Selftrade is one of the UK's largest execution-only stockbrokers and is the trading name of Talos Securities Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Boursorama, one of Europe's leading online stockbrokers and part of the Société Générale Group.

Selftrade has been operating within the UK for the past 7 years and currently clients have in excess of £2billion assets held in our nominee and client money accounts.

The Selftrade model is an Execution Only broker taking instructions on behalf of our clients and placing these in the market place. Sales can only be undertaken on stock deposited in our registered nominee account.

Selftrade do not:

• Engage in stock lending,
• Buy or sell investments for our own benefit
• Provide any credit facilities to customers.

The business model operates solely on the service we provide to our customers.

A key component of our income is generated from our customers trading activity, we have a significant client base which provides protection from low trading periods. An extremely small percentage of our income is dependant on the value of our customers invested assets. Even with the significant downward adjustment of the Stock Market and impact on our customers' portfolio value, this will not have a material impact on our projected income for 2008/2009.

Selftrade does not act as a bank, has no lending and therefore no direct exposure to current sub-prime assets.

Selftrade is a profitable business, there are no borrowings and it has established a proven business model which has the support of its parent group (Boursorama) and with long serving employees.

The security of our clients' assets is paramount to Selftrade as a result the company is managed conservatively. We have strong internal controls and audit procedures, in addition we have controls and audits undertaken by both Boursorama and Société Générale. This provides an additional level of risk management in so far as we benefit from the larger corporate approach to risk and inspections.

The following provides details of the protections available to private investors together with links to the appropriate sites where additional information can be obtained.

Selftrade Policies & Procedures

Client money is held on deposit in Trust accounts, so that any creditors would have no legal right to it, we cannot use any of this money to cover the company's obligations, and is subject to controls and procedures over and above those required by the FSA.

We believe that it is now highly unlikely that the British Government would allow any of the key clearing banks to fail and default on depositors. Although there is no guarantee, the actions being taken by the Chancellor of the Exchequer indicate the UK Government are fully supporting the UK Banks.

Client money is currently spread across UK banks. Our policy is continually reviewed both internally by Selftrade board, it is also subject to wider policies within Boursorama and Société Générale. As previously stated, the security of our clients' assets is our key concern. The view of Selftrade continues to be to ensure security of our clients' funds and therefore in these extraordinary conditions, and as stated above, client money is being spread with a number of UK banks. This change was implemented as a direct result of the current climate.

We currently hold no cash with foreign banks or their British subsidiaries.
Stock you hold with us is held under LR Nominees Limited by Equiniti Financial Services Ltd. Equiniti Financial Services Ltd are regulated by the FSA (FSA Register number 468631). All your assets are held in an account designated with your name and, as with client money, are subject to controls and procedures over and above those required by the FSA.
We do not allow any lending of any stock held within LR Nominees

Financial Services Authority (FSA)

Talos Securities is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and is bound by their rules and regulations in the conduct of our investment business (FSA Register number 208271). You can telephone the FSA Consumer Help Line on 0845 606 1234 (8am-6pm Monday to Friday), to check our registration or ask other queries. Alternatively, you may write to them at the FSA Consumer Help Line, 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HS or you can visit www.fsa.gov.uk

We undertake regular reporting to the FSA and Companies House with annual audited financial statements. The audited accounts are currently audited by Ernst and Young (and previously Deloitte & Touche LLP). These accounts will clearly demonstrate Selftrade has no borrowings. Selftrade complies with the FSA client money rules.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS),

Under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in the unlikely event that any of the banks which we use is declared in default, each individual is entitled to up to £50,000 (this was raised from £35,000 on 7 Oct 2008) in total in compensation for losses across all their deposits with that institution.
Our current policy, which spreads cash between institutions, therefore offers this protection with each of the institutions we use. If one of the banks which we use for depositing cash balances is declared in default, each individual is entitled to up to £50,000 in total in compensation for losses across all their deposits with that institution (increased from £35,000 on 7 Oct 2008).

Investors may be covered by the provisions of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), if Selftrade ceases trading. It can award up to £48,000 in compensation to any one investor where it is decided by the scheme operators that an investment business is in default and is unable to satisfy any claims against it.

Full details of the FSCS detailing the restrictions and financial limits that apply are available on request from the FSCS. You can contact them on 0207 892 7300 or at www.fscs.org.uk. You can also write to them at FSCS, 7th Floor Lloyds Chambers, Portsoken Street, London E1 8BN.

Companies Act

Talos Securities is registered in England and Wales and consequently are governed by the Companies Act (Company Number 04196325) which includes a requirement to have the financial accounts audited each year by independent accountants, we currently use the international firm Ernst and Young, (previously Deloitte & Touche LLP). which is one of the big four chartered accountants in the world. They also do our regulatory audit.
As stated, we take the security of our clients assets extremely seriously, we want to ensure that everybody who invests with Selftrade is content about the various protections that are available to them. Accordingly, please feel free to contact us at any time if you would like to discuss the contents of this fact sheet in greater detail.