CMC Markets Stockbroking News & Announcements

Client Notice - ASIC lifts ban on Covered Short Selling of Financial Securities

Sun, 24 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

25 May 2009

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) have confirmed that it would lift the ban on Covered short selling of financial securities from opening trade on Monday, 25 May2009.

Naked short selling remains banned.

New categories of Long sales and Short sales have been introduced.

Brokers must ask clients whether a sale is a Long or a Short sale. Clients are obliged to inform brokers and brokers must report all Short sales to ASX who will issue a report the next day.

Impact on CMC Markets customers:

Long Selling: You may sell stock you own as normal. However, you must confirm to us at the time of sale that you own the stock you are selling (i.e. confirming that the sale is a Long Sale.) You simply need to indicate to the dealer over the phone that you would like to “Sell Long”.

Short Selling: Customers are not able to complete a Short Selling Transaction through CMC Markets stockbroking as CMC Markets Stockbroking does not authorise its clients to conduct short selling transactions on securities, nor provide a facility for doing so.

CFDs: Trading as normal.

Definitions

Financial Securities: entities in the S&P/ASX 200 Financial Index, plus property trusts and the following five APRA supervised listed entities not in the index: WES, FCL, ROK, WBB, and CIX.

Non-Financials Securities: any listed stocks not in the above definition.

Covered short selling is when the seller does not own but has a presently exercisable and unconditional right to vest the product through a ‘firm’ (legally binding) commitment from another party (like a stock lender) to deliver the stock in place before the sale . Note that ‘Best endeavours’ to deliver is not sufficient.

Naked short selling is where the seller does not own, nor have a presently exercisable and unconditional right to vest the products in the buyer. That is the seller does not own and does not have a ‘firm’ (legally binding) commitment from another party (like a stock lender) to deliver the stock in place before the sale. Day Traders will need stock to sell. An informal promise to borrow/locate stock is not enough.

Long Sales: sale of stock you own.

Short sales: refers to Covered short selling and Exempt Sales.

Exempt Sales: permitted Covered sales of financial stocks (e.g. by market makers) whilst the ban on short selling financials is in place.

For further information regarding the ASIC guidelines on short selling please refer to the ASIC website (http://www.asic.gov.au)

CMC Markets Stockbroking will continue to provide updated information on Short Selling as and when they become available from ASIC and ASX.

Should you have any questions regarding services provided by CMC Markets Stockbroking, please contact the Client Services team:

Telephone: 1300 360 071

Email: brokingservice@cmcmarkets.com.au

Kind regards
CMC Markets Stockbroking

This notice is given to clients by CMC Markets Stockbroking in accordance with Part C.49 of the Terms and Conditions of dealing with CMC Markets Stockbroking

Client Notice - ASIC extends ban on Covered Short Selling of Financial Securities

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:00:00 GMT

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) confirmed that it would lift the ban on Covered short selling of non-financial securities from opening trade on 19 November 2008.

The ban on Covered short selling of financial securities has now been extended until 31 May 2009.

Naked short selling remains banned.

New categories of Long sales and Short sales have been introduced.

Brokers must ask clients whether a sale is a Long or a Short sale. Clients are obliged to inform brokers and brokers must report all Short sales to ASX who will issue a report the next day.

Impact on CMC Markets customers:

Long Selling: You may sell stock you own as normal. However, you must confirm to us at the time of sale that you own the stock you are selling (i.e. confirming that the sale is a Long Sale.) You simply need to indicate to the dealer over the phone that you would like to "Sell Long".
Short Selling: Customers are not able to complete a Short Selling Transaction through CMC Markets stockbroking as CMC Markets Stockbroking does not authorise its clients to conduct short selling transactions on securities, nor provide a facility for doing so.
CFDs: Trading as normal.

Definitions

Financial Securities: entities in the S&P/ASX 200 Financial Index, plus property trusts and the following five APRA supervised listed entities not in the index: WES, FCL, ROK, WBB, and CIX.

Non-Financial Securities: any listed stocks not in the above definition.

Covered short selling is when the seller does not own but has a presently exercisable and unconditional right to vest the product through a 'firm' (legally binding) commitment from another party (like a stock lender) to deliver the stock in place before the sale Note that 'Best endeavours' to deliver is not sufficient.

Naked short selling is where the seller does not own, nor have a presently exercisable and unconditional right to vest the products in the buyer. That is the seller does not own and does not have a 'firm' (legally binding) commitment from another party (like a stock lender) to deliver the stock in place before the sale. Day Traders will need stock to sell. An informal promise to borrow/locate stock is not enough.

Long Sales: sale of stock you own.

Short sales: refers to Covered short selling and Exempt Sales.

Exempt Sales: permitted Covered sales of financial stocks (e.g. by market makers) whilst the ban on short selling financials is in place.

For further information regarding the ASIC guidelines on short selling please refer to the ASIC website

CMC Markets Stockbroking will continue to provide updated information on Short Selling as and when they become available from ASIC and ASX.

Should you have any questions regarding this, then please contact the Client Services team:

Telephone: 1300 360 071

Email: brokingservice@cmcmarkets.com.au

Kind regards
CMC Markets Stockbroking

This notice is given to clients by CMC Markets Stockbroking in accordance with Part C.49 of the Terms and Conditions of dealing with CMC Markets Stockbroking

Client Notice - ASIC lifts ban on Covered Short Selling on Non-Financial Securities

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:00:00 GMT

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) have confirmed that it would lift the ban on Covered short selling of non-financial securities from opening trade on 19 November 2008.

The ban on Covered short selling of financial securities has now been extended until Friday 6 March 2009.

Naked short selling remains banned.

New categories of Long sales and Short sales have been introduced.

Brokers must ask clients whether a sale is a Long or a Short sale. Clients are obliged to inform brokers and brokers must report all Short sales to ASX who will issue a report the next day.

Impact on CMC Markets customers:

Long Selling: You may sell stock you own as normal. However, you must confirm to us at the time of sale that you own the stock you are selling (i.e. confirming that the sale is a Long Sale.) You simply need to indicate to the dealer over the phone that you would like to "Sell Long".
Short Selling: Customers are not able to complete a Short Selling Transaction through CMC Markets stockbroking as CMC Markets Stockbroking does not authorise its clients to conduct short selling transactions on securities, nor provide a facility for doing so.
CFDs: Trading as normal.

This notice is given to clients by CMC Markets Stockbroking in accordance with Part C.49 of the Terms and Conditions of dealing with CMC Markets Stockbroking

Changes to the CMC Markets Stockbroking web site

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:00:00 GMT

The www.cmcmarketsstockbroking.com.au web site will be offline for several hours from 7:00pm on Monday, October 27 while we make some changes in preparation for an exciting new service which will launch soon.

When you login to the site on Tuesday, you will notice several changes, including:

The trading site will now be running under SSL security. Previously, only the trading windows uses SSL, but now the whole trading site will be protected.
The "Trade" menu will be renamed to "Shares"
The "Manage Trades" button has been renamed "Manage Shares"

We do not anticipate any serious problems following this change, but if you do have difficulties, please call our Helpdesk on 1300 360 071 or email us at brokingservice@cmcmarkets.com.au

CMC Markets Cash Account is covered by Government guarantee

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Further to the recent media announcements on the guarantee of deposits by the Australian Federal Government, BankWest have clarified the status of the CMC Markets Cash Account with the following:

In summary,

Deposits held within BankWest (including those held by clients in the CMC Markets Cash Accounts) are covered by the scheme.
There is no cap on the amount of deposit covered by the scheme
The guarantee applies immediately for a three year period.

Deposit Guarantee

On 12 October 2008, the Australian government announced deposits in Australian banks will be guaranteed.
BankWest is covered by this guarantee.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said Australian banks are well regulated and capitalised and the guarantee has been introduced to increase consumers' confidence their deposits are safe in Australian banks.
There is no cap to the guarantee as previously proposed by the Government. (In June of this year the Government announced the introduction of the Financial Claims Scheme (FCS). This scheme was devised to protect deposits to the value of AU$20,000 per person. The Prime Ministers announcement on the 12th of October extends the remit of this guarantee to now cover all deposits regardless of size.)
All Australian banks are highly regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
BankWest is a member of the HBOS Australia group, owned by HBOS plc in the UK.
HBOS plc has agreed to sell its BankWest businesses to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) which will increase BankWest's strength as a financial institution in Australia.

Questions and Answers

Who is covered by the guarantee?
Individuals and corporate depositors with Australian banks, building societies and credit unions are covered by this guarantee.

The guarantee applies to all types of deposits, regardless of the type of account through which the deposit is made. For example, it includes savings accounts, Money Market Accounts, passbook accounts, cheque accounts, pensioner deeming accounts, term deposits, mortgage offset-accounts, farm management accounts, first home savers accounts and retirement savings accounts. Both retail and wholesale deposits are covered by the guarantee.

How much does the guarantee pay?
Customers receive all their funds from the government.

If I deposit my money with BankWest, will I be entitled to the guarantee offered by the government?
Yes, your deposit in BankWest is covered by the Australian Government's guarantee.

How long will the guarantee be in place?
The guarantee will be in place for three years effective immediately and will be reviewed at the end of that period of time.

Will there be any cap or limit to the guarantee?
For the period of time that the guarantee is in place there will be no cap or limit to the guarantee.

How does the recent acquisition announcement affect the guarantee for BankWest or St Andrew's customers?
All BankWest customer deposits are covered by the guarantee regardless of the acquisition.

Why is the Government extending the FCS guarantee now?
The Australian banking system continues to demonstrate its resilience to the international financial market turbulence. In recent days Governments around the world have taken steps to guarantee the liabilities of their financial systems.

European Governments (Ireland, Germany, Denmark and Iceland) have moved to insure 100 per cent of eligible deposits. Other jurisdictions have significantly increased their deposit insurance caps.

Having carefully reviewed international developments, the Australian Government, acting on the advice of the regulators, has decided that it must act to provide the same guarantees for our banks and other financial institutions.

If you have any further queries please contact Bankwest's Client Services Team on 1300 769 687.

Short Selling Notice

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:00:00 GMT

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has made the following decisions to apply from the opening of the market on Monday, 22 September 2008:

Naked short selling banned
Covered short selling banned (subject to limited authorised market-maker exemptions)
ASIC will reassess and advise the market in 30 days, whether or not it will at that time, or at a later date, reopen covered short sales for non-financial stocks.

ASX will implement the changes by removing all stocks from the permitted list of naked short sales.

Impact on CMC Markets Stockbroking Customers

As CMC Markets stockbroking does not authorise its clients to conduct short selling transactions on securities, nor provide a facility for doing so, there will be no impact on services that are provided by CMC Markets Stockbroking.

Should you have any questions regarding this, then please contact the Client Services team:

Telephone: 1300 360 071

Email: brokingservice@cmcmarkets.com.au

Kind regards
CMC Markets Stockbroking

New brokerage rates

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:00:00 GMT

CMC Markets Stockbroking would like to notify you of our first rate change in 10 years. Certain rates have dropped significantly - online rates from $19.95, others remain the same, while a small number have slightly risen. We're sure that you will still find us very competitive - with some of the lowest stockbroking fees in the market.

Online Rates
We are pleased to offer even more competitive online rates. Fees for internet trades under $15,000 have dropped from $29.95 to $19.95. All other internet trading rates remain the same.

Phone trading
Our phone trading rates have either remained the same ($20,000 - $37,500 trades), and others have risen depending on your trade value. This increase ensures we can deliver the same quick, personalised service that you expect from our specialist dealers.

Electronic contract notes
Save $2.20 for each paper contract note by registering for free electronic confirmations. Complete the Electronic Confirmation Authority to organise this. This authority includes confirmations for share, option and warrant trades.

Please view the entire stockbroking rate schedule (Adobe PDF document).

The new fee structure becomes effective 8 September 2008, however any outstanding orders will be charged at existing rates. If you have questions regarding these changes please contact our Client Services team on:

Telephone:	1300 360 071
Outside AUS:	+61 2 9229 6100
Email:	brokingservice@cmcmarkets.com.au

CMC Markets Stockbroking

Mon, 26 May 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Welcome to CMC Markets Stockbroking
Everything that you've come to expect....and more.

From June 1, Andrew West Stockbrokers will be known as CMC Markets Stockbroking. Our company name will change as well as the way our website and trading platform look. But the way you use our trading platform and website remain exactly the same.

Frequently Asked Questions

How will this affect my investments?
There will be no change in how you interact with us. Your investments remain with the newly renamed CMC Markets Stockbroking.

Are my assets safe?
Your share holding and CMA money are safe and secure. You're dealing with a company that has a solid track record of reliability and a sound business model. CMC Markets Stockbroking does not participate in any share lending of any of our clients' share holdings.

All your share holdings are under your name and can not be transferred or on-lent without your permission.
CMC Markets Stockbroking is a participant of ASX Group Limited and as such, your assets are afforded protection under the National Guarantee Fund.
Your funds in the CMC Markets Cash Account (formerly the Andrew West Cash Account) are held in your name with BankWest, a major Australian bank which is a wholly owned subsidiary of HBOS Plc, one of the world's largest financial institutions.

Will there be any changes to my account e.g. account number, log-ins etc?
There will be no changes to your account. Everything will remain business as usual.

Has my Bank West Money Market account details changed?
No, your account details (i.e. BSB and account number) remain the same. Only the product name has changed from Andrew West Money Market Account to CMC Markets Cash Account.

Will my Holder Identification Number (HIN) change?
No, however your CHESS sponsor will now be CMC Markets Stockbroking Ltd.

Who do I make cheques payable to?
CMC Markets Stockbroking Ltd.

Will I still have the same level of service and broker contacts?
Yes, everything including your broker will remain the same as it is currently.

Will Andrew West still be managing the company?
Yes, Andrew West will remain with the business and continue to guide it through its next phase of growth and expansion.

What if I have other questions?
Contact your broker or our Helpdesk directly with any further questions.

Tax Loss Selling - Risks and Opportunities

Sun, 18 May 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Introduction
Tax-loss selling is the practice of selling stocks prior to June 30 that have lost investors money over the course of the financial year. Sales take place to offset capital gains and lower one's tax liability.

Knowledge of this seasonal effect is important because prices in stocks likely to come in for tax loss selling can be expected to be weaker as a result.

The probability of lower prices means:

Current owners can expect their stocks to come in for selling pressure
Potential owners can expect lower prices in the lead up to June 30

Warning: If your intention is to buy back your position at a later date you need to ensure you do not give rise to a "wash sale" which may result in cancellation of the tax benefits obtained in connection with the sale. For more details see Tax Ruling TR 2008/1 at the ATO website.
Furthermore "wash sales" are a potential breach of the law or ASX Market Rules. The regulatory issues which arise in any sort of tax crossing are not just whether it moves prices or creates impressions of false volume, but whether there is a true change in beneficial ownership after the crossing and whether it is done for the purpose of tax avoidance.

Tax loss Selling Candidates
Tax loss selling occurs in stocks that by definition lost their investors money. Opportunities are most productive in stocks that have:

Fallen consistently over the course of the financial year.
Fallen at some point over the year the financial year
Some issue specifically related to its performance, and have not fallen simply because of a weaker market
Stocks in sectors that are underperforming

Price performance: Tax loss selling period 2007

	1-yr performance*	Period: 14/05/07 - 29/06/07
Bendigo Mining	-84.9%	-15.6%
Chemeq	-79.8%	-7.2%
Kimberley Diamond	-50.7%	-4.8%
Great Southern	-40.0%	23.3%
Timbercorp	-39.5%	-4.3%
Iluka Resources	-11.7%	3.1%
McGuigan Simeon	-10.8%	-31.6%

* May 14, 2007: Source AFR

How to search for poor performers
The Andrew West website allows you to search stocks based on a range of criteria. On the left hand side of any page click on Analyse Stocks then Add Filter. Then sort by 1 yr. avg Annual return and choose the action Sort by lowest.

The output allows you to see which stocks are likely to come in for tax loss selling and adjust your sales, purchases accordingly.

Implications

Look at selling stocks that you own that appear on the list if you have gains elsewhere.
Consider adjusting buying and selling prices in light of potential weakness in tax loss selling candidates during the period up to June 30.
Profit from potential weakness in tax loss selling candidates through the use of options, warrants and CFDs

You're safe with Andrew West

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:00:00 GMT

In view of the recent negative media coverage surrounding some stockbroking companies and alleged irregularities with share transactions, we would like to assure you that you are dealing with a company that has a solid track record of reliability and a sound business model.

Andrew West does not participate in any share lending of any of our clients' share holdings. All clients' share holdings are under that client's name and can not be transferred or on-lent without that client's direction.

Andrew West has the backing of CMC Markets Plc, a major international company that has been successfully trading in Australia for nearly 10 years.

CMC Markets is cash rich and profitable

CMC Markets has a global capitalization of over $3 billion. It would rank among the top 100 listed companies in Australia (if it was listed on the ASX).
Globally, CMC Markets executed an estimated 20 million trades last year with an estimated value of US$1.4 trillion.
CMC Markets is cash rich and it continues to attract global financial institutions - with Goldman Sachs buying 10 per cent equity into the company last year.

CMC Markets is reliable and has a solid track record in the market

CMC Markets has been operating since 1989. We have an extensive risk management infrastructure that has been tried and tested through both bullish and bearish market cycles and performed without interruption during some of major market shocks like September 11, 2001 and the tech crash of 2000.

Your share holdings and CMA money are safe and secure

All your share holdings are under your name and can not be transferred or on-lent without your permission.
Andrew West is a Participant of ASX Group Limited and as such, your assets are afforded protection under the National Guarantee Fund.
Your funds in the Andrew West Cash Account are held in your name with BankWest, a major Australian bank which is in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of HBOS Plc, one of the world's largest financial institutions.

If you have any other question or would like to speak to us, please contact us by:
Email: service@andrewwest.com.au
Telephone: 1300-360-071