Circular 95/1: Accounts Opened Under a Pseudonym

Brussels, 27 January 1995.

CIRCULAR TO SECURITIES COMPANIES
No 95/1

Ladies and Gentlemen,

You will have taken note of the contest entitled "Stock Picker" organized by "De Financieel Ekonomische Tijd" and the Antwerp Securities Exchange Company.

To participate in this contest, participants are invited to open an account with a securities company. The registration form states in this regard that the account could be opened under a pseudonym.

To avoid any misunderstanding, I wish to draw the following to the attention of securities companies:

1. The act of publicly taking a name different from the name mentioned in the birth certificate constitutes, unless there is a legal exception, an infringement of a legal prohibition that is of public order and is additionally sanctioned by Article 231 of the Penal Code;

2. Furthermore, the concealment of identity in an account opening contract and on documents generated by the operation of this account constitutes forgery, sanctioned by Article 196 of the Penal Code; whoever uses the forged document or the false piece is punished as if they were the author of the forgery pursuant to Article 197 of the Penal Code;

3. Finally, the claims of persons whose accounts are held under a name other than their own and/or for whom the supporting documents are established under a name other than their own are excluded from the benefit of the interventions of the Guarantee Fund in the event of the failure of the securities company, in application of Article 5, 3° of the Royal Decree of 2 January 1991 fixing the general regulation of the Fund (as amended by Article 1 of the Royal Decree of 2 April 1993).

Supplement no 1
c. 95/1

Consequently, securities companies will ensure, without prejudice to the obligations imposed on them by the Law of 11 January 1993 relating to the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering, that they abstain from opening accounts and issuing documents for clients under a name other than their own. If necessary, securities companies will ensure that the situation is regularized without delay.

Please accept, Ladies and Gentlemen, the expression of my distinguished sentiments.