MarketViews

My Online Trading Adventure

The first step in setting up an online trading account is to visit Sharenet’s website and have a look at the brokers available on the site. By going to the “Trade” section, you’ll see the selection of 4 brokers and a handy hint is to click on the “Compare Rates” section to see how much initial investment money you need and what brokerage fees each broker charges.

Because I’m only going to be using the broker to carry out my instructions, I’ll be paying a brokerage fee according to the value of the actual transaction.


I choose to open an account with Imara SP Reid as they provide comprehensive daily research and tips which should come in handy as I go about choosing shares. I click on “Open an account” and then start the process of filling in the forms that I will eventually send off to Imara.

By signing up to a broker on the Sharenet site you’ll also gain access to an online trading account. You’ll get sent a username and password which will allow you access to Sharenet’s products and services (live prices, charts etc) and monitor your portfolio whenever you want to.

THE FORMS

This is the part I was a little intimidated by as some of the language used on the forms were a bit beyond my (somewhat lacking) financial knowledge. It started off okay as you first have to fill in basic details like your name and email address. The second part involved contact and employment details and addresses etc. Fine, I thought, no problem.

After I completed this I was taken to a page which detailed the supporting documents (also known as FICA documents) I needed to accompany my mandate (or essentially my application) form. These FICA documents are important and they usually don’t allow you to open an account without these documents.



*FICA stands for the Financial Intelligence Centre Act and was established in 2001 to curb money laundering and prevent criminals from making money. Because of this, you need to provide proof of your identity and address before you’re able to invest so they can do a background check and ensure that you are who you say you are.

After printing out the mandate form I had to fill in a few more details, some of which confused me quite a bit. Despite the fact that I had registered earlier as an individual (and not a company or CC), there were still some areas they requested I fill in under the “personal details” section. Things like “Co. Vat No" and “Country of Incorporation” had me stumped for a while until I asked somebody what they meant and was told to just leave them blank.

Also note that as a private investor I needed to tick the “non-discretionary” circle as I want an “execution only” portfolio not managed by the broker company. They will merely carry out my instructions.

After initially each page and signing the last, I had to get two witnesses to do the same. Attaching all the necessary documentation together, I’ve placed them in a large envelope and am now on my way to post them to Imara.

Step one (and probably the easiest part) completed!

Regards, Marika