Investing as a Professional Individual Investor

An individual with professional experience within Financial Services* may request that they are treated as a Professional Investor, also known as an Elective Professional Investor.

Professional investors are granted less protection than Retail Investors by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules, as it is expected that they have the knowledge, expertise and understanding of the risks involved with any investment they chose to take part in. If you qualify as an Elective Professional Investor, you may have the option to opt down, and categorise yourself as a Retail Investor to benefit from the higher protections afforded to them.

You may choose to be an Elective Professional Investor if you satisfy TWO or more of three criteria below:

• You have carried out transactions, in significant size, on the relevant market at an average frequency of 10 per quarter, over the previous 4 quarters; and/or
• Your financial instrument portfolio, defined as including cash deposits and financial instruments, exceeds 500,000 EU, or equivalent GBP; and/or
• You have worked in financial services for at least one year in a professional position**, which requires knowledge of the transactions or services envisaged.

Should you select this option when investing via Floww you may be required to provide evidence, that you meet this criteria to our internal Compliance team.

To see full guidance please refer to COBS.3.5.3 in the FCA handbook.

*Financial Services can include, for example, both private and public companies in the following sectors:

Accounting;
Banking & Finance;
Financial Planning;
Insurance;
Investments, Mortgages, Loans;
Pensions; and
Tax.

**Professional position can include for example:

Senior position in the Financial Sector;
Fund Manager;
Director, CEO, CFO;
Advisor;
Investment specialist.