Investor Ombudsman - Consultations

The fact that the shares are represented in book-entry form implies that the custodian charges fees for the maintenance of the accounting records that represent the ownership of the shares in the book-entry system.

When the company is delisted, there is an option to stop incurring this expense, i.e. not to charge these fees. This is at the client's request, in the case of inactive companies, i.e. those that have not made any entries in the Commercial Register for more than four years. The procedure can be initiated to voluntarily waive the maintenance of the shares in the book-entry system, by requesting this from our custodian and providing proof of this situation with the certificates from the Commercial Register and clearly stating the desire to do so, and thereby obtaining the deregistration of our ownership with Iberclear.

The Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) or Tobin Tax will be levied on the purchase of shares in Spanish companies with a capitalisation of more than 1 billion euros and the tax rate will be 0.2%.

The taxable amount is the amount of the consideration for the taxable transactions, excluding any associated costs or expenses. It will be applied regardless of the place where the acquisition is made and regardless of the residence or place of establishment of the persons or entities involved in the transaction. In other words, anyone who buys Spanish shares affected by this tax will pay the tax whether they are a Spanish, German, English or American investor. The financial intermediary who executes the share purchase transaction will be responsible for collecting the tax from the investor. The companies whose shares are subject to this tax will appear on a list published annually each December. 

To purchase securities, it is necessary to open a securities account and sign a securities custody and administration contract with a financial institution. The financial institution manages the investor's portfolio through this securities account (subscriptions, collection of dividends, etc.). This account shall be associated with the cash inflows and outflows corresponding to the securities transactions carried out by the customer.

The securities custody and administration service can only be performed by authorised entities. The depositary will charge fees for this service. All items for which fees may be charged, as well as their maximum amount, are set out in a fee schedule. These schedules are public and registered with the CNMV.

The National Securities Markets Commission (CNMV) is the body responsible for supervising and inspecting the Spanish securities markets and the activity of all those operating in them. You can consult the CNMV website if you have any doubts about an entity: CNMV Website. Furthermore, in order to make it easier for investors to identify entities operating without authorisation, the CNMV's website offers a search engine in the "Warnings to the public" section that allows them to be quickly and directly identified.

The figure of the Investor Ombudsman was created for possible irregularities that may have occurred in the trades carried out on the Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao Stock Exchanges, so if you believe that there has been any irregularity you can make file a complaint with the Investor Ombudsman, attaching the sale order with the data, as well as any relevant documentation and information that you can provide, which will help in investigating what has transpired.

The Investor Information and Protection Service can assist you in matters relating to possible errors or irregularities that may occur in the trading or settlement of stock market investments. This is not an Investment Advice Service, we cannot make personalised recommendations on specific investment products.

When a security is no longer listed on the Stock Exchange, it loses liquidity, but you are still a shareholder. If you want to sell them, it has to be through a private sale, meaning that you have to find a buyer, agree with a third party to sell them at the price freely agreed upon or contact the Board of Directors of the Company in case it is interested in acquiring them. To do so, each of the parties will contact their bank, agent or securities firm, indicating the desire to carry out such a transaction, and they will usually take care of everything, charging the corresponding fees. They may even be able to engage them to find such a buyer.

In order to find out the date and price at which shares were purchased, please note that we are unable to provide this information through the Stock Exchange's Investor Protection and Information Office. This information must be requested from the Depositary Entity (the bank where the shares are deposited), or from the member for which it operates in the market (Investment Services Companies (ISFs) as they are obliged to keep the information on the orders and operations of their customers. It is important to bear in mind the temporary nature of this obligation, as they do not have to keep such information indefinitely.