Electronic Reununciation Agreement

ELECTRONIC REUNUNCIATION AGREEMENT

This agreement is BETWEEN [Unit trust manager/ACD] (the “Manager”); [The unit trust manager, trustee or ACD (on behalf of an open-ended investment company) responsible for the register of title] (the “Registrar"); [Investment manager/broker] (the “Instructing Party”); and, [Registered holder/nominee] (the “Registered Holder”). WHEREAS the Instructing Party may be entitled under an investment management agreement or may take instructions from a beneficial owner of units in authorised unit trust schemes and/or shares in open-ended investment companies to redeem such units or shares WHEREAS the legal owner of units in authorised unit trust schemes or shares in open-ended investment companies is the Registered Holder WHEREAS the Instructing Party may on behalf of the beneficial owner, by the means of electronic communication, from time to time request the Manager to redeem units in authorised unit trust schemes and/or shares in open-ended investment companies The parties agree as follows: In this agreement: "authorised fund manager" has the meaning given in the Financial Services Authority’s Handbook Glossary; “authorised unit trust scheme” has the meaning given in section 237(3) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000; “electronic communication” has the meaning given in section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000; “open-ended investment company” has the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Open-Ended Investment Companies Regulations 2001; "scheme" means an authorised unit trust scheme or open-ended investment company, as the context requires; “shares” shall mean shares in an open-ended investment company; and, “units” shall mean units in an authorised unit trust scheme. Any references to statute, statutory instrument or regulation shall be references to statute, statutory instrument or regulation as from time to time amended. The Registered Holder hereby appoints the Instructing Party as its agent for the purposes of making a disposition of units or assignment of shares, as the case may be, that are registered in the name of the Registered Holder in any scheme of which the Manager is the authorised fund manager and the Registrar is the person responsible for the register. It is agreed that a disposition or assignment, as the case may be, may be made by the Instructing Party requesting the Manager to redeem a specified number of units or shares in a specified scheme. Such request shall be made by electronic communication. The Manager may recognise any such request as validly given until it has actual notice of the termination of this agreement. The Registered Holder hereby authorises the Manager to remit the proceeds of any such redemption on the due settlement date, as follows:

By electronic funds transfer to: OR By CREST to: Bank name: Participant name: Branch name: Participant ID: Sort code: Account name: Account number:

Any variation to this Agreement must be agreed in writing by the parties. Any party to this agreement may terminate the agreement by notice to all other parties by post to their registered address. This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and the parties each submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

For and on behalf of ...... (Full name of the Manager) Signature ...... Signature ...... Print name ...... Print name ...... Position ...... Position ...... Date ...... Date ......

For and on behalf of ...... (Full name of the Registrar) Signature ...... Signature ...... Print name ...... Print name ...... Position ...... Position ...... Date ...... Date ......

For and on behalf of ...... (Full name of the Instructing Party) Signature ...... Signature ...... Print name ...... Print name ...... Position ...... Position ...... Date ...... Date ......

For and on behalf of ...... (Full name of the Registered Holder) Signature ...... Signature ...... Print name ...... Print name ...... Position ...... Position ...... Date ...... Date ......

ELECTRONIC REUNUNCIATION AGREEMENT EXPLANATORY NOTES

Background English law requires that transfers of property such as unit trusts (by way of disposition) and open-ended investment companies (by way of assignment) must be made individually by the transferor. In the case of authorised funds, the disposition or assignment can be communicated electronically and can be given either by the holder or by someone they appoint in writing as their agent for that purpose. The appointment of the agent cannot currently be made by electronic means. The Investment Management Asssociation (IMA) has prepared this model electronic renunciation agreement ("ERA"), which aims to satisfy the above for situations in which units held in a nominee name are being redeemed by a financial institution, which may be connected to the nominee (ie. custody is performed in-house) or an independent entity. Redemptions and transfer authorities The ERA addresses the requirement for transfers to be made individually by establishing the understanding between the Instructing Party and the Manager and Registrar, that each individual request to redeem (the instruction) will also represent the disposition or assignment (as appropriate for the fund concerned) of the units to the manager, provided it is given by electronic means. Subject to the fund manager's requirements, electronic means can include telephone, fax, e-mail, browser access to the fund manager's website or use of electronic messaging. Instructing Party as the Registered Holder's agent As the Instructing Party would not be the actual nominee holder of the units, it can only transfer the shares if it is appointed by the nominee as its agent for that purpose. This appointment must be made in writing, and is incorporated within the ERA so that all parties can see clearly that the Instructing Party has the necessary authority. Roles of the Manager and Registrar For the purposes of the ERA, the Registrar is the entity that is responsible for the unitholder register, irrespective of whether or not someone else is appointed to carry out that registrar function. For unit trusts this is either the unit trust manager or the trustee, as specified in the trust deed, while for OEICs the ACD would sign the agreement on behalf of the fund. In most instances, therefore, the fund manager will be a party to the ERA in two capacities: first, they will be the Manager as a principal party to each redemption transaction and, second, the person with ultimate responsibility for the register (whether or not they operate it themselves on a day-to-day basis) which will be updated in completion of the transaction. CREST CREST participant details may be entered, if appropriate, where both the Manager and the Registered Holder are able to use the CREST residual mechanism or Euroclear/EMX cash settlement mechanism for funds. The suitability of the ERA for the full CREST settlement model, which is currently being developed by Euroclear UK & Ireland, has not been considered at this stage. Jurisdiction The ERA has been prepared for use under English law. The terminology used in certain places may need to be adapted for use with funds that operate under Scottish law. The same would be true of Northern Ireland, although the IMA is not aware of any Northern Irish funds that exist currently.