Stanowisko UKNF w sprawie programów poleceń oraz programów partnerskich realizowanych przez firmy inwestycyjne

UKNF has released a statement drawing particular attention to certain aspects of „referral and affiliate programmes“ where investment firms commission clients to acquire new or potential clients.
Referral programmes
Investment firms engage their clients to promote the firm’s brokerage services. After a successful referral, the client would receive some benefits, usually in the form of financial instruments, money to purchase other financial instruments or a discount on provided services. The referral programmes usually involve generating a unique code or link.
Activities reserved solely for the investment firm or its agent
According to Article 79 2a) of Dz.U. 2005 Nr 185 poz. 1538, activities related to obtaining new broker clients are solely reserved for the investment firm or its agent. Obtaining new clients for the investment firm by a referral from an existing client or from a third party is prohibited, unless the direct marketing is targeted at a group of people (such as an TV advertisement) or at particular persons (such as among followers on social media).
Affiliate programmes
Affiliate programmes are defined as third-party counterparties that provide marketing services for the investment firm, where the compensation is commission-based. These could be physical persons (such as a social media user) or a firm (such as an online service firm) that generate a unique link for the potential client. According to Article 83d 1) of Dz.U. 2005 Nr 185 poz. 1538, the investment firm is not allowed to accept or transfer any monetary or non-monetary benefits stemming from their brokerage service. This means that if the investment firm is paying an affiliate programme for obtaining a new client, who will be using the brokerage services, is prohibited. However, it is permitted if the payments will be for providing affiliate links or advertisement content and not based on the number of acquired clients.