Disclosure

Legal Disclosure

Anti-Money Laundering Customer Identification Program Notice

To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, federal law requires all financial organizations to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. When you open an account, we will ask for your name, address, date of birth, and other information that will allow us to identify you. We may also ask you to provide a copy of your driver’s license or other identifying documents. The information you provide in this form may be used to perform a credit check and verify your identity by using internal sources and third-party vendors. For commercial relationships, we request specific documents that will allow us to identify the business entity.

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Extended Hours Trading Risk Disclosure

Univest Securities is operational during non-regular trading hours (before 9:30 AM and after 4:00 PM), you will have the capability to execute trades during the extended hours, 8 AM to 9:30 AM, and 4 PM to 5:30 PM. Please be aware of the following risks associated with trading during extended hours:

  • Risk of Lower Liquidity. Liquidity refers to the ability of market participants to buy and sell securities. Generally, the more orders that are available in a market, the greater the liquidity. Liquidity is important because with greater liquidity it is easier for investors to buy or sell securities, and as a result, investors are more likely to pay or receive a competitive price for securities purchased or sold. There may be lower liquidity in extended-hours trading as compared to regular market hours. As a result, your order may only be partially executed, or not at all.
  • Risk of Higher Volatility. Volatility refers to the changes in price that securities undergo when trading. Generally, the higher the volatility of a security, the greater its price swings. There may be greater volatility in extended-hours trading than in regular market hours. As a result, your order may only be partially executed or not at all.
  • Risk of Changing Prices. The prices of securities traded in extended-hours trading may not reflect the prices either at the end of regular market hours or upon the opening the next morning. As a result, you may receive a price in extended-hours trading which is inferior to that you would obtain during regular market hours.
  • Risk of Unlinked Markets. Depending on the extended hours trading system or the time of day, the prices displayed on a particular extended hours trading system may not reflect the prices in other concurrently operating extended hours trading systems dealing in the same securities. Accordingly, you may receive a price in one extended-hours trading system inferior to the one you would obtain in another extended hours trading system.
  • Risk of News Announcements. Normally, issuers make news announcements that may affect the price of their securities after regular market hours. Similarly, important financial information is frequently announced outside of regular market hours. In extended-hours trading, these announcements may occur during trading, and if combined with lower liquidity and higher volatility, may cause an exaggerated and unsustainable effect on the price of a security.
  • Risk of Wider Spreads. The spread refers to the difference in price between what you can buy a security for and what you can sell it for. Lower liquidity arid higher volatility in extended-hours trading may result in wider than normal spreads for a particular security.
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Margin Disclosure Statement

Univest Securities is furnishing this document to you to provide some basic facts about purchasing securities on margin, and to alert you to the risks involved with trading securities in a margin account.

Before trading stocks in a margin account, you should carefully review the margin agreement provided by your firm. Consult your firm regarding any questions or concerns you may have with your margin accounts.

When you purchase securities, you may pay for the securities in full or you may borrow part of the purchase price from your brokerage firm. If you choose to borrow funds from your firm, you will open a margin account with the firm. The securities purchased are the firm’s collateral for the loan to you. If the securities in your account decline in value, so do the value of the collateral supporting your loan, and, as a result, the firm can take action, such as issue a margin call and/or sell securities or other assets in any of your accounts held with the member, in order to maintain the required equity in the account.

It is important that you fully understand the risks involved in trading securities on margin.
These risks include the following:

You can lose more funds than you deposit in the margin account. A decline in the value of securities that are purchased on margin may require you to provide additional funds to the firm that has made the loan to avoid the forced sale of those securities or other securities or assets in your account(s).

The firm can force the sale of securities or other assets in your account(s) if the equity in your account falls below the maintenance margin requirements or the firm’s higher “house” requirements, the firm can sell the securities or other assets in any of your accounts held at the firm to cover the margin deficiency. You also will be responsible for any shortfall in the account after such a sale.

The firm can sell your securities or other assets without contacting you. Some investors mistakenly believe that a firm must contact them for a margin call to be valid and that the firm cannot liquidate securities or other assets in their accounts to meet the call unless the firm has contacted them first. This is not the case. Most firms will attempt to notify their customers of margin calls, but they are not required to do so. However, even if a firm has contacted a customer and provided a specific date by which the customer can meet a margin call, the firm can still take necessary steps to protect its financial interests, including immediately selling the securities without notice to the customer.

You are not entitled to choose which securities or other assets in your account(s) are liquidated or sold to meet a margin call. Because the securities are collateral for the margin loan, the firm has the right to decide which security to sell in order to protect its interests.

The firm can increase its “house” maintenance margin requirements at any time and is not required to provide you advance written notice. These changes in firm policy often take effect immediately and may result in the issuance of a maintenance margin call. Your failure to satisfy the call may cause the member to liquidate or sell securities in your account(s).

You are not entitled to an extension of time on a margin call. While an extension of time to meet margin requirements may be available to customers under certain conditions, a customer does not have a right to the extension.

For your better understanding of the margin account, please refer to the following cash account and margin account profit and loss comparison.

Cash Account Purchase
Profit Leverage
Invested Amount $10,000
Amount Purchased $10,000
Price
Increase		 Change
in Value ($)		 Investment
Return Rate
10% 1000 10%
20% 1000 20%
25% 1000 25%
35% 1000 35%
50% 1000 50%
60% 1000 60%
70% 1000 70%
*excludes interest cost
Cash Account Purchase
Profit Leverage
Invested Amount $10,000
Amount Purchased $10,000
Price
Increase		 Change
in Value ($)		 Investment
Return Rate
10% 1000 10%
20% 1000 20%
25% 1000 25%
35% 1000 35%
50% 1000 50%
60% 1000 60%
70% 1000 70%
*excludes interest cost
Cash Account Purchase
Profit Leverage
Invested Amount $10,000
Amount Purchased $10,000
Price
Increase		 Change
in Value ($)		 Investment
Return Rate
10% 1000 10%
20% 1000 20%
25% 1000 25%
35% 1000 35%
50% 1000 50%
60% 1000 60%
70% 1000 70%
*excludes interest cost
Cash Account Purchase
Profit Leverage
Invested Amount $10,000
Amount Purchased $10,000
Price
Increase		 Change
in Value ($)		 Investment
Return Rate
10% 1000 10%
20% 1000 20%
25% 1000 25%
35% 1000 35%
50% 1000 50%
60% 1000 60%
70% 1000 70%
*excludes interest cost
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Mutual Funds Breakpoint Discounts Disclosure Statement

Before investing in mutual funds, it is important that you understand the sales charges, expenses, and management fees that you will be charged, as well as the breakpoint discounts to which you may be entitled. Understanding these charges and breakpoint discounts will assist you in identifying the best investment for your particular needs and may help you reduce the costs of your investment. This disclosure document will give you general background information about these charges and discounts. However, sales charges, expenses, management fees, and breakpoint discounts vary from mutual fund to mutual fund. Therefore, you should discuss these issues with your financial advisor and review each mutual fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, which are available from your financial advisor, to get the specific information regarding the charges and breakpoint discounts associated with a particular mutual fund.

SALES CHARGES

Investors that purchase mutual funds must make certain choices, including which funds to purchase and which class share is most advantageous. Each mutual fund has a specified investment strategy. You need to consider whether the mutual fund’s investment strategy is compatible with your investment objectives. Additionally, most mutual funds offer different share classes. Although each share class represents a similar interest in the mutual fund’s portfolio, the mutual fund will charge you different fees and expenses depending upon your choice of share class. As a general rule, Class A shares carry a “front-end” sales charge or “load” that is deducted from your investment at the time you buy fund shares. This sales charge is a percentage of your total purchase. As explained below, many mutual funds offer volume discounts to the front-end sales charge assessed on Class A shares at certain predetermined levels of investment, which are called “breakpoint discounts.” In contrast, Class B and C shares usually do not carry any front-end sales charges. Instead, investors that purchase Class B or C shares pay asset-based sales charges, which may be higher than the charges associated with Class A shares. Investors that purchase Class B and C shares may also be required to pay a sales charge known as a contingent deferred sales charge when they sell their shares, depending upon the rules of the particular mutual fund.

BREAKPOINT DISCOUNTS

Most mutual funds offer investors a variety of ways to qualify for breakpoint discounts on the sales charge associated with the purchase of Class A shares. In general, most mutual funds provide breakpoint discounts to investors who make large purchases at one time. The extent of the discount depends upon the size of the purchase. Generally, as the amount of the purchase increases, the percentage used to determine the sales load decreases. In fact, the entire sales charge may be waived for investors that make very large purchases of Class A shares. Mutual fund prospectuses contain tables that illustrate the available breakpoint discounts and the investment levels at which breakpoint discounts apply. Additionally, most mutual funds allow investors to qualify for breakpoint discounts based upon current holdings from prior purchases through “Rights of Accumulation,” and future purchases, based upon “Letters of Intent.” This document provides general information regarding the Rights of Accumulation and Letters of Intent. However, mutual funds have different rules regarding the availability of Rights of Accumulation and Letters of Intent. Therefore, you should discuss these issues with your financial advisor and review the mutual fund prospectus to determine the specific terms upon which a mutual fund offers Rights of Accumulation or Letters of Intent.

  • Rights of Accumulation – Many mutual funds allow investors to count the value of previous purchases of the same fund, or another fund within the same fund family, with the value of the current purchase, to qualify for breakpoint discounts. Moreover, mutual funds allow investors to count existing holdings in multiple accounts, such as IRAs or accounts at other broker-dealers, to qualify for breakpoint discounts. Therefore, if you have accounts at other broker-dealers and wish to take advantage of the balances in these accounts to qualify for a breakpoint discount, you must advise your financial advisor about those balances. You may need to provide documentation establishing the holdings in those other accounts to your financial advisor if you wish to rely upon balances in accounts at another firm.
    In addition, many mutual funds allow investors to count the value of holdings in accounts of certain related parties, such as spouses or children, to qualify for breakpoint discounts. Each mutual fund has different rules that govern when relatives may rely upon each other’s holdings to qualify for breakpoint discounts. You should consult with your financial advisor or review the mutual fund’s prospectus or statement of additional information to determine what these rules are for the fund family in which you are investing. If you wish to rely upon the holdings of related parties to qualify for a breakpoint discount, you should advise your financial advisor about these accounts. You may need to provide documentation to your financial advisor if you wish to rely upon balances in accounts at another firm.
    Mutual funds also follow different rules to determine the value of existing holdings. Some funds use the current net asset value (NAV) of existing investments in determining whether an investor qualifies for a breakpoint discount. However, a small number of funds use the historical cost, which is the cost of the initial purchase, to determine eligibility for breakpoint discounts. If the mutual fund uses historical costs, you may need to provide account records, such as confirmation statements or monthly statements, to qualify for a breakpoint discount based upon previous purchases. You should consult with your financial advisor and review the mutual fund’s prospectus to determine whether the mutual fund uses either NAV or historical costs to determine breakpoint eligibility.
  • Letters of Intent – Most mutual funds allow investors to qualify for breakpoint discounts by signing a Letter of Intent, which commits the investor to purchase a specified amount of Class A shares within a defined period of time, usually 13 months. For example, if an investor plans to purchase $50,000 worth of Class A shares over a period of 13 months, but each individual purchase would not qualify for a breakpoint discount, the investor could sign a Letter of Intent at the time of the first purchase and receive the breakpoint discount associated with $50,000 investments on the first and all subsequent purchases. Additionally, some funds offer retroactive Letters of Intent that allow investors to rely upon purchases in the recent past to qualify for a breakpoint discount. However, if an investor fails to invest the amount required by the Letter of Intent, the fund is entitled to retroactively deduct the correct sales charges based upon the amount that the investor actually invested. If you intend to make several purchases within a 13 month period, you should consult your financial advisor and the mutual fund prospectus to determine if it would be beneficial for you to sign a Letter of Intent.
    As you can see, understanding the availability of breakpoint discounts is important because it may allow you to purchase Class A shares at a lower price. The availability of breakpoint discounts may save you money and may also affect your decision regarding the appropriate share class in which to invest. Therefore, you should discuss the availability of breakpoint discounts with your financial advisor and carefully review the mutual fund prospectus and its statement of additional information, which you can get from your financial advisor when choosing among the share classes offered by a mutual fund. If you wish to learn more about mutual fund share classes or mutual fund breakpoints, you may wish to review the investor alerts available on the NASD website http://www.nasdr.com/alert_mfclasses.htm and http://www.nasdr.com/alert_breakpoints.htm
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Procedures for Opening a New Account and Account Information Update

To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, Federal law requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. What this means for you: When you open an account, we will ask for your name, address, date of birth, and other information that will allow us to identify you. We may also ask to see your driver’s license, passport, or other identifying documents. In compliance with SEC Rule 17a3, any client account that was opened at Univest Securities has to be updated every three years. When any client receives a mailing from our clearing firm, Univest requests the client to confirm the following information for each account registration:

  • Name
  • Address (Mailing Address and Residential Address)
  • Telephone Number
  • Employment Status/Occupation
  • Whether the client is an associated person of a broker/dealer
  • Annual Income
  • Net Worth
  • Investment Objectives

If you have received such a letter and you have any questions, please call us at (212) 343-8888 or send us an email at info@univest.us.

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Option Disclosure Statement

Transactions in options carry a high degree of risk. Purchasers and sellers of options should familiarize themselves with the type of option (i.e. put or call) in which they contemplate trading and the associated risks. You should calculate the extent to which the value of the options must increase for your position to become profitable, taking into account the premium and all transaction costs. The purchaser of options may offset or exercise the options or allow the options to expire. The exercise of an option results either in a cash settlement or in the purchaser acquiring or delivering the underlying interest. If the option is in the future, the purchaser will acquire a futures position with associated liabilities for margin (see the section on Futures above). If the purchased options expire worthlessly, you will suffer a total loss of your investment which will consist of the option premium plus transaction costs. If you are contemplating purchasing deep-out-of-the-money options, you should be aware that the chance of such options becoming profitable ordinarily is remote. Selling (“writing” or “granting”) an option generally entails considerably greater risk than purchasing options. Although the premium received by the seller is fixed, the seller may sustain a loss well in excess of that amount. The seller will be liable for additional margin to maintain the position if the market moves unfavorably. The seller will also be exposed to the risk of the purchaser exercising the option and the seller will be obligated to either settle the option in cash or to acquire or deliver the underlying interest. If the position is “covered” by the seller holding a corresponding position in the underlying interest or another option, the risk may be reduced. If the option is not covered, the risk of loss can be unlimited. Certain exchanges in some jurisdictions permit deferred payment of the option premium, exposing the purchaser to liability for margin payments not exceeding the amount of the premium. The purchaser is still subject to the risk of losing the premium and transaction costs. When the option is exercised or expires, the purchaser is responsible for any unpaid premium outstanding at that time.

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