Terms & Conditions

Being informed is a key part of being a good investor. We strive to make all information easily accessible to all our customers.

eccuity Invest New Zealand Limited Terms and Conditions

Effective Date: 31 January 2024

eccuity Invest Background

eccuity Invest New Zealand Limited is part of the Maddition Group which is a wealth management technology business] that powers wealth building platforms like eccuity Invest and eccuity.

eccuity Invest partners with global companies to give you access to investment products. We do not create, issue or own these products. It's important for you to carefully review the terms of each product to determine if it suits your needs and understand the associated risks, seeking professional financial advice before deciding to invest.

Warning

The eccuity Invest Service or associated products and businesses do not give financial advice.

All information contained in eccuity Invest Service is factual information only and has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should not rely on any information contained in eccuity Invest Service and before making any investment decision you should consider whether it is appropriate for your situation and seek appropriate financial, taxation and legal advice. We do not provide any opinion or recommendation as to what you should invest in or what investments you should dispose of. It's up to you to make decisions about which products to invest in, taking appropriate advice prior to actioning any investment decision . When you invest real money, there is a real risk that you may lose some or all of your investment. You are solely responsible for your investment decisions and any losses you experience as a result.

Account Creation

To create an account, you must be:

  1. At least 18 years of age;
  2. A physical and tax resident of New Zealand;
  3. Possess the legal right and ability to enter into a legally binding agreement with us; and
  4. Agree and warrant to use the eccuity Invest Service in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

We retain the right to cancel your account for any reason, or refuse your account activation request at any time. We do not need to provide you with notice or provide any reason.

Additionally you must:

  1. Sign up for eccuity.com;
  2. Complete the eccuity Invest onboarding application;
  3. Provide complete and accurate information that we and our partners need during the sign-up process;
  4. Upload necessary documents that we and our partners need to verify your identity as required by law;
  5. eccuity Invest will use electronic identity verification services to confirm your identity and perform customer due diligence checks, including checking for politically exposed persons;
  6. By applying for eccuity Invest, you give your consent for the company to verify your identity and conduct checks using these electronic services; 
  7. Review in their entirety the Alpaca Securities LLC and Alpaca Crypto LLC Agreements. Refer to plain English explanations for these agreements here.
  8. By completing the eccuity Invest onboarding application, you are also signing into and accepting all the terms and conditions in the Alpaca Securities LLC and Alpaca Crypto LLC agreements, you agree that we and our partners can communicate with you electronically about all matters.

It is essential for us to have your updated information at all times. Please review your account details regularly and inform us promptly of any changes. We will provide you with a secure login to access your eccuity Invest Account via the eccuity Platform. It is your responsibility to keep your account secure at all times by choosing a strong password and updating it as needed, ensuring that nobody else has access to your account. If we receive an order from your account, we will assume it is from you and proceed accordingly.

Please note that we are not liable for any unauthorised use of your eccuity Invest Account or any financial losses resulting from such unauthorised use. Please take necessary precautions to prevent unauthorised access and protect your account. If there is suspicion or a report of unauthorised use of your eccuity Invest Account, we have the right to suspend access to it. Additionally, we may suspend access at our complete discretion, without notice, if we believe the account's security is compromised, if it is being used for illegal purposes, or if required by law or regulatory authorities.

Whenever possible, we will inform you in advance if we are going to suspend your eccuity Invest Account and provide reasons for the suspension. However, in some cases, we may be required to act swiftly to ensure the account's security or may be prohibited by law or regulatory restrictions from notifying you . Please note that while your account is suspended, we are not responsible for any financial losses or missed opportunities you may experience. 

You need to report any unauthorised use of your eccuity Invest Account to us immediately, by emailing us at [email protected]

We have made all reasonable efforts to secure the information you provide to us, but you understand and accept that you use eccuity Invest and provide information at your own risk. We are not responsible for any misuse of your information that may occur due to a breach of our security measures.

eccuity Invest Terms

When you open an account with eccuity Invest, which includes an individual brokerage account with Alpaca Securities LLC and Alpaca Crypto LLC (Alpaca), we refer to it as your "eccuity Invest Account''. It's important for you to read and understand all eccuity Invest Account terms and agree to follow them throughout your lifecycle with eccuity Invest. We have the right to modify these terms at any time. We will notify you by email four weeks prior if the changes materially impact the meaning or effect of these terms. However, minor changes that are inconsequential may be made without prior notification. 

If you disagree with any changes to the terms, you have the option to cancel your eccuity Invest Account before the new terms come into effect within 4 weeks of the receipt of the notification by you. By continuing to use eccuity Invest after the changes, we will consider you to have accepted the new terms.

Your eccuity Invest Account 

We properly account for your funds in your eccuity Invest Account and display the value of your funds and investments held with eccuity Invest. It's also where you place orders for your trading account. When you deposit money into your eccuity Invest Account, it is received in Kiwi Bank, a New Zealand bank account in trust with eccuity Invest NZ Limited and we then take the appropriate actions to transfer the funds to Alpaca Securities. By signing up to the eccuity Invest Service you give us the authority to use Wise Payments Limited to get the funds to your broker account as soon as possible. Funds will appear in your account generally within three (3) business days, however we use our best endeavours to get the funds available in your account within one (1) day. We will aim to get the best rate possible for foreign exchange and all fees charged will be clearly communicated via email confirmation upon the funds becoming available.

Funding an Account

 Before you can provide an Instruction to buy securities, you must fund your account. 

We may offer different payment methods and speeds for you to deposit funds to your account and transfer funds between New Zealand and United States of America currencies. eccuity Invest is not liable for any losses arising from funding delays or errors, including transfers between New Zealand and United States of America currencies. We may charge you a fee for certain payment methods or speeds. We reserve the right to change the type of payment methods and speeds, and fees associated with them, at our sole discretion without notice.

You agree that funds deposited via any funding method may not be available for withdrawal until the funds have cleared at eccuity Invest, which generally takes up to seven (7) business days. After this time, if the funds have cleared they may be withdrawn by you.

You authorise eccuity Invest, and any Service Provider, if required, to facilitate the transfer of funds deposited into your account (which are not the result of a withdrawal from the United States of America) to the United States of America client account of eccuity Invest’s broker-dealer (Alpaca Securities, LLC or ‘Alpaca’) (the ‘Alpaca Account’).

When you initiate a foreign exchange transfer on eccuity Invest, you authorise eccuity Invest to book a deal with Foreign Exchange Partners, such as Wise Payments Limited to convert your funds into United States of America dollars. The applicable exchange rate will be the rate at the time the funds are received (rather than when they are sent by you). We will provide an estimated exchange rate at the time you initiate the transfer, however if you do not select an instant payment method (for example a bank transfer), the actual exchange rate applied at the time that the funds are received may vary from the estimate provided. 

Funds transferred will be sent to one of our foreign exchange partners, and then remitted to your United States of America client account in United States of America dollars. eccuity Invest has contracted with its foreign exchange partners directly and you are not entering into a contractual relationship with that foreign exchange partner.

You will be notified once the funds have cleared in the Alpaca Account and are available to invest through eccuity Invest.

You confirm that the intention of using these funds is not for any improper or illegal activity.

If you fund your eccuity Invest Account directly (not explicitly within the eccuity Invest Service, but through your own channel) you acknowledge that eccuity Invest is not responsible or liable for any loss. eccuity Invest does not support third party deposits. You acknowledge that third party deposits may be rejected and sent back to source and eccuity Invest may take any other action in respect of your account, including suspension and/or charging a fee.

You must not fund your eccuity Invest Account from an international source.

eccuity Invest is responsible for maintaining accurate records of your money and ensuring the correct amount is transferred to your Alpaca Account. However, eccuity Invest is not liable for any losses resulting from fluctuations in the exchange rate or delays caused by eccuity Invest or the banks it works with.

If you have any concerns or disagree with the investment records and eccuity Invest Account statement, you must notify us promptly.

It is important that when transfering funds you provide your unique reference code with the transfer. In the case we are unable to match the unique reference code supplied, we will return the money to its original bank account, and notify you accordingly via email. 

If you or we decide to close your eccuity Invest Account, you give us authority to ensure that any investments held through eccuity Invest are sold and the resulting funds, less any applicable fees, are returned to your bank account. The sale of your investments would be completed in X days, however, this may change depending on circumstances. If circumstances change, we will notify you accordingly. 

Your investments are held by Alpaca as custodian or its sub-custodian, on your behalf and not directly by eccuity Invest. Refer to the information below regarding our business partners.

eccuity Invest Availability

Our eccuity Invest Services will be fully available between 08h00 to 18h00 New Zealand Time Monday to Friday and our team will be available during these core business hours to address any service failures 

While we endeavour to ensure our services are available, we can not guarantee this due to defects or reasons beyond our control. As such we are not liable if eccuity Invest is not available for any reasons beyond the core business hours.

Fees 

While we don’t charge any fees to open a eccuity Invest Account, there are fees for using any of the products and services on the eccuity Invest Platform. Our current fee schedule is here:

Go to pricing

How we Make Money

  1. Stock and ETF Trade Fees - 0.4% maximum with fees as low as 0.2% of order value
  2. Interest on Cash Balances - A 50/50 revenue share with Alpaca of all cash held in $USD
  3. Payment for Order Flow - A 50/50 revenue share with Alpaca
  4. Spread on Crypto Transactions 0.75% - a 50/50 revenue share with Alpaca
  5. Foreign Exchange for $NZD Deposits and Withdrawals - 1% - a 50/50 revenue share with Wise Payments Limited
  6. Subscription offering for eccuity Private which enables users access cheaper transactions and other premium services and features

Complaints

If you have a complaint, please read our complaints handling process here.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you have the option to escalate it to our external dispute resolution scheme free of charge:

Financial Dispute Resolution Services (FDRS)

 Level 4, 142 Lambton Quay, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

www.fdrs.org.nz | 0508 337 337 | [email protected]

 Our Privacy Obligation 

In order to effectively deliver eccuity Invest products and services, we and our partners need to collect personal details from you. Failure on your part to provide this requisite data will lead to you unable to use our products and services. We treat this information with utmost respect as detailed in our eccuity Invest Privacy Policy in alignment with New Zealand Privacy Law. 

Additionally some of the information we request is for Alpaca.

It's important to note that Alpaca is not governed by New Zealand law and will not be obligated to protect your information in a manner that provides equivalent safeguards as required by New Zealand privacy laws.

Alpaca handles and safeguards your information according to their Privacy Policy, which you must read and understand. You agree for us to share your information with Alpaca as a result of using eccuity Invest.

eccuity Invest Partners With

Alpaca Securities LLC and Alpaca Crypto LLC (Alpaca)

Alpaca is a United States of America broker-dealer that provides brokerage services on eccuity Invest and holds investments on your behalf, either directly as custodian or through a sub-custodian.

With your eccuity Invest Account, you can purchase shares in companies and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and cryptocurrencies using Alpaca’s brokerage service. You have the flexibility to invest any dollar amount, even if it's a fraction of a share.

Alpaca currently offers access to shares from over 4,700 well-known companies and more than 1,200 ETFs.

When you sign up for the United States of America share market product, you agree to Alpaca’s Account Application and Customer Agreement and Alpaca Crypto Agreement. It is important to thoroughly read, understand and take advice on these Agreements as they outline the responsibilities and limitations of both Alpaca and yourself when trading through eccuity Invest. 

Please note at all times that eccuity Invest does not offer financial advice, and the information on this website should not be considered as a recommendation or opinion to invest or divest in any specific product or company. All investments come with risks, and there is always a possibility of losing money (in all or part) including the initial investment. It is advisable to consult a licensed financial, legal and tax adviser for professional advice before making any decisions to open a eccuity Invest account and to invest.

eccuity Terms and Conditions

Effective Date: 24 June 2024

The eccuity Platform allows users to find and discover different assets (US Stocks, Cryptocurrencies and ETFs) and then connect third party broker accounts. The eccuity Platform is an informational tool only and does not provide any financial advice.

Warning

The information presented by eccuity and provided in its website, videos and/or mobile applications (Platforms) is factual information only.

All information provided on the eccuity Platform is general in nature and has been prepared without taking into account your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs.No financial advice is provided. It is essential that you do not solely rely on any information within the eccuity Platform. Before making any investment decisions, we strongly advise you to assess whether the information and any investment decision is suitable for your individual circumstances and to seek relevant financial, taxation, and legal advice. Your unique financial situation requires careful consideration, and seeking professional financial advice is crucial to making well-informed investment decisions.

Account Creation

To be eligible to open an account, you must be:

  1. At least 18 years of age;
  2. Possess the legal right and ability to enter into a legally binding agreement with us; 
  3. Be able to meet any criteria to open and maintain an account; 
  4. Provide all necessary verification information so that we can comply with the New Zealand Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism legislations; and
  5. Agree and warrant to use this Platform In accordance with these Terms.

We retain the right, at our complete discretion, to cancel your account , or refuse your account creation request at any time without giving reasons.

If your information changes at any time, you need to advise us immediately.

Collection Notice

We collect personal information about you in order to provide our services and for purposes otherwise set out in our Privacy Policy. That document should be read in conjunction with these terms and conditions.

Accuracy, Completeness and Timeliness of Information

The information on our Platform, sourced from third parties and sites, is not comprehensive and is intended to provide a summary of the subject matter covered only. While we use all reasonable attempts to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the data and information on our Platform, to the extent permitted by law, we make no warranty regarding the accuracy or completeness of information on this Platform. We are not responsible for any reliance placed on any of the information provided though the Platform. You need to be aware that information may change and you need to continually monitor any changes (including information) on this Platform on an ongoing basis and all material changes will be communicated via our release note emails and knowledge base updates.

Furthermore we make no commitments in regards to the minimum amount of uptime that our Platform will be maintained, although we will make every reasonable attempt to ensure that the Platform is operational.

We are not liable to you or anyone else if interference with or damage to your computer systems occurs in connection with the use of this Platform or a linked website. You must take your own precautions to ensure that whatever you select for your use from our Platform or a linked website is free of viruses or anything else (such as worms or Trojan horses) that may interfere with or damage the operations of your computer systems.

We may, from time to time and without notice, change or add to the Platform (including the Terms and Conditions or the information, products or services described in it. Whilst we endeavour to maintain the Platform on a regular basis, we do not undertake to keep the Platform updated at all time. We are not liable to you or anyone else if errors occur in the information or the Platform is not up-to-date.

Promotions and Competitions

For certain campaigns, promotions or contests, additional terms and conditions may apply. If you want to participate in such a campaign, promotion or contest, you will need to agree to the relevant terms and conditions applicable to that campaign, promotion or contest. In case of any inconsistency between such terms and conditions and these Terms, those terms and conditions will prevail.

Purchases

Users are able to purchase premium services from eccuity. These services can be delivered via subscription. We reserve the right to cancel or refuse access to our premium services for any user, at any time without giving reason. The following terms apply to those users that have purchased premium features.

  • Discounts/Promotional Prices:
    Users that subscribe under a reduced rate shall have the discount applied for that period only (i.e. as advised on the offer, up to a maximum of 12 months). After which time, their rate shall revert to standard pricing at that date.
  • Changes in price:
    eccuity reserves the right to change our pricing at any time, and with reasonable notice to our subscribers. At the end of the notice period the user’s next billing period (i.e. monthly or annually) payment shall be at the revised price.
  • Payment methods and security:
    Payments are via credit card and are handled by a third party payment service called Stripe. Credit card details are not stored on eccuity’s systems.
  • Cancellation:
    Users can cancel their subscription at any time. Users shall not be entitled to a partial refund, however, at our sole discretion, we may choose to give users a partial refund.
  • Refunds:
    We offer a 14 day money back guarantee for all new subscribers only from their sign up date. Past the 14 day period refunds shall be at our sole discretion.
  • Subscription fees:
    If applicable, users authorise eccuity to automatically debit their credit card on their initial registration and then on each subsequent anniversary of their billing cycle (i.e. monthly or annually), until cancelled.
  • Sole use only:
    Users are unable to share access to their premium features unless explicitly approved under their subscription level.

New Zealand Users:Fees charged to New Zealand users are subject to GST.

Linked Sites

Our Platform may contain links to websites operated by third parties. Those links are provided for convenience and may not remain current or be maintained. Unless expressly stated otherwise, we do not endorse and are not responsible for the content on those linked websites and have no control over or rights in those linked websites.

Intellectual Property Rights

Unless otherwise indicated, we own or licence from third parties all rights, title and interest (including copyright, designs, patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights) in this Platform and in all of the material (including all text, graphics, logos, audio and software) made available on this Platform (Content).

Your use of this Platform and use of and access to any Content does not grant or transfer any rights, title or interest to you in relation to this Platform or the Content. However we do grant you a licence to access this Platform and view the Content on the terms and conditions set out in this Agreement and, where applicable, as expressly authorised by us and/or our third party licensors.

Social sharing buttons, infographic download feature, or with written permission any reproduction or redistribution of this Platform or the Content is prohibited and may result in civil and criminal penalties. In addition, you must not copy the Content to any other server, location or support for publication, reproduction or distribution is expressly prohibited.

All other use, copying or reproduction of this Platform, the Content or any part of it is prohibited, except to the extent permitted by law.

No Commercial Use

Outside of the affiliate/partnership programs, and the professional membership levels this Platform is for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, licence, commercially exploit, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any Content, software, products or services contained within this Platform. You may not use this Platform, or any of its Content, to further any commercial purpose, including any advertising or advertising revenue generation activity on your own website.

Unacceptable Activity

You must not do any act that we would deem to be inappropriate, is unlawful or is prohibited by any laws applicable to this Platform, including but not limited to:

  • any act that would constitute a breach of either the privacy (including uploading private or personal information without an individual's consent) or any other of the legal rights of individuals;
  • using this Platform to defame or libel us, our employees or other individuals;
  • uploading files that contain viruses that may cause damage to our property or the property of other individuals; and
  • posting or transmitting to this Platform any non-authorised material including, but not limited to, material that is, in our opinion, likely to cause annoyance, or which is defamatory, racist, obscene, threatening, pornographic or otherwise or which is detrimental to or in violation of our systems or a third party's systems or network security.

If we allow you to post any information to our Platform, we have the right to take down this information at our sole discretion and without notice at any time.

Warranties and Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we make no warranties or representations about this Platform or the Content, including but not limited to warranties or representations that they will be complete, accurate or up-to-date, that access will be uninterrupted or error-free or free from viruses, or that this Platform will be secure.

We reserve the right to restrict, suspend or terminate without notice your access to this Platform, any Content, or any feature of this Platform at any time without notice and we will not be responsible for any loss, cost, damage or liability that may arise as a result.

The eccuity AI Assistant uses GPT3.5 and has been fine tuned to not give any financial advice. Users attempting to manipulate the Assistant to hallucinate will have access revoked and potentially banned. Large Language Models are susceptible to hallucinations and any response should be validated by the user independently.

Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event shall we be liable for any direct and indirect loss, damage or expense – irrespective of the manner in which it occurs – which may be suffered due to your use of our Platform and/or the information or materials contained on it, or as a result of the inaccessibility of this Platform and/or the fact that certain information or materials contained on it are incorrect, incomplete or not up-to-date.

Cookies

This website utilises cookies. If you do not have cookies enabled in your web browser some functions of the site may not work as intended.

Jurisdiction and Governing Law

Your use of this Platform and these Terms are governed by the law of New Zealand and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts exercising jurisdiction in New Zealand.

Please note at all times that eccuity Invest does not offer financial advice, and the information on this website should not be considered as a recommendation or opinion to invest or divest in any specific product or company. All investments come with risks, and there is always a possibility of losing money (in all or part) including the initial investment. It is advisable to consult a licensed financial, legal and tax adviser for professional advice before making any decisions to open a eccuity Invest account and to invest.