A tied agent means a person established in a Member State, who, acting under the full and unconditional responsibility of only one Investment Firm of a Member State and, on whose behalf it acts, (i) promotes investment or/and ancillary services; (ii) attracts clients or prospective clients (iii) receives and transmits client orders in respect of investment services or financial instruments; (iv) places financial instruments and/or (v) provides advice to clients or prospective clients in respect of those financial instruments or services.
Any Investment Firm, or credit institution which decides to employ a tied agent, remains fully and unconditionally responsible for any action or omission on the part of the tied agent when acting on its behalf.
Introducing Brokers which are also considered as tied agents must be authorized by CySEC and be registered in the public register of tied agents in the same manner as a tied agent.
CySEC maintains a register of tied agents who are registered and who are either:
- Established in the Republic and act on behalf of a CIF or a credit institution that has been authorized in the Republic;
- Established in the Republic and act on behalf of an IF or a credit institution that has been authorized in another Member State;
- Established in another Member State and act on behalf of a CIF or credit institution that has been authorized in the Republic, but the Member State in which the tied agents are established does not allow the appointment of tied agents.
Only persons who are registered in the public registers or the respective public registers of other member states may be appointed as tied agents by a CIF.
Regarding notifications, every time a tied agent is appointed or dismissed by a CIF or when it becomes aware of changes in the details of the tied agent that are entered in the public register, the CIF must immediately notify CySEC. A tied agent registered in the public register, must immediately notify CySEC about every change regarding his details that are entered in the said public register.
A tied agent will only be registered by the CySEC, if the tied agent:
- is of sufficiently good repute;
- possesses appropriate general, commercial and professional knowledge so as to be able to accurately communicate all relevant information regarding the proposed service or financial instrument. In case that the tied agent is a legal person, it has to employ at least one natural person who fulfills the above conditions.
Once a CIF or a credit institution submit the application to register a tied agent, CySEC may provide its approval within 3 months.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.