Please immediately contact our client service to temporarily block access to your account.

Unfortunately, from 16 April 2018 it is no longer possible to access your online MeDirect accounts if you do not have a mobile. Please call us if you don't have a mobile.

Unfortunately, you cannot become a MeDirect client if you don't have a mobile.

No, the MeDirect wealth management portfolio takes into account your personal investor's profile and is restricted to one portfolio per person. Joint account holders cannot request one wealth management portfolio.

If you already have an existing wealth management portfolio and you fill out the questionnaire again, your wealth management portfolio will be updated to the most recent investor's profile if you changed it. This transaction will take place during the next rebalancing of your portfolio. MeDirect will regularly ask you to fill out this questionnaire again so that we are sure you always invest in the most suitable portfolio for you.

After logging in, you can send a secure message by clicking “Messages” in the top right-hand corner. At the bottom of the page click “New message” and then “Send message”.

Yes, but we strongly recommend you choose a new password for security reasons.

MeDirect now uses an identification method that sends you an SMS code. This is how you can access your accounts with this extra security. This SMS code is only valid for a limited time.

In the login window you click on ‘’I did not receive an SMS code”. You will see the last four digits of your mobile number to which the SMS code was already sent. If this is not the correct mobile number, click “Change mobile number”. You can set your mobile number again here.

If the mobile number is correct, click “Send again” and you will receive a new SMS code. Please always use the most recent SMS code. You can also receive a call on your mobile with a spoken SMS code. For this you need to click “Call me with code”.

To log in to the renewed website, you first need your user name and the password you chose. We will then send you an SMS code by way of identification. By using different ways of logging in, we can be sure you are the correct person to give access to the accounts.

An existing client can request to open a joint account. You first need to log in to the new secure site. Then click ‘Open an account’ in the top right-hand corner of your Home page. Here you can indicate whether you want to open a joint account with a new or an existing client. The consent of the second account holder is requested to open the joint account.

If neither of you is a client at MeDirect, you can request a new joint account by both becoming clients. The consent of both account holders is requested to activate the joint account. Joint account holders will both have access to the joint MeDirect Cash account. You can then both open a new joint Savings and/or Investment account.

In the event of a joint account each account holder can act as if he/she is the sole account holder. Once the account has been activated no further consent is required of the joint account holder to make transactions and payments.

A sole account cannot be converted to a joint account. An existing client is able to open a new joint account with an existing or new MeDirect client. Your joint account holder first needs to open a sole MeDirect account so that he/she also has login data and a personal MeDirect Cash account. After this sole account has been activated, you or your joint account holder can request a joint account via ‘Open an account’ on the secure website. You both need to electronically sign this new request via the secure website. In other words, you both log in separately with your personal login data to confirm your new joint account.

1. First enter your user details in the same way as you did before:
   • You need to use the user name you chose and your surname.
   • Then enter the security questions: your password, a reply to a security question and your PIN code.

   2. Now you can set your new login data:

• You need your new user name for this. You cannot choose this freely anymore. It is your MeDirect client number. We sent you this number by mail. You will also find this user name or client number on your account statements. If you are unable to find this number, please contact us.
• Enter the password you chose.
• Enter the security word you chose. You need this to restore your password if you forget your password.
• Confirm by entering the SMS code MeDirect sent you.

You can now log in with your new data to access the renewed MeDirect website.

The basic interest rate applies from the day of your deposit into the MeDirect Fidelity Savings account up to the day of withdrawal. This basic interest rate is calculated on an annual basis and paid annually, on January 1 or at the moment of closure of your account.

The fidelity premium applies to each amount that stays on the account for 12 months. This fidelity premium will be paid on the first day of the quarter following the moment the premium is acquired: January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 or the moment of closure of your account. The fidelity premium rate applicable at the moment of the deposit or at the start of a new period will apply, without any change, during a period of 12 months.

To log in to the renewed MeDirect website, you need your current user name and security data. Please contact us by phone if you cannot find them anymore.

You can deposit funds by instructing a bank transfer from an external bank account to your MeDirect account.

The Belgian state often tasks banks with collecting and paying taxes, as well as protecting its financial interest. Succession rights are no exception, as the Belgian state expects that the bank play a proactive role on the succession procedure by freezing the accounts of the deceased or of their spouse. This freeze is often very surprising and frustrating for the heirs, who have often not been made aware before being confronted with it. Let’s have a look at the situation, to better grasp it.

What exactly are we talking about?

When a citizen dies, banks are legally required to freeze his bank accounts and/or his spouse’s bank accounts. This guarantees the following:

1. The heirs are protected against the possibility of one of them debiting the entirety of the accounts of the deceased;
2. The interest of the Belgian Treasury is protected, by allowing and ensuring a correct levy of the succession rights as well as other open fiscal and social debts.

The bank is expected to keep the accounts frozen until she is provided with the necessary information as per the law. This applies to cash/current accounts as well as to savings accounts and securities accounts (and safes). This is often a surprise, as banks are not only required to freeze accounts of the deceased clients, but also accounts of their clients when their spouses die. Absent any specific contractual provision, each spouse is considered the owner of half of the couple’s estate, including the own accounts of the deceased. 

Which accounts will the bank freeze in practice?

In practice, the following accounts will be frozen by the bank as of when she is made aware of the death of one of her client’s or of its spouse:

-        The own accounts of the deceased client;

-        The joint accounts of the deceased client with its spouse or legal/factual cohabitant;

-        Own accounts of the spouse;

-        Joint accounts of the deceased client and third parties;

-        Joint accounts of the spouse and a third party;

-        Joint accounts of the deceased client and his spouse and a third party.

What are the consequences of this freeze for the (joint) accountholders?

They will no longer be able to withdraw or debit any money from these accounts.

The law nevertheless permits the bank to provide the spouse or the legal/factual cohabitant with a sum which may not exceed the higher of one half of the sums on the bank accounts or 5,000 euro (all banks included). Without going into detail, heirs should be wary of adverse consequences when debiting money above this limit.

Is that all?

No, the law also allows the bank to release the necessary sums to pay certain very specific costs, such as funeral expenses, or so-called “last sickness expenses”. Based on an invoice, the bank will then liberate the sums.

Furthermore, the tax authorities allow the payment of certain expenses linked to the deceased’s last domicile, such as water bills, electricity, fuel, gas, etc, under certain conditions.

How will the accounts be unfrozen?

To be able to unfreeze the accounts, the should be provided with one of the following two documents imposed by law:

1. A certificate of inheritance drafted by the Administration of Legal Security of the tax authorities;
2. A certificate of inheritance drafted by a notary.

Furthermore, only the notary will be allowed to draft a certificate of inheritance in the following cases:

1. There is a will;
2. Some heirs are incapacitated, for example because they are minors;
3. In case of contractual clauses, such as a marriage contract or an inheritance agreement.

These documents should be provided to the bank by the persons who want the accounts to be unfrozen.

This allows the tax authorities one additional chance to confirm whether the deceased, his spouse or on of their heirs has any open fiscal or social debts towards the state. The bank will only be able to unfreeze the accounts after it has received confirmation that

1. There are no open fiscal and social debts; or
2. Open fiscal or social debts will be settled with the sums on the frozen accounts or other.

Only then can the bank legally unfreeze the accounts. If a bank would allow payment or withdrawal exceeding the authorized sums, she could be forced to settle said fiscal or social debts.

Is this all the bank needs to do?

No, because the bank is also required to provide the tax authorities with a detailed overview including a list of the assets that will be inherited by the heirs. This list should enable the tax authorities to review the succession rights return filed by the heirs. The bank’s personal responsibility could be at stake if she authorises payments exceeding the authorised amounts without having complied with all applicable conditions.

Specific cases

If you are married under the “separation as to property” regime, you can unfreeze your own accounts simply by providing the bank with a copy of your marriage contract or with a letter from the notary.

Heirs residing outside of the European Economic Area will need to provide collateral for the payment of their succession rights.

Additional information

Unblocking a bank account | FPS Finance (belgium.be)

If you wish to close one of your MeDirect accounts, we ask you to send this request by means of a secure message with as subject ‘Service orders’. We also ask you to mention the name of the account and the account number in this message.

Accounts without a notice period can only be closed once you transferred the full outstanding balance onto an external account of your choosing.

If you close a ME Savings Account or Fixed Term Account, we will transfer the total outstanding balance, including any accrued interest till the day of closing, to your Cash account. From the Cash account you can transfer the full outstanding balance onto an account of your choosing.

Please do keep in mind that it is not possible to close a Fixed Term Deposit before its maturity date and you should take into account the following notice period for ME savings accounts:

• ME1: 1 month
• ME3: 3 months
• ME6: 6 months
• ME12: 12 months

Should you like to end the relationship, you are requested to confirm this once your accounts have no outstanding balance left.

MeDirect does not apply charges to close an account.

Yes, each customer can open one of each type of regulated savings account which MeDirect offers, either sole or joint. Currently MeDirect offers three types of regulated savings account. A first payment to the regulated savings account can be instigated from a bank account held with another bank.

We will send you an official account statement once a year. At the start of January, you will find this official copy for the entire previous year in Statements.

Via the secure site you can also make, save and print periodic overviews with the dates of your choice.

Investment account statements will be made available twice a year: at the start of the year for the past 6 months and on 30 June for the first 6 months of the year. Statements are available on the online platform. You can request a paper copy of your statements at any time but there will be a charge. Please check our   Tariffs & Charges.

If you have a wealth management portfolio, the overviews of the executed transactions and last yields will be made available 4 times a year in Statements.

You have the option to transfer funds from your Me Savings Account via your personal online platform. It is important that you first open a regulated savings account.

Once done, click on the "My Transactions" button and select the option "ME Requests" to transfer the amount directly from your Me Savings Account to your regulated savings account.

Please note that the Me notice period must be respected, depending on the type of the Savings Account. During the notice period, however, you will continue to accrue interest on the total amount located on the Me Savings Account: requested amount + (possibly) residual amount.

When you want to withdraw money from your ME Savings Account on your private website, you have to take into account the following notice period:

• ME1: 1 month
• ME3: 3 months
• ME6: 6 months
• ME12: 12 months

On the Home page click ‘Details’ of the ME1, ME3, ME6 or ME12 account for which you already submitted the withdrawal notice. You then open the information about the withdrawal notices by clicking the plus (+) sign. All the information is shown, including the due date of the withdrawal notice.

You can withdraw any amount at any time. Please take into account you might lose your fidelity premium or part of the fidelity premium on any amount that is not on the account for a period of 12 months. You can always start a simulation on your private banking platform. 

For security reasons outgoing payments are subject to a daily limit of EUR 50.000 per client. This limit is reset to zero every business day at midnight. Transfers between your MeDirect accoutns are not limited. If you want to transfer an amount in one day greater than EUR 50.000, please send us a secure message, and we will gladly help you.

Outward payments are limited to €50,000 per business day per client via your personal platform and €15,000 per business day via the mobile application. However, if you have just added a beneficiary on the mobile application, a temporary limit of €5,000 will apply for the first 24 working hours following the addition.The limit is reset at midnight every working day.

If the amount you want to transfer is higher than the maximum authorised limit of €50,000, you can transfer the payment in multiple transfers or send us your request via a secure message.  Please provide the information below so that we can make the transfer on your behalf.

Amount
Account number to be debited
Currency
Beneficiary (name - first name)
IBAN code of the beneficiary
Beneficiary address if resident outside the SEPA zone 
Communication: (with a maximum of 35 characters) or your preferred structured message.

You can make transfers between your MeDirect accounts and a SEPA transfer in EUR to a valid IBAN number. This transfer is free of charge.

You can also make transfers from your foreign currency account. If a currency exchange is necessary, a 0,5% commission will be charged as exchange rate margin.

The beneficiaries can be saved and you can also enter a memo date on which the transfer needs to be executed.

You can transfer money from your ME Savings Account to your Cash Account via our online banking platform. The funds will be transferred automatically to your MeDirect Cash Account, taking into account the following notice periods:

• ME1: after 1 month
• ME3: after 3 months
• ME6: after 6 months
• ME12: after 12 months

From the Cash Account you can then transfer your money to another MeDirect account or to an account with a different bank.

If you have MeDirect accounts denominated in different currencies, you can move money between these accounts from the tab “My transactions” and then selecting the option “Move money”. Now select the box ‘Between my accounts’ and follow the further instructions. Given the fact that both accounts have a different currency, MeDirect applies an indicative rate that includes a margin of 0.50%.

• ME3 Savings Account

For a transfer to be allowed between the two types of regulated savings account which MeDirect offer, there must be a common account holder. The maximum number of transactions allowed per calendar year from one type to the other type of regulated savings account held at MeDirect amounts to 3 and a minimum amount of 500 euro applies for each transfer. 

An amount transferred from one regulated savings account to another will continue to accrue interest in terms of the fidelity premium, albeit with different accrual interest rates applicable for different portions of the relative 12 month period. Note this is subject to the maximum number of transactions which is set to 3.

Yes, it is possible to set up future dated payments with a weekly, monthly, bi-yearly or yearly occurrence.  To set this up, you will have to log to your personal online platform and surf to the section Move Money.

Under the CRS the bank is required to identify customers who appear to be tax resident outside of Belgium in one or more countries.

To be able to open an account with MeDirect you are required to be a Belgium tax resident. If you are also tax resident in other countries, you are required to inform us of the country and your Fiscal Identification number (FIN).

Customers that don’t provide the required documentation when requested, will be reported by MeDirect to the Belgian tax authorities.

Once we have received a valid self-certification you will only be asked to complete another form if you update certain information in your file or when we believe your reportable status may have changed. This may be indicated by:

• Your residence address being outside of Belgium
• Your telephone number(s) being outside of Belgium

The information reported to the Belgian tax authorities will have been provided in the self-certification form and details the accounts and products you have with us, such as your account number(s) and their respective balances and the income. The Belgian tax authorities will then report these details to the tax authority of the country or countries where the account holder is fiscal resident.

If you are a new client to MeDirect, you will be asked to provide this information at the account opening stage.

In case of a complaint, the Complaints Management department of the Bank will be at your service in first instance. You can send your request to the following e-mail address:

[email protected]

If you find the solution of the Complaints Management Department of the Bank unsatisfactory or if you haven’t received an answer within 10 business days, you can contact the Service Ombudsman Banks – Credits – Investments at the following e-mail address:

[email protected]

Your investment is safe kept in our nominee account which allows us to give you the lowest execution fees under our scalable business model. However, this means we have certain restrictions on the corporate action types MeDirect offers.

Below are some corporate actions which are currently not offered:

• Dividend reinvestments/dividend options on international markets. Where possible we will offer this option on the local Belgian, French and Dutch markets.
• Odd lot offers, typical in the United States market, e.g. mini tenders.
• Non official offers, or offers that are not supervised or regulated by an official entity.
• French loyalty bonus offers.
• Company meetings, proxy voting, and consent offers.
• Unregulated/unprotected corporate actions offered by third parties.

A mandatory event does not require any investment decision from you, it is simply for your information. An example of a mandatory event would be a spin-off, where part of a company is spun-off to create a new company. If you have shares in the original company, you will receive shares of the new company whilst retaining your original investment.

A voluntary event invites you to take part in an offer, but you may also decline to take part, in which case the default option will apply. Usually, the default option for a voluntary event is to ‘take no action’. A tender offer is an example of a voluntary event, where a third party wants to buy a portion of equity in your invested company, you will have the option to tender all or part of your investment. The event could eventually become a mandatory takeover where the third party attempts to buy the entire share capital leaving you without the choice to tender or not.

You should await contact from us. You will receive a secure message in your online secure inbox for any corporate actions that require your attention.

You may be required to make a decision for certain corporate actions. If this is the case, we will indicate which options are available. Your instruction must be delivered by return secure message. We will also confirm the date by which your response must be received on our corporate action notification.

If your card has been misplaced, go to the “Cards” tab in the MeDirect app or on the Online Banking site, click on “Settings” and then the “Report lost or stolen card” option. Alternatively, contact us immediately on (+32) 2 887 20 05 (during office hours) or (+32) 2 887 20 04 (out of office hours). By reporting your card as lost or stolen, it will automatically be blocked.

MeDirect business hours: Mon – Fri: 09:00 to 20:00, Sat: 09:00 to 14:00.

MeDirect will never contact you via SMS, e-mail or phone for any issue related to your card. Never click on a linked received via such channel and never provide your secret code or card number. MeDirect will always contact you via secure message.

Should you have a doubt about a received message, do not click on any link and please contact us first immediately on (+32) 2 887 20 05 (during office hours) or (+32) 2 887 20 04 (out of office hours).

MeDirect business hours: Mon – Fri: 09:00 to 20:00, Sat: 09:00 to 14:00.

To be eligible to order a card, you need to have a current account held solely in your name or a joint current account. Log in to the MeDirect app or to our online banking site and go to the “Cards” tab. Here you will be given the option to choose a virtual and/or physical card.

When ordering a physical card, you will be asked to confirm your delivery address as well as to create a PIN code for your card. This PIN code will be needed for cash withdrawals and card payments (except contactless payments of less than 50 euros – see below).

When you make a payment with your card, the funds are debited from the current account linked to your card (held solely in your name or joint current account) which holds the same currency as the transaction. If you do not own a current account in this currency, or you do not have enough balance in this account, the funds are debited from your current account held in euros or from the foreign currency current account that holds the highest balance (if the balance of your current account held in euros is insufficient). When the debited account is not in the currency of the payment, a foreign exchange fee applies (see the Tariffs and Charges for more information).

Yes, you can use your card wherever Mastercard is accepted. To avoid foreign exchange fees, you can open accounts in different foreign currencies (USD, GBP, CHF and NOK). You can consult the accounts linked to your card by clicking on “Cards”, followed by “Settings” and “Linked Accounts”.

Yes, you can make a payment online with both your physical and virtual cards. You might receive a notification on your Mobile app asking you to authorise the payment being made. If you do not find the automatic pop-up when you log into the app, you may find the authorisation request in the “More” tab under “Authorisations”. Alternatively, you might be redirected to the MeDirect private website to authorise the payment being made, but using the MeDirect app makes this validation much easier.

You can make purchases of up to a maximum amount of €5,000 per day and up to €10,000 per week. The withdrawal limit from ATMs is €1,000 per day and €3,000 per week.

Charges for payments and withdrawals in currencies other than the euro may apply. These can be found in our Tariffs and Charges. When withdrawing money abroad, charges may also be levied by the ATM operator.

Contactless payments which do not require a PIN are limited to €50 per transaction. As a security feature, you will be required to use your PIN when you complete a total of €100 in successive contactless transactions.

Yes, the physical card supports contactless transactions. The contactless feature will be activated automatically after the first transaction at an ATM or point-of-sale (POS) terminal (by entering your PIN).

Try to pay by using the card’s chip and PIN option, as this is initially required to activate the contactless feature.

If the transaction is still declined:

• Please ask your merchant whether the Debit Mastercard is an accepted payment method. The Debit Mastercard card is accepted at most Belgian POS terminals, but there may be some exceptions.
• Try a different ATM or point-of-sale machine.
• Verify that you have sufficient funds and that the card is active, by logging in to your app or your personal platform.

Should the card fail for technical reasons, you can go to “Settings” and click on “Replace Card”. Make sure you invalidate your defective physical card by cutting it into pieces.

Yes, go to the “Cards” tab in the MeDirect app or on the Online Banking site and click on “Show details”. The card details you will need to make an online payment will be displayed temporarily. A “Copy card number” feature is provided to so that you can use your details easily.

To view your card PIN, go to the “Cards” tab in the MeDirect app or on the Online Banking site. Then click on “Settings” followed by “Show PIN”.

You chose your PIN code when you ordered the card. If you would like to change your PIN code later, you can go to any Bancontact cashpoint and choose “Change PIN code”. You can find the nearest cashpoint here: network of cash-neutral outlets in Belgium | Bancontact. Afterwards, the PIN code will be automatically updated in your app.

We are currently working on enabling the function that connects your debit card to digital wallets like Google Pay or Apple Pay. While this feature is not yet available, it will be made possible in the future.

You can link your debit card to the Google Pay and Apple Pay digital wallets. More information on Google Pay can be found here and Apple Pay here.

If you have identified a transaction that you did not carry out, freeze your card immediately by going to the “Cards” tab in the MeDirect app or on the Online Banking site and clicking on the “Freeze” button located just under the image of your card. You also must contact us immediately by secure message or call us on (+32) 2 887 20 05 (during office hours) or (+32) 2 887 20 04 (out of office hours).

Please note that MeDirect will never contact you via SMS, e-mail or phone for any issue related to your card. Never click on a linked received via such channel and never provide your secret code or card number. MeDirect will always contact you via secure message.

MeDirect business hours: Mon – Fri: 09:00 to 20:00 Sat: 09:00 to 14:00.

To get a replacement for a damaged card, go to the “Cards” tab in the MeDirect app or on the Online Banking site, click on “Settings” and then “Replace card” to replace your card. Make sure you invalidate your damaged physical card by cutting it into pieces.

If your card has been swallowed by an ATM, go to the “Cards” tab in the MeDirect app or on the Online Banking site and click on “Settings”. Next, tap "Replace card" to get a new card and keep your subscriptions active. Once you tap, your current card will be cancelled. Complete the flow to order the replacement card.

You may temporarily block your card by freezing it. To freeze your card, go to the “Cards” tab in the MeDirect app or on the Online Banking site and click on the “Freeze” button located just under the image of your card.

Need extra help? Feel free to contact our customer service team at (+32) 2 887 20 05 (during office hours) or (+32) 2 887 20 04 (out of office hours). To unfreeze your card, click on the “Unfreeze” button and authenticate to be able to make payments with your card again.

MeDirect business hours: Mon – Fri: 09:00 to 20:00, Sat: 09:00 to 14:00.

To terminate your card, go to the “Cards” tab in the MeDirect app or on the Online Banking site and click on the “Settings” button. The “Terminate” button can be found at the bottom of the list. This will cancel your card upon confirmation.

You will be asked to terminate your card before being given the option to order a replacement.

If the balance of your current account held in euros is insufficient, the funds could be debited from the foreign currency current account that holds the highest balance. However, if you don't have a foreign currency current account with a higher balance, the transaction will be automatically refused.

The transaction is always debited for the full amount from one particular account. Partial debits are not possible. For example, if you only have GBP 90 available and you need to pay GBP 100, the transaction could be done on another account that has sufficient funds.

If any other current account in another currency than GBP has enough funds, this account will be debited for the full amount of the transaction.

No. The contactless feature is only activated after first successful PIN-based transaction.

We can summarise GDPR using the following principles:

1. Right to information: personal data is collected for a specific legitimate purpose, and may not be used for other purposes. Organisations need to be fully transparent about this.
2. Transparency: the person whose data is processed actively agreed to this and has been informed of his/her rights.
3. Right of access to your data: every person has the right of access to his/her personal data and supplementary information. These data must be correct at all times. Every person has the right to correct his/her data.
4. Right to be forgotten: every person has the right to request removal of his/her personal data without having to provide a specific reason for this.
5. Retention period: personal data may not be retained longer than deemed necessary for a specific purpose.
6. Data protection: all personal data must be protected against access by unauthorised persons or loss of data.
7. Right to use data for one's own goals: every person has the right to request his/her personal data and/or to use it for his/her own goals. Every person also has the right to move his/her data and/or to copy it to another organisation.
8. Restriction of information: every person has the right to restrict or block access to his/her data. 

MeDirect ensures that all personal data is securely stored. To protect your personal details against access by unauthorised persons or loss, we implemented the necessary technology and keep it up to date at all times.
In the event that third parties offer a service to MeDirect, a contractual agreement ensures they implement the correct security procedures to safeguard your personal data such as working with encrypted information. The transfer of personal data to third parties will only be for purposes laid down in our agreements with clients and/or our term and conditions.

We amended our privacy policy to be in keeping with GDPR legislation. This privacy policy defines which information we collect of every person, why we collect this information and with which parties this information is shared. This privacy policy also defines your rights and specifies MeDirect's contact if you have questions relating to the security of personal data. 

MeDirect uses a number of channels to keep clients up to date of new products, services and/or offers, such as email and post. MeDirect gives its clients the possibility to register for this communication. If no use is made of this possibility by the client, he/she will not receive this communication. Every client can modify his/her preferences at all times by:

• Unsubscribing by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in the email communication.
• Contacting our client service.
• Sending an email to [email protected] for the attention of our Data Protection Officer (DPO). 
• Update your preferences of your profile on your secure website

GDPR legislation stipulates that at least one of the following conditions must be met to process your personal details:

• Active consent: every person who has actively given his/her consent to use personal data. This consent can be obtained both digitally and on paper.
• Contract: the processing of personal data can be necessary to comply with certain contractual obligations.
• Legal obligation: the processing of personal data can be necessary to respect legal obligations

A couple of months prior to 25 May 2018, MeDirect already took some measures to be in line with GDPR legislation. Various initiatives were implemented to protect our clients and employees, such as:

• An amendment of our privacy policy.
• Giving privacy training to all our employees.
• Amendment of our general terms and conditions and cookie policy.
• Training to our employees concerning HR requests.
• A review of how we ask whether someone wants to be informed of our commercial offers or newsletters.
• Amendment of internal policies to ensure they are in line with GDPR legislation.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a set of rules to ensure a better protection of European citizens' data. It is a revision of European legislation from 1995, the Data Protection Directive. The GDPR's goal is twofold: on the one hand it aims to safeguard European citizens' privacy, on the other hand it wants to give citizens more rights as to what happens with their personal data. GDPR came into force on 25 May 2018.

1. Click ‘Become a client’ to start the online application process. You will be asked if you wish to open up a single or a joint account. Complete your personal data as requested on screen.
2. You will be guided to provide a clear copy of the front and back of a valid Belgian ID and to take a selfie.You can choose from the following 2 options:
   • Use your smartphone to take a photo of your ID and a selfie.
   • Upload a photo or a scan of your ID and take a selfie using the camera on your electronic device (eg webcam).
3. Complete the online application process and sign it digitally. Keep your mobile close at hand.
4. Make a first payment to your MeDirect Cash Account from an external account registered in your name.
   • If you applied to open a joint account, you can transfer your first payment from an external joint account (registered in the name of both account holders) or from two different accounts, each registered in the name of the individual account holder.
5. Once the payment has been received, a MeDirect Cash Account will be opened for you. You will then get full access to the secure website.

itsme® is set up to provide the information required to complete your application. However, it may happen that some of this information is not completely up to date. When this is the case, we will send you a request to complete your application by taking a picture of your ID card (front and back) as well as a selfie. You can take these pictures via your mobile or your PC.

No, each applicant will be given the choice for the type of identity verification they prefer; itsme® or the selfie-based verification.

No, if you do not have itsme®, you can choose to verify your identity by taking a picture of your ID card (front and back) and a selfie. You can take these pictures via your mobile or your PC.

After you have selected ‘Become a client’, you can opt to open a Sole or Joint Account. After you have entered your initial details, you will have the option to verify your identity via itsme®. You are then prompted to connect to the itsme® app; you will be asked to enter your mobile phone number and then to open the app on your mobile phone. Next just follow the steps on your screen.

itsme® is an app that allows you to safely, easily and reliably confirm your identity via your mobile phone. To use the itsme® app, you can register your account via de itsme® website, which you can access here.

If you opened a MeDirect Cash Account, you can open a savings account(s), Fixed Term Deposit(s) and/or investment account(s) in your personal name on the secure website. The minimum age for this is 18. You are a resident and taxpayer in Belgium.

A sole account cannot be converted to a joint account. An existing client is able to open a new joint account with an existing or new MeDirect client. Your joint account holder first needs to open a sole MeDirect account so that he/she also has login data and a personal MeDirect Cash account. After this sole account has been activated, you or your joint account holder can request a joint account via ‘Open an account’ on the secure website. You both need to electronically sign this new request via the secure website. In other words, you both log in separately with your personal login data to confirm your new joint account.

• You can transfer cash or savings to this new joint account yourself.
• For the ME1, ME3, ME6 and/or ME12 Savings Accounts the normal notice period needs to be respected. To transfer amounts from your ME1, ME3, ME6 and/or ME12 you can give an online instruction.
• Fixed Term Deposits cannot be transferred before the expiry date. Once the Fixed Term Deposit has expired you can transfer the amount online to an account of your choice.
• To transfer securities from your securities account you can send us a secure message with the instruction.
• Funds of model portfolios can only be transferred in case of a joint model portfolio. If you don't have one yet, activate it first. To transfer the funds from your personal model portfolio to the activated joint model portfolio, you can then send us a secure message.
• Unfortunately, Wealth Management Portfolios cannot be transferred to an account in 2 names, because the portfolio is linked to an individual investors profile.

MeDirect currently does not offer the possibility to open an account on behalf of a minor child or grandchild. You can, however, open an extra savings account or model portfolio in your name. You can continue to manage this and are free to donate the money to your (grand)children whenever you wish to do so. Either through a bank transfer or through a donation.

Yes, after you logged on to the MeDirect secure site, you can follow up your application to open an account and see which steps you might still need to take.

• signing your application by yourself and/or your joint account holder.
• upload a copy of your ID card, front and back of every account holder.
• you make a first payment of minimum €1 on the MeDirect Cash Account from an account number registered in your name.

After receiving your activation code, you have access to your Cash Account and full access to all functionalities of the MeDirect secure website. You can open a savings, Fixed Term Deposit and/or investment account via ‘Open an account’.

A ‘selfie’ is a photograph that one takes of oneself, usually framing ones face, with either a mobile phone or via the camera of another electronic device (eg webcam).

In the login window you click on ‘’I did not receive an SMS code”. You will see the last four digits of your mobile number to which the SMS code was already sent. If this is not the correct mobile number, click “Change mobile number”. You can set your mobile number again here.

If the mobile number is correct, click “Send again” and you will receive a new SMS code. Please always use the most recent SMS code. You can also receive a call on your mobile with a spoken SMS code. For this you need to click “Call me with code”.

Your isl client number is your new user name. You can find it on your account statements and in the e-mail we sent you concerning the renewed website.

For security reasons, transfers to an external account and to a third party MeDirect account are subject to a daily limit of €15.000. If you would like to transfer an amount exceeding this daily limit, please contact our Wealth Support Team, where you will be guided accordingly.

The ‘MeCode’ tab is used for logging into your Online Banking Platform. It is an alternative to the SMS code and will generate a 6 digit code which you will have to enter after your password while logging into your mobile banking services via your PC or laptop.

The BIC is auto-populated if the country chosen is within the EEA. If the BIC is not auto-populated, please contact the customer service.

Yes, you can set up future dated payments for up to twelve months in advance, through the Mobile App (Transfer > Pay someone else), if the debit and credit accounts have the same currency.

This field can help distinguish between transactions when viewing the transaction list in an account’s details page. 

The date found under each transaction represents the transaction date. 

Your preferred account can be changed from the ‘More’ tab. 

Kindly contact our Wealth Support Team on 02 518 0000 or at [email protected] to guide you accordingly. 

A beneficiary can be created by navigating to the ’Transfer’ tab, followed by ‘Manage Beneficiaries’ and press on the icon found on the top right of your screen. 

The gold star near your account refers to your selected preferred account. 

All mandatory fields must be filled in before being able to proceed with the payment. 

The balance shown in each account represents your available balance.

The fingerprint scanner and facial recognition might not be working for one of the following reasons:

• You have not granted access for MeDirect Mobile App to use this function.
• Too many incorrect facial or fingerprint recognition attempts will disable this functionality automatically. This can be resolved by locking and unlocking your device. 

Yes. Your personal information is safe with us. We use advanced encryption and monitoring technology and we never store any personal banking information on your phone.

Biometrics can be switched off from the ‘More’ tab. 

Yes, the MeDirect Mobile App supports facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. 

For security reasons, only one device can be paired with your account at any given time. Furthermore, only one User per device can be paired with your Medirect Mobile app at any given time. 

For security reasons, you should always unpair your device by using the unpair functionality in the MeDirect Mobile App before changing your device. If you are unable to do so, you can log in to our Online Banking Platform and unpair Mobile Banking from there.  You can then proceed to re-pair your device with your MeDirect account. 

If your mobile is stolen or lost, unpair the mobile application as soon as possible. To unpair your app, you need to:

1. Login to our online banking platform.  
2. Click on the “Profile” section on the top right-hand side of the screen  
3. Click on “Mobile Banking” 
4. Unpair Mobile Application.

Alternatively, you can call us on 02/518 00 00. 

‘Unpair device’ is used to deactivate the user’s profile from their app. The user would also have to unpair their device from their client profile. Once this is done, the user will not be able to see their information anymore on their app. 

To reset your Passcode, the device will need to be unpaired. To unpair your Mobile device, you need to:

1. Login to our online banking platform.  
2. Click on the “Profile” section on the top right-hand side of the screen  
3. Click on “Mobile Banking” 
4. Unpair Mobile Application 
5. Uninstall and re-install the MeDirect Mobile App 
6. Re-pair the MeDirect Mobile App to your account   

Your passcode can be changed from the ‘More’ tab.

For security reasons, only one account per device can be paired with your account at any given time. 

By pairing your device, you link up your MeDirect Internet Banking, which you usually access via your PC or laptop,  with the  MeDirect Mobile App on your device, is used to activate the user’s profile from their app.

To pair your MeDirect Mobile App to your MeDirect Internet Banking, you need to: 

1. Login to our online banking platform.  
2. Click on the “Profile” section on the top right-hand side of the screen  
3. Click on “Devices” 
4. Scan the QR Code using the MeDirect Mobile App. Alternatively, you can enter the activation code to pair your account.
5. Create a passcode, and confirm the passcode

The passcode is a 6-digit code that will be used to log into your app, as well as authorise payments and manage your beneficiaries as an alternative to using facial recognition or a finger print scanner. We have placed security restrictions on the passcode for your safety; for example, 111111, 123456 or 654321 will not be accepted by the MeDirect Mobile app. We recommend using a passcode that is as complex as possible and is well-known to yourself. 

When inputting digits, the full pinboard illuminates. This was implemented as a secondary level of security to avoid any hacking software from reading what the user is inputting and to avoid anyone around the user from clearly seeing what they are tapping.

For security reasons, the MeDirect Mobile App will be locked indefinitly after five wrong attempts. To unblock the MeDirect Mobile App you will have to unpair your device from your MeDirect Internet Banking.

MeDirect’s Mobile Banking is available via the MeDirect’s Mobile App and allows you to view your balances and investments, while also providing you with the ability to conduct financial transactions using your mobile device.  

You will still be able to use Internet Banking via your laptop, tablet or PC, and all functionalities will remain available via your online platform. 

To download the MeDirect Mobile App, access your Google Play (for Android devices) or Apple Store (Apple devices), search for ‘MeDirect’ and click ‘Install’.

The service is available to all our existing and new clients. If you are an existing customer, you will need access to our existing online banking services to link your app. If you are not a client of MeDirect, you will first need to Become a Client and follow the steps indicated on the screen. Once you open you account, you will be able to make use of the app.

The MeDirect Mobile App offers you a convenient way to take control of your finances on the go.

 With your MeDirect Mobile app, you can: 

• Use the MeCode functionality to log in securely onto the online banking platform.
• View your savings account balances and transactions. You can also copy details such as your IBAN and BIC to facilitate the transfer of deposits to your MeDirect account.
• Rename your savings accounts 
• View your investment account details and holdings 
• Transfer deposits  between your accounts and other financial institutions or third parties.
• Add, remove or edit your saved beneficiaries 
  

More functionalities and features will be included in the future as MeDirect is constantly striving to improve the MeDirect Mobile App.  

• Fill or Kill: your order will be executed immediately in its entirety or cancelled
• Immediate or Cancel: your order will be executed immediately in whole or in part, otherwise the order (or any unfilled parts of it) will be cancelled. Partial fills are accepted with this type of order, unlike a Fill or Kill order, which must be filled immediately in its entirety or cancelled.
• Good for the Day: your order will automatically expire if not executed at the end of the day when the order was placed. A “Good for Day” order is an order that is good for that day only, during which time partial fills can take place. If it is not filled, the order (or any unfilled parts of the order) will be cancelled. If you wish, you can re-input the order on the next working day.

The ‘Capitalisation’ Model Portfolio has 5 different risk profiles. You can choose a risk profile from defensive to dynamic. A defensive portfolio contains mainly fixed income funds, whereas a dynamic portfolio mostly contains equity funds. Therefore, a dynamic portfolio will be more sensitive to fluctuations on stock markets. The profit expectations of a dynamic portfolio will also be higher than those of a defensive portfolio.

The ‘Regular Income’ Model Portfolio always has a balanced risk profile.

First and foremost, the Model Portfolios have been designed so that you, as an investor, don’t have to invest too much time in managing the portfolio. You already have a ready-made, diversified portfolio of funds. So you do not have to look for funds yourself to compose your portfolio. Within the portfolio, each fund is also actively managed by professional fund managers.

But if you wish, you can of course buy and sell funds within your Model Portfolio. Below the steps to buy, sell and manage the monthly contribution.

1) How to sell a fund

2) How to buy a fund

1. How to sell a fund ?

Instruct your sell trade by going to the ‘Overview’ tab in the top navigation menu ‘My investments’. Click on ‘Investment details’ and select the respective portfolio from the field above the ‘Account type’. Please take note of the reference number – located in the dropdown menu – that is displayed here, you will need it for future steps in the process.

Underneath ‘Assets’ you unfold the details (if not already done so) by clicking on the plus sign. The funds will be displayed. Click on the ‘Transact’ button next to the fund name you wish to sell.

The fund report will be opened, scroll down till you see the ‘Buy/Sell’ button as visible on the below print screen.

On the opened screen you click on ‘Sell’ followed by ‘Sell all’. On the right hand side you verify that the correct portfolio is selected in the ‘Settlement details’. Then you select the EUR Cash account in the second field. You are now ready to ‘Estimate’ your order and see the applicable taxes (stock exchange tax and possible capital gain tax).

If you agree with the estimated values, you can now confirm your order by clicking on ‘Place Order’, per below print screen.

It might take up to approximately 7 days before the sale proceeds are available on the selected Cash account. In the meantime, you can find your trade in ‘Pending Trades’. You can either wait for the sale proceeds or decide to immediately transfer the cash you wish to invest to the same Cash account by using the ‘Move money’ tab in the top navigation menu ‘My transactions’ and then continue with the below step(s).

2. How to buy a fund ?

 When the appropriate Cash account has sufficient money*, instruct your buy trade by going to the ‘Place an order’ tab in the top navigation menu ‘My investments’. Select ‘Mutual Funds’ in the field ‘Search for’, then insert the corresponding ISIN code of the fund you wish to buy. Click on the name that is suggested by the system or on the spyglass on the right.

The fund report will be opened, scroll down till you see the ‘Buy/Sell’ button as visible on the below print screen.

On the opened screen you click on ‘Invest’ and enter the amount you wish to invest. On the right hand side you verify that the correct portfolio is selected in the ‘Settlement details’. Then you select the EUR Cash account in the second field (that should have the available cash amount you entered in the field ‘Amount’). You are now ready to ‘Estimate’ your order.

If you agree with the estimated values you can now confirm you order by clicking on ‘Place Order’, per below print screen.

It might take up to approximately 7 days before the purchased fund will be visible in the portfolio. In the meantime, you can find your trade in ‘Pending Trades’.

The funds for the Capitalisation and Regular Income model portfolio are selected based on their ratings in co-operation with Morningstar. Not only past performances are important, but also the analyst reports for the future. Based on 5 pillars (management team, fund house, investment process, yields and costs), the Morningstar analysts make an estimate which indicates whether or not the fund has the potential to perform better than similar funds.

Fund Selection Process

MeDirect works closely with Morningstar Investment Management Europe (MIME) to define a bespoke fund universe or portfolio of funds to support specific investment goals. The fund selection process is comprised of the following quantitative and qualitative phases: 

1. Determining asset allocation

   Before selecting individual funds, Morningstar looks at the composition of the portfolio in terms of stocks and bonds (the so-called asset classes), and examines its geographical and sectorial allocation.

2. Quantitative Screening

   Morningstar applies a ranking process that considers the Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return benchmark. Other factors that are taken into consideration are:

• Performance consistency – if a manager has consistently performed poorly in three out of the last four calendar years, the fund will typically be removed at this stage. Empirical evidence suggests that long term poorly performing funds will continue to perform poorly going forward.
• Manager Tenure – If a manager has been running a fund for less than three years, they will typically be removed from the selection.
• Style – If the fund displays erratic changes in style, it will typically be removed at this stage.
• Currency – If a multi-regional fund search is undertaken, those funds that do not have an offering in the base currency of the intended users will typically be removed from the selection.
  
  
3. Qualitative Evaluation

The purpose of the qualitative selection methodology is to instil discipline into the manager research process by appraising critical factors that can help determine a fund’s ability to outperform. Funds are evaluated across the 5 pillars that Morningstar has identified as being helpful in predicting the future success of funds: Parent, People, Process, Performance, and Price.

• Parent
  The culture and structure of an asset management firm can have an impact on its ability to attract and retain talent and its penchant for serving in the best interests of fund shareholders.
  
  
• People
  Evaluating the depth and capabilities of an investment team is critical in attempting to identify funds that have a competitive advantage over their competition.
  
  
• Process
  Morningstar favours managers who employ a disciplined, consistent, and repeatable investment process. Ultimately, Morningstar is looking for traits that give the investment team an edge over its competition.
  
  
• Performance
  The goal is to identify management teams that in the past have demonstrated skill which we define as the ability to outperform their respective benchmark/peer group on a risk-adjusted basis in a consistent fashion.
  
  
• Price
  Research indicates that expenses are critical in predicting future fund performance. A fund’s expense ratio should be evaluated within the context of the relevant region and relative to its Morningstar peer group and also consider the trend in expenses and assets in the fund.

Portfolio Construction

Morningstar firmly believes that asset allocation is a primary determinant of investment returns within a global fund portfolio. Hence, an important consideration for our final selection is how the fund will complement the remainder of the portfolio or select list.

This is the quantitative rating of the fair value of a company per share. The Morningstar analysts calculate this estimated fair value by forecasting how much free cash flow the company will generate in the future. This means the amount of cash a company still has after all its costs and investments have been paid and what is available for distribution of dividends to the shareholders of that company. This value is then adapted by taking into account time and risk. Cash generated next year is worth more than cash generated over a number of years. In the same way, cash of a stable and consistently profitable company is worth more than of a company in a strong cyclical sector.

Shares that are traded at a price that is significantly lower than the fair value estimated by Morningstar, receive more stars. For high-quality companies we require a smaller undervaluation than for medium-sized companies. That is for one simple reason: Morningstar trusts more in its cash flow forecasts for strong companies and therefore also in its value estimates of such companies. If the market price of a share is considerably higher than the fair value estimated by Morningstar, that share gets relatively few stars, regardless of how great Morningstar believes the company in question to be. Even the best company is bad business if an investor pays too much for the shares.

In short: 1 star for a share stands for maximum overvalued and 5 stars stands for maximum undervalued. 3 stars means a share is reasonably or fairly valued. The rate is on or near the level of the fair value given by the Morningstar share analysts to the share.

The fair value is the outcome of the valuation models based on the discounted cash flow and is Morningstar’s estimate of the intrinsic value or fair value of a company per share.

Morningstar adapts its fair value to take into account obligations or assets a company might have that are not included in the balance sheet. For instance, Morningstar lowers the fair value of a company if it has issued too many stock options or if it has an under-financed pension scheme.

Morningstar’s estimate of the fair value differs in two aspects of a target price or profit target. First of all, it is an estimate of what the company is worth, whereas a target price usually reflects what other investors might pay for the share. And secondly it is a long-term estimate, whereas profit targets are usually aimed at the next 2 to 12 months.

The concept of the 'economic moat' or competitiveness or competitive advantage is essential, not only in Morningstar’s qualitative determination of the attractiveness to invest in a company, but also in the valuation process. Morningstar uses three evaluations of this competitive advantage: none, narrow and wide.

There are two important conditions for a company to obtain a narrow or wide evaluation of its competitiveness. First of all, the prospect of obtaining a more than average yield on capital and secondly a competitive advantage that protects and sustains this yield in the long term.

Competition usually lowers the profit. But companies that are able to sustain their profit over a long period because they have been able to create a competitive advantage, have a 'moat'. We consider these companies superior investments.

The Synthetic Risk and Reward Indicator (SRRI) was defined in 2009 by the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) with the aim of providing investors with a method of assessing a fund's risk.

The SRRI measures the volatility of the fund. A higher volatility means there is greater uncertainty about the size of the changes in a fund's value. This means that the price of the fund can change dramatically over a short time period in either direction. A lower volatility means that a fund's value is not expected to fluctuate dramatically, but to rather change in value at a steady pace over a period of time. The table below shows the mapping between the volatility and the SRRI value. The table below shows the differences in percentages that the value of a fund may experience over one year (Annualised Volatility). The percentage is linked to the respective SRRI rating. The more limited the variation is, the lower the SRRI Rating of a fund. The higher the variation, the higher the SRRI Rating.

The SRRI is calculated based on the fund returns over the last 5 years. If a fund is less than 5 years old, the returns of a comparable benchmark is used for the period before the fund was launched.

The ‘Ongoing Charge’ is a fee applicable to both Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds. This figure, which is usually expressed as a percentage, is an indication of the cost an investor would incur over the year for investing in that fund or ETF. The investor will bear these fees indirectly as the NAV will be negatively impacted by this fee. The Ongoing charge fee includes payments to the management company, payments to persons providing outsources services, registration, regulatory, audit, compliance, legal and professional advisers charges, distribution charges, etc. However this does not include transaction charges as a result of cash inflows and outflows instructed by the investors (entry/exit charges or commissions) nor does it include a performance fee paid to management companies.

Each fund house has its own cut-off times. This means that any order received before a set time will be processed by the next business day. Any order that is received after its cut-off time, will be on the list of the following business day.

If you want to make sure that your order is processed by the next business day, please give your instructions before 9.15 am. Of course, MeDirect transmits orders to the fund houses throughout the day. If a fund house has a late cut-off, it is still possible that your order is processed by the next business day.

At MeDirect, the costs associated with your investment are clearly listed in the detail page.

Stock exchange tax

No stock exchange tax is due when purchasing or registering. 

If you sell a capitalisation fund, you will pay a stock exchange fee of 1.32% on the total sales price, limited to a maximum of €4,000. 

If you sell a distribution fund, no stock exchange tax is due either. You pay the 30% withholding tax on each dividend pay-out. 

Capital gains tax is also applicable on the sale of funds which invest for 25% or more in fixed income securities such as bonds. If you purchased these funds after 1 January 2018 this limit value of fixed income securities drops to 10%. This 30% withholding tax is withheld on capital gains, arising from these fixed income securities.

Entry or exit fees

MeDirect does not charge any entry or exit fees. Only for the Carmignac and Degroof Petercam funds and 2 Aberdeen funds, a 1% entry fee is payable. No custodial fee or any other costs are due to keep the account Check our tariffs and charges overview.

Ongoing charges

Ongoing charges represent the costs you can reasonably expect to pay as an investor over 1 year. The ongoing charges include the management fee of the fund manager, administrative and legal costs for audit and registration of the fund as well as the taxes payable by the fund. Entry and exit fees or any performance fees are not covered. Ongoing charges are incorporated in the value of the fund on a daily basis and are therefore not processed individually. You can check this cost in the fund report, which is available for each fund. 

MeDirect receives part of the fund manager's management fee as distributor of the fund. This is called a repurchase agreement and is our only payment.

Yes, this is certainly possible. You can place a fund order through one of your Cash Accounts in the fund’s currency. At MeDirect you can open a Cash Account in EUR, USD, NOK, CHF and GBP.

If you want to invest in a fund with another currency than EUR, USD, NOK, CHF or GBP, you can place the order via your Cash Accounts in another currency. Even if your Cash Account has a currency other than the fund you want to purchase, MeDirect uses an indicative exchange rate. For the calculation of the exchange rate, MeDirect uses a 0.5% margin. Compared to most fund suppliers, MeDirect’s exchange costs are both low and transparent, because there are no other hidden fees or costs.

Can I request to add a fund to the universe of tradable securities of MeDirect?

Yes, it is.

MeDirect has a navigator available on our website for each type of securities. If the fund is not available in the list of results, you can ask us to add it to our current universe.

How? By sending us a secure message from your personal dashboard which includes the following information:

• ISIN code

• Currency

 Your request will be forwarded to our investment department, which will carry out a check to determine whether it would be possible to add it to our existing securities. This operation may take up to 3 working weeks after acknowledgement of receipt of your secure message.

The APIs (account aggregation, payment initiation and confirmation of available funds) all relate to PSD2. The technical specifications and Sandbox environment relating to these are available on the developer portal. MeDirect Developer Portal allows third parties licenced by a national Central Bank to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to enable them to co-create the best user experience possible. MeDirect has received the exemption from the National Bank of Belgium (within the meaning of Article 33(6) of the Regulatory Technical Standards) to be able to propose this access solely through its secure APIs.

Click here to find the statistics on the interfaces availability and performance during the last quarter.

Customers retain ownership of the securities that they hold in custody with MeDirect at all times. In the case of bankruptcy, they have a direct right of revocation, which means that the securities must be returned to them by the bankruptcy trustee and cannot be considered assets involved in the bankruptcy of the bank. This restitution will be made by transfer to a securities account of the customer at another institution, regardless of the value of these securities.

Thanks to this strong guarantee, there is only limited risk that the customer would not recuperate all of their securities. In exceptional cases where the customer cannot exercise the right of revocation, the customer benefits from a protection scheme of up to € 20,000 per person. Detailed information about the financial instruments covered by the Protection Fund can be found on the website https://www.protectionfund.be. Note that the protection scheme does not cover any loss of value of the securities.

In case you forgot your password, you should click on ‘Forgotten password’ during the log-in process. Afterwards you will be asked to enter your security word and an sms code. Once you have entered these details, you will receive an email on your email address, which is registered in our system, which allows you to reinstate your password. Please note that this email is valid for a limited time only. In case you don’t possess of your security word anymore, we request you to contact us by phone.

MeDirect always makes a secure connection between your computer or another device and the secure website. You can check this yourself in the URL address bar of your browser, where it says https://secure.medirect.be/banking/abaxx-. In this way you can be sure of a secure connection.

You now have to log in with your user name and your password. The final step is an SMS code by way of verification. By using different ways of logging in, we can be sure you are the correct person to give access to the accounts. You also always need to sign transactions with the SMS code.

We will never contact you by e-mail to send personal or login data. We always use our messaging service for this which is accessible via the secure website.

If your secure connection is inactive for 10 minutes or more you will be logged out automatically. You can log in again by following the usual login process.

First of all, notify us as soon as possible if your mobile number or e-mail address have changed.

If you receive suspicious e-mails (phishing mails), on behalf of MeDirect, please notify us. Do not open this mail and under no circumstance provide any data or click a link. We will notify the competent authorities.

Do not provide any personal details over the telephone either.

We also advise you not to save your user name on a public computer and to keep your password and security word a secret. Only send us financial or personal details via secure message.

Always keep the security of your computer up-to-date by installing the last version of your virus detection program and the last version of your used browser. If you use a wireless network, you should also install an extra security for this so that not everyone can use it.

When you have finished your MeDirect banking business, always log out completely and close the browser window.

Article 322§3 WIB inserted by the Act of April 14, 2011 containing various provisions (subsequently amended by the law of December 28, 2011 and March 29, 2012) obliges banks, savings and credit institutions operating in Belgium, to communicate on a yearly basis certain data of clients and some of their accounts/contracts to a Central Point of Contact, also known as “CPC”.

The CPC is held by the National Bank of Belgium (NBB). The CPC will give tax officials in charge of the establishment and recovery of tax, the opportunity in certain cases and according to strict legal procedures to determine at which financial institutions taxpayers are holding accounts or contracts in order to request to these institutions further information in this regard.

The following information about customers will be communicated to the CPC:
1) The national number (if not available: name, first name, date, place and country of birth)
2) A list of the accounts of which the client has been a (co-)holder at any time of the year to which the data relate.

Since March 2015 we are also transmitting details on certain contracts to the CPC, such as wealth management contracts, that were already active in 2014.

You have the right to examine your data registered by the CPC at the NBB. In the event that such information is inaccurate or wrongfully registered, you have the right to correct this information or to have it removed by the financial institution, which has communicated this information to the CPC.

The data are stored for a maximum of 8 years by the CPC, starting from the last year in which information regarding the client and/or account was communicated.

For more information you can find the full Royal decree by clicking here (French and Dutch only).

The term “non-regulated account” can be confusing. All savings products offered in Belgium are subject to the supervision of the financial regulators (the National Bank of Belgium and the FSMA) and are in accordance with Belgian law.

A regulated account means that the first €980 in interest on a savings account is exempt from withholding tax. The account must comply with certain rules for this, such as a loyalty bonus. Savings products that do not meet these requirements (such as fixed term deposits and other simple savings accounts with one clear interest rate) do not fall under the technical category of regulated accounts. They are subject to withholding tax. Non-regulated accounts are therefore completely legal and approved by the financial regulators. MeDirect chooses to offer non-regulated accounts because the clear and high interest rates (even after deduction of withholding tax) offer great advantages for our customers.

• Interest income paid on current accounts, (regulated) savings accountsand fixed term deposits.
• Coupons paid on bonds issued by non-residents.
• Dividends paid on equities issued by non-residents as well as dividends from non-resident funds.
• Capital gains earned from certain transactions on share or units of investment funds that invest 10% or more in interest-generating securities (such as bonds). The withholding tax is applied on the “interest component” of realized capital gains.

• Shares
• Bonds
• Trackers
• Mutual Funds

You can trade over 500 bonds on the MeDirect platform. These have been selected to provide you with a wide variety and choice and cover the following areas:

• Issuers: governments, corporate issuers, financial institutions, super-national bodies
• Domicile: Belgium, US, Germany, UK, France and many more
• Maturity: short term (less than two years), medium term (two to five years), long term (over five years)
• Only simple bonds come into consideration which pay the agreed coupon annually as well as the capital on the maturity date, i.e. without special terms and conditions, (plain vanilla bonds)
• Currencies: EUR, USD, GBP and possibly others

You can invest on the most important stock markets across the world, including, amongst others:

• Euronext Brussels
• Euronext Amsterdam
• Euronext Paris
• Xetra Frankfurt
• Borsa Italiana
• Nasdaq
• New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
• London Stock Exchange (LSE)
• SIX Swiss Exchange

After you logged in on the secure MeDirect website, you can place an order in different ways:

• If you don't have an Investment account yet, you first have to open one by clicking ‘Open an account.’
• You can buy or sell the securities already on your MeDirect Investment account by clicking the ‘Investments’ tab and then ‘investment account’ via the secure website. You can then buy or sell the security. If you know the name, ticker or ISIN of the security, click 'My investments' in the main menu and then click 'Place an order'.
  
  You can also use the Fund navigator, Tracker navigator, equity or bond navigator to find the security that meets your criteria. After the product detail page, you then make a purchase.
• You order can only be executed if the balance on your account is sufficient.

When a share has an exceptional price rise or price drop of more than 50% in relation to the closing price of the last business day, you cannot trade online via the secure website. You need to call us for this at 02 518 0000 Mon-Fri 9.00 AM to 8.00 PM Sat. 9.00 AM to 2.00 PM

• all KBC funds
• all Candriam funds
• a limited list of BNP Paribas funds
• the Belgian pension funds

No, MeDirect does not offer individual investment advice regarding specific securities. MeDirect does manage your Wealth Management Portfolio as a whole.

Our tool uses sophisticated profiling systems to provide you with financial advice tailored to your personal situation, preferences and financial objectives. The methodology underlying our wealth management tools was developed by financial planning agency Stremersch Van Broekhoven & Partners. This agency has offered financial advice since 1990 in terms of financial planning and is an expert in performing wealth analyses. Morningstar, market leader in providing key investment information, creates the portfolio recommendation They are also reviewed by the MeDirect Investment Committee, whose members have a wide range of experience in the investment banking and investment management sector.