Complaint processing principles

(revision: 1 February 2019)

Your satisfaction matters to us!

What is a complaint?

Every oral or written expression of disapproval on the part of a customer, business partner or third party shall be treated as a complaint. The complaint may be addressed directly to the bank or be submitted via the ombudsman or the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

What can you expect?

Fondsdepot Bank has set up a comprehensive complaints management system. This system ensures effective, transparent handling of complaints. The objective is to resolve complaints in a transparent, objective manner. For this purpose, the complaints are managed in a central register and analysed systematically. Answers are given in clear, comprehensible language.

Complaints are reviewed in a neutral, independent way. To us, your perspective is what matters most, regardless of whether you are familiar with certain circumstances or apply "very high" quality standards.

How can I lodge a complaint?

You can lodge your complaints via the following routes:

Tel: +49 9281 7258 3000
Fax: +49 9281 7258 46118
E-mail: feedbackmanagement(at)fondsdepotbank.de
Postal address: Windmühlenweg 12, 95030 Hof, Germany

or directly turn to your advisor.

Please provide the following details :

Contact details (name, address, telephone number and/or e-mail address for any questions that we might have)
Time of occurrence of your problem or request
Custody account number, product and/or service that your complaint refers to
Detailed description of your complaint or request (e.g. troubleshooting, improvement proposal or clarification of a disagreement)
In the event of complaints about advisory meetings held by advisors of our liability umbrella, you are kindly requested to provide relevant information and details about the advisory meeting.

How do we process your complaints?

We will take care of your request promptly. We view every single complaint as valuable customer feedback. Complaints are processed free of charge. Therefore, our top priority is to duly provide feedback to you as soon as possible. First, you will receive a confirmation of receipt. If the diligent research takes more than 10 banking days, you will receive intermediate information.

We answer complaints concerning cash accounts within 15 working days of the receipt of the complaint. If this is not possible in exceptional cases, you will receive an interim notification. In this notification, we will explain the reasons for the delay and indicate when you will receive the final answer. The final result will be provided no later than 35 working days after the receipt of your complaint concerning the cash account.

In the course of the review of the complaint, we will check all information and documents. We will enclose any evidence with the complaint and review it.

Once we receive the result, we will duly inform you. We will be pleased to discuss the result personally or communicate it to you in writing.

Pursuant to Section 87 (1) sentence 4 of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), Fondsdepot Bank will report complaints in connection with advisory meetings with advisors of the liability umbrella of Fondsdepot Bank (tied agents) to the Employee and Complaints Register of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

What are your options if you are not pleased with the solution?

In this case, please let us know. The matter will then be reviewed once more by someone else.

You can uphold your complaint and, if necessary, request a review under the supervision of a dispute resolution scheme.

Extrajudicial resolution of disputes

Fondsdepot Bank GmbH participates in the German private banks' ombudsman scheme (www.bankenombudsmann.de). Under this scheme, the consumer can appeal to the ombudsman of the private banks in order to settle a dispute. If the subject of the complaint concerns a dispute about a payment service agreement (Section 675f of the German Civil Code), customers who are not consumers can also appeal to the ombudsman of the private banks. Details are provided in the "Rules of Procedure for the Settlement of Customer Complaints in the German Private Commercial Banking Sector", which is available on request or can be downloaded from www.bankenverband.de. The complaint shall be submitted in text form (e.g. letter, fax or e-mail) to the customer complaint desk of the Association of German Banks, Postfach 040307, 10062 Berlin, Germany, Fax: +49 30 1663-3169, E-Mail: schlichtung(at)bdb.de.

Under http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/, the European Commission has set up a European Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform. Consumers can use the Online Dispute Resolution platform for the extrajudicial settlement of disputes from online contracts with a company based in the EU.

Supervisory authorities

Complaints can also be submitted to the responsible supervisory authority in writing or for recording at the responsible authority:

Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)

Bonn office:
Graurheindorfer Strasse 108
53117 Bonn, Germany

Frankfurt office:
Marie-Curie-Str. 24 - 28, 60439
Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Of course, it is also possible to assert any claims against Fondsdepot Bank in court.

These complaint processing principles are regularly reviewed and published on the website of Fondsdepot Bank.