Categorisation under MIFID criteria

With the transposition of MiFID to Spanish legislation (articles 78 bis and 78 ter of the Securities Market Act; article 61 of Royal Decree 217/2008), investment services companies resident in Spanish territory are obliged to categorise their clients as retail or professional.

• Retail client:all clients not falling into the professional category (article 78 bis of the Securities Market Act). They are entitled to maximum protection levels.
• Professional client:those assumed to have the experience, knowledge and qualifications necessary to make their own investment decisions and properly assess their risks, without prejudice to their being able to request non-professional treatment and investment services companies being able to afford them a broader degree of coverage (article 78 bis of the Securities Market Act).

However, among the clients classified as professionals, investment services companies may classify certain entities as an eligible counterparty, notwithstanding these entities entitlement to request, either generally or for each operation, treatment as clients (article 78 ter of the Securities Market Act).