing digital financial product advice to retail clients’. RG255 is the regulation on providing digital financial product advice to retail clients. We recommended that digital finance advice should be subject to the same regulation as traditional wealth managers.
We comply with all relevant Australian financial advice regulations and we go several steps further than most traditional financial advisers like keeping our clients’ investments separate and held in their own names via their own HIN.
Stockspot does not receive commissions from the funds/ETFs we recommend. In fact, we have actively lobbied the government to close this loophole for products like LICs because we still see many traditional advisers recommending poor investment products.
Is my money safe with Stockspot?
Yes.
When you invest with Stockspot, your investments are owned by you, and safely registered with the ASX under CHESS sponsorship.
All of your investments and cash are held in your own name on your own Holder Identification Number (HIN) rather than pooled with other people. This also keeps your investments ringfenced from both a tax and asset protection perspective.
We think it’s better for clients to own investments directly in their own name or legal entity. When you mix shares and assets with other people, as is done by some investment services, there is a risk that your assets won’t be accounted for correctly, and you rely on the creditworthiness of the counterparty.
In this article we explain why it’s safer to own your investments directly.
We also spoke to the ABC about this topic.
Each Stockspot client owns their portfolio individually on their own individual HIN – it’s a safer way of investing and means you can get full tax benefits from your investments. Your portfolio is owned by you and managed for you according to the investment recommendation we provide based on your personal financial circumstances. Access to that portfolio is protected by mandatory two factor authentication, ensuring that only you can log in and initiate changes.
Can I access my money whenever I need?
Yes.
Once you set up Two-factor authentication (2FA) to secure your account, you can request a withdrawal from your portfolio back to your linked bank account at any time.
Because withdrawals can be requested online at any time, it is critical that access to your dashboard is tightly controlled. That is why two factor authentication is required not just for withdrawals, but for all logins. This ensures the same level of protection applies before any transaction is initiated.
Our client care and operations teams closely monitor all withdrawals and may contact you to verify account information ahead of processing a withdrawal request.
When you start investing with Stockspot we suggest that you only consider investing if you have an investment horizon of at least a few years. This helps to ensure that you have the best chance of success when you invest. However, if you need money to fund unforeseen expenses or your circumstances change, it’s easy to withdraw your money at any time.
You can withdraw your investments by requesting a withdrawal under ‘Transfer money’ in your Stockspot dashboard. Once submitted, we’ll sell down your portfolio as instructed and transfer the funds to your linked bank account. The process typically takes around four business days, in line with standard ASX’s settlement timelines.
Are there any risks investing in ETFs?
Yes, there is market risk.
However, broad, diversified ETFs are generally considered one of the safer ways to invest because they help reduce risk through diversification. This is one of the reasons we recommend ETFs.
Investing always comes with some level of market risk. To achieve a higher potential return than leaving your money in the bank you have to be willing to accept some ups and downs along the way.
However, compared to buying individual shares, ETFs allow you to reduce your risk through broad diversification.
Stockspot carefully spreads your investments across:
- different market sectors
- countries
- asset classes
This helps reduce concentration risk and smooth the investment journey over time.
Our portfolios are designed to reduce risk compared to simply investing in Australian shares alone while still targeting strong long-term returns.
ETFs are also generally considered more structurally resilient than some other investment structures such as Listed Investment Companies (LICs) because ETFs are open-ended investment vehicles. This structure helps ETFs trade close to their underlying fair value and reduces the risk of investors becoming trapped in illiquid structures.
In this article we dispel some common myths around ETFs and explain why they’re safe and smart investments
How does Stockspot protect my data?
When going through our sign-up process, we ask for your personal information to help verify your identity and ensure we’re giving you appropriate investment advice. Personal information is stored securely and only shared with third parties in accordance with our Privacy Statement.
We use a range of measures to help protect client data and account security, including:
- encryption
- penetration testing
- secure infrastructure
- certificate signing request technology
Two-factor authentication (2FA) provides an additional layer of bank-level security. 2FA is mandatory for all Stockspot logins and withdrawals.This means that in addition to your password, you must also verify your identity using either:
- an authenticator app; or
- a one-time verification code.
Even if someone knows your password, they cannot access your account without this second factor. Passwords alone are no longer enough. Many data breaches occur outside the financial services industry and criminals often test stolen passwords across multiple websites and platforms. Multifactor authentication helps stop this.
If you use an authenticator app, verification codes are generated directly on your device, which is the most secure option. If you do not use an authenticator app, a one time code is sent to your email when you log in. You can also choose to save a trusted device for 30 days so you are not prompted for a code each time.
If multiple incorrect login attempts are detected, access may be automatically restricted while our team investigates.
We also closely monitor withdrawal requests and may contact clients to verify details before processing.
Together with encryption, secure infrastructure and active monitoring, multifactor authentication forms a critical part of our layered security approach.
Will you sell my personal data?
No.
Stockspot will never sell your personal information to unrelated third parties or advertisers.
We think it’s wrong to be profiting from selling our client data to advertisers.
What happens if Stockspot stops operating?
Your money and investments remain safe.
In the unlikely event Stockspot stops operating, you still retain ownership of your investments because they are held in your own name.
All ETFs are held on an individual client Holder Identification Number (HIN) under CHESS sponsorship with the ASX subregistry.
You can simply transfer your investments to another broker or adviser, or withdraw your portfolio
What happens if an ETF shuts down?
ETF closures are uncommon, but they can happen.
If an ETF provider decides to close an ETF, investors generally receive the market value of their investment back after the ETF is wound up.
Because ETFs are regulated investment structures with underlying assets held separately, investors do not lose ownership of the underlying assets simply because an ETF provider closes a fund.
Stockspot continuously monitors the ETFs we recommend and may replace ETFs if better alternatives become available or if structural risks change.
Stockspot combines diversified ETF investing with bank-level security, CHESS-sponsored ownership and ASIC regulation.
Your investments are held in your own name and protected by multiple layers of structural and digital security.
