Material Non-Public Information Acknowledgement

Interactions arranged through Office Hours occur on a secure platform specifically designed to safeguard our clients and advisors such as you whom they engage. The purpose of this agreement is to provide you with additional information concerning the important topic of “Material Non-Public Information”.

This acknowledgement form is supplemental to and incorporated into the Terms of Service Agreement which you agreed to when first signing up as an Advisor on the Office Hours Platform, including but not limited to the Indemnity Provisions in said Terms of Service.

If you have any questions or comments about anything regarding compliance, please email us at compliance@officehours.com.

Please note: Nothing in the below or any conversations you may have with Office Hours about the below constitutes legal advice or should be relied on by you in any way. If you are uncertain about your rights, obligations and duties in connection with your participation in any Interaction, you should obtain your own independent legal advice.

Material Non-public Information (“MNPI”) can be defined as information which:

relates to a specific publicly-traded security;
is not known to the public; and
a reasonable investor would likely consider important in making an investment decision.

What is material information

“Material information” generally is defined as information for which there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable investor would consider it important in making his or her investment decisions, or information that is reasonably certain to have a substantial effect on the price of a company’s securities. Information that should be considered material includes, but is not limited to:

dividend changes
earnings estimates (or results)
changes in previously released earnings estimates
significant merger or acquisition proposals or agreements
major litigation or regulatory inquiries
liquidation problems
extraordinary management developments
current financial performance
news of a significant sale of assets or the disposition of a subsidiary
significant current product developments
changes in dividend policies or the declaration of a stock split or the offering of additional securities
significant new products, processes or discoveries
the gain or loss of a substantial customer or supplier, pricing changes or discount policies
major contract awards
significant write-offs or restatements
notice of issuance of patents.

What is non-public information

Information is non-public until it has been effectively communicated to the marketplace. One must be able to point to some fact to show that the information is generally public. For example, information found in a report filed with the SEC, or appearing in Dow Jones, Reuters Economic Services, the Wall Street Journal or other publications of general circulation would be considered public. Common examples of non-public information include information provided to a select group of analysts that is not made available to the investment community at large, information about a company that has not been disseminated by such company in a press release, information received as a “tip” from a person who owes a duty of trust or confidentiality with respect to such information.

How to treat MNPI

Being in possession of MNPI is not, of itself, illegal. However, in most jurisdictions it is a crime (usually known as ‘Insider Trading’) to trade securities about which you know MNPI. It is also a crime to disclose (i.e. ‘tip’) MNPI to a third party. As well as criminal
penalties, Insider Trading or tipping MNPI may result in civil and/or regulatory sanctions for both tippers and ‘tippees’.

Consequences of disclosure

If our Client were to receive MNPI from you, they would not be able to trade any securities to which such information relates, including having to place the relevant securities on a restricted list meaning that other people in their team/firm may also not be able to trade in them. This may extend not only to a particular company that you identify or with which you have an affiliation, but also to other companies in the same industry or that have other connections to that company.

Your disclosure of MNPI about any security (even if not the subject of the Interaction) may cause significant disruption to our Client, not to mention criminal/civil liability for you. You should NOT therefore, under any circumstances, disclose any Material Nonpublic Information to our Client.

By signing the below agreement, you acknowledge you will not provide Clients with any MNPI, including in connection with any companies or organizations that you currently or previously have had any affiliation/engagement with.