Conflicts of interest disclosure
General information
Swapin acts honestly, fairly and professionally and in the best interests of its clients. A conflict of interest is a situation where the personal, financial or other interests of Swapin, its shareholders, group companies, members of the management body, employees or other connected persons or clients may influence, or appear to influence, their ability to act impartially and in the best interests of the client.
Swapin seeks to avoid conflicts of interest where possible and, where a conflict cannot be avoided, to manage and mitigate it appropriately and, where necessary, disclose it to the client.
Conflicts of interest that may arise in Swapin’s activities
| Source of conflict of interest | Nature of the conflict and potential risk |
|---|---|
| Swapin’s commercial interests and clients’ interests | Swapin charges fees for its services and has a commercial interest in the use, growth and profitability of its services. A conflict may arise where commercial considerations affect the provision of services to a client or the handling of a transaction in a way that may result in Swapin’s interests being preferred over the client’s interests. |
| Selection of execution venues, liquidity sources and other service providers | Service providers may differ in terms of price, fees, liquidity, execution quality and the commercial terms offered to Swapin. A conflict may arise when Swapin has an economic interest in favoring one service provider, even though another solution could provide a more suitable outcome for the client. |
| Shareholders, group companies and connected persons | The interests of a shareholder, group company or other connected person may influence the selection of a service provider, contractual terms or another decision affecting a client. |
| Personal interests of members of the management body, employees and other relevant persons | Personal, financial, professional or other external interests may influence, or appear to influence, the decisions of the relevant person in relation to a client. |
| Remuneration and commercial incentives | Variable remuneration, sales targets or other incentives may create a risk that commercial outcomes are prioritized over clients’ interests or compliance and risk-management requirements. |
| Conflicts of interest between clients | Clients’ interests may compete, for example in relation to the handling or execution of transactions, creating a risk of unjustified preferential treatment of one client over another. |
| Confidential client, transaction and order information | The use of non-public information for personal gain or for the benefit of another client or third party may harm the client’s interests. |
| Fees and other benefits received from third parties | Swapin or a person acting on behalf of Swapin may receive monetary benefits from a third party in connection with the provision of services, such as commissions or rebates, or non-monetary benefits, such as information, training, technical services or access to third-party systems. Such a benefit may create an incentive to favor the relevant third party or its services over the interests of the client. |
Prevention and management of conflicts of interest
Swapin applies organizational and administrative measures appropriate to its size and organization and to the nature, scale and complexity of its activities to identify, prevent, manage and mitigate conflicts of interest:
- identification, assessment, registration and documentation of conflicts of interest;
- clear allocation of duties and responsibilities and, where necessary, segregation of incompatible duties;
- an obligation for relevant persons to disclose actual and potential conflicts of interest and relevant external interests;
- role-based access rights, protection of confidential information and application of the need-to-know principle;
- controls relating to remuneration, personal transactions, gifts and other benefits;
- objective criteria for the selection and review of execution venues and material service providers;
- assessment and control of monetary and non-monetary benefits received from third parties to ensure that such benefits do not impair Swapin’s obligation to act in the best interests of the client;
- independent compliance oversight and escalation of material conflicts; and
- appropriate employee training and awareness-raising.
Swapin reviews its conflict-of-interest management measures at least annually and updates them as necessary.
Disclosure of conflicts of interest
In individual cases, a conflict of interest may not be fully avoidable. Where the organizational and administrative measures applied by Swapin are not sufficient to prevent a material risk of damage to the client’s interests, Swapin will disclose the relevant conflict of interest to the client before providing the relevant service or carrying out the transaction.
The disclosure will contain sufficiently detailed, concrete and clear information on the role and capacity in which Swapin acts when providing crypto-asset services to the client, and nature and source of the conflict of interest, the risks it poses to the client and the measures taken to mitigate the conflict, enabling the client to make an informed decision regarding the crypto-asset service in connection with which the conflict has arisen. Such disclosure does not, in itself, constitute a sufficient measure for managing and mitigating conflicts of interest. Where the conflict cannot be effectively managed, Swapin may refrain from providing the relevant service or executing the transaction.
Availability
This Conflicts of Interest disclosure is continuously available to clients and prospective clients in electronic form in the “Resources” section of Swapin’s website, in a prominent location and on any device through which the crypto-asset service is provided to the client. Swapin shall keep this information up to date at all times and make it available in all languages that Swapin uses to market its services or communicate with clients in the relevant Member State. Swapin shall maintain up-to-date records of situations giving rise to conflicts of interest and the measures taken to manage them, and shall retain the relevant documentation for a period of five years.
