What does investment class or risk class mean?

People have different levels of risk appetite. If you want to achieve high returns, you also have to reckon with high losses. If you prefer to play it safe, your wealth will grow only in small steps.

The so-called risk class describes the risk appetite of a person who invests their money in a capital investment. The experience they have already gained with investments also plays a role. With the help of risk classes, banks can quickly determine how intensive the advice needs to be. They are obliged to provide such advice under the German Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz).

Securities in higher risk classes carry a greater risk of loss. This has various reasons, for example a higher probability of default or a higher degree of volatility. The lowest risk applies to fixed-term deposits, overnight deposits or savings deposits. They all have the investment objective of long-term and secure wealth building.

The highest risk class contains forms of investment such as futures, which can lead to a total loss but in return also promise high returns. quirion does not offer this risk class. DAX stocks lie in the middle.

quirion requires that you have gained at least two years of experience with securities (fixed-income securities, bonds, equities, equity funds, currency-related equities/bonds, certificates, warrants and alternative investments). You should have carried out at least two transactions per year with invested assets of 3,000 euros. If this is not the case, please read through the Basic Information on Securities Transactions, which you can also find in the download section, and confirm on registration that you have understood the risks of securities.

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Basiswissen zur Geldanlage

Nicht die passende Frage dabei? Zur gesamten Übersicht

Why do I need a reference account at another bank?

You must permanently link your quirion investment to a current account held in your name. This so-called reference account can be held at any bank within the SEPA area. With the "direct debit" payment method, we collect the amounts for your investment with quirion from your reference account. We also use this reference account exclusively for payouts. This means you cannot make transfers to third-party recipients. This is for your security.

What can I do if I have forgotten my password?

If you have forgotten your password, we will send a temporary password to your email address.

After logging in with the temporary password, you will be prompted directly to set a new password.

How does account opening work?

First, you register via “Open account” on our portal. To do so, you sign up with your email address and a password of your choice.

You then receive a PIN code by email to verify your email address. Once you have entered this PIN code, your personal details, contact details and ID details are recorded.

Finally, you have the choice between identity verification in the quirion app, on your computer, or at a Deutsche Post branch. Your quirion account is then opened for you without delay.

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How does online video identity verification work?

quirion has to be certain that you really are the person for whom the account or the securities account is being opened.

For banks, the German Anti-Money Laundering Act requires an identity verification check.

With quirion, you have the choice:

You can verify your identity by video call in the quirion app or on your computer.

In-person identity verification at Deutsche Post is also possible.

For this you need a valid identity card or your passport plus proof of address (e.g. a phone bill).

The easiest way is to verify your identity with our app.

Once identity verification is complete, we receive your data and can then open your account.

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How does the PostIdent "Basic" procedure work?

We can only open securities accounts for you once it is clear who you are.

With the PostIdent "Basic" procedure, Deutsche Post verifies this for us:

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1. You print out the securities account opening form.

2. You go to a Deutsche Post branch with your identity card or passport (in addition to your registration certificate).

3. The Post employee fills out the form, which you then have to sign.

4. We then receive the data for verification and open the securities account for you.

5. There are no costs for you.

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How can I update my WpHG information?

To do so, please notify us of your changes in writing and without any particular format, either by email or by post. If you choose to do so by post, please send the signed document to our address:

quirion AG
c/o Avaloq Sourcing (Europe) AG
Postfach 10 04 61
04004 Leipzig

If you have any questions, call us (+49 (0)30 89 201 - 400) or send us an email at info@quirion.de

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When do I receive my account or securities account statement?

You receive statements from us for all account and securities account transactions. These are provided to you free of charge as PDF documents in your digital mailbox. There you can view or download the documents at any time.

When is the investment amount credited after closing the portfolio or terminating?

You can place an order to close your portfolio at any time. We then sell your portfolio holdings and close the portfolio.

quirion invests only in liquid securities. Nevertheless, in exceptional situations (such as the US mortgage crisis) it may take longer before you receive your money.

All amounts that have not been collected by direct debit within the last eight weeks are available to you immediately after the sale. Due to the applicable direct debit agreement, which includes an eight-week right of revocation, we will only transfer the money that is still within this period to the reference account once the period has expired.

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Can I top up my quirion portfolio?

You can top up your quirion portfolio at any time and by any amount. The process will take a few days. If you have selected “direct debit” as your payment method: Should you wish to close your quirion portfolio within eight weeks of the top-up, we will only transfer the top-up amount to you after the eight weeks have elapsed, due to the direct debit agreement and the associated rules on the return period for a direct debit.

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What is the digital mailbox? Are there any costs?

In our digital mailbox you will find all account and securities account notifications as well as customer information. They are available for download online in PDF format. The documents are stored permanently in the online archive. You will no longer receive these letters by post. No costs are incurred in doing so. You can use our mailbox free of charge.

When will I see my investment in the portfolio management area?

Once your investment amount has been paid in, we invest it in the strategy you have chosen. Please understand that this can take a few days. After the securities have been booked, your investment will be displayed in the portfolio management area.

How can I change my stored reference account?

You can change the reference account you have stored with us at any time. To do so, please download the “Change of personal data” form. You can also find it at quirion.de/formulare. Send us the completed and signed order by post or as an attachment by email to info@quirion.de. We will take care of the rest.

How do I change my mobile number?

You can change the mobile number we have on file at any time. You can submit this request to us online, from within your personal logged-in area. We will then verify your new mobile number. You are also welcome to submit this request to us in writing. To do so, please download the „Change of personal data“ document from the download area, fill it out, sign it, and send it back to us. We will take care of the rest.

What can I do if I have forgotten my password?

If you have forgotten your password, we will send a temporary password to your email address. After logging in with the temporary password, you will be prompted directly to set a new password.

How do I change my personal data?

You can conveniently change your personal details and registered address in your personal login area.
If you also wish to change, for example, your email address or other sensitive data, please download the "Change of personal data" form. You can also find it at quirion.de/formulare. Send us the completed and signed request by post or as an attachment by email to info@quirion.de. We will then take care of everything else for you.

Where can I find the annual tax certificate and the income statement from last year?

As soon as the annual tax certificate and the income statement for the previous year have been made available to you, you will find them in your personal mailbox. To do so, filter the period with the status "available" to the date from December of last year until today. You will then find the documents issued with the date 31.12. in the results overview, as we provide these to our customers with a retroactive date.

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How do I receive my tax certificate?

We automatically place the tax certificate for the previous year in your online mailbox as a document.

When are the advisory fees calculated?

The fee is charged monthly to the quirion cash account of the associated investment strategy. The calculation is based on the total volume (account and portfolio) as of the last day of a month.

How do I receive dividends and interest from my investment?

Capital income is distributed to the ETFs in which we have invested your money in the form of dividends for equities and interest for bonds. In the case of an accumulating ETF, the ETF reinvests the money directly back into its securities holdings. The income then benefits you in the form of price increases in the ETF. Some of our ETFs, on the other hand, distribute income to your quirion strategy account. quirion then automatically reinvests this liquidity in a targeted way into the underweighted securities in your strategy (rebalancing).

Regardless of the distribution intervals, you can withdraw money from your account at any time free of charge.
Since we invest in the entire global equity market, the dividend yield of your strategy is comparable to that of the MSCI World Index. The specific figure fluctuates with the economic cycle and the ups and downs of the stock markets.

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Who decides what is bought or sold in my portfolio and when?

With quirion, you entrust the management of your invested money to the quirion asset managers, so that you have time for other things and don't have to deal with new market developments and investment decisions on a daily basis.

The quirion team consists of experienced asset managers, financial analysts and economists who work every day to ensure the success of the investment strategies on offer.

The team monitors the weighting of the individual securities and their composition in your portfolio and adjusts them to current market conditions, so that your individual risk and return expectations are always met.

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What is the TER?

The Total Expense Ratio (TER) covers the costs charged to an investment fund by the fund company over the course of a financial year.

These costs are charged automatically by the fund company and are already included in the fund's unit prices. The total expense ratio of the ETFs we use averages around 0.17 percent per year (for example, 17 euros per year on an investment amount of 10,000 euros).

The actual costs usually deviate somewhat from the TER: for example, the fund also incurs trading costs when it changes its composition. However, the fund can also generate additional income through securities lending. When making its selection, the quirion investment team pays close attention to these actual costs and chooses only cost-efficient products for you.

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What does rebalancing mean? When is my portfolio updated?

The original composition of your portfolio keeps shifting because the market is constantly changing. Rebalancing corrects these shifts. In the process, the portfolio is realigned to the initial asset allocation. It also prevents, for example, a particular region such as Europe or the small-cap equities asset class from taking on a comparable overweight within the equities.

This takes place at least once a year. In addition, rebalancings always occur whenever the percentage shares of equities or bonds in the overall portfolio that you have defined are exceeded or fallen short of by 10 percent (if the share of equities or bonds in your portfolio is very small, limits of 15 or 20 percent apply).

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What is an ETF savings plan?

With a "normal" ETF savings plan at a bank or a broker, you usually invest your money in just one ETF, i.e. a single index. As a rule, you have to pick this one yourself. At quirion, you always invest – in the savings plan too – in a complete ETF portfolio made up of several ETFs as part of a managed portfolio. These are selected by a team of investment professionals on the basis of current financial market research. In this way, we bring almost the entire world market into your portfolio. That is not possible with a single ETF. In addition, our experts constantly monitor whether cheaper or even more suitable ETFs come onto the market and then adjust the portfolios accordingly at no extra charge. And: before you invest, quirion determines your personal risk-return profile and ensures that your portfolio matches this profile – not only at the time of investment, but also on an ongoing basis through regular rebalancing.

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What is a non-assessment certificate (NV-Bescheinigung)?

Instead of an exemption order, you can submit a non-assessment certificate (NV-Bescheinigung).

You can obtain this from your tax office. In this case, you do not need an additional exemption order.

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How can I request that church tax be deducted directly?

If you are liable for church tax, we automatically pay the church tax portion of your withholding tax to the tax office on your behalf. This is what tax law requires.

How can I set up an exemption order for capital gains?

You can submit an exemption order in your customer account under Settings > Exemption order.

If you have any questions, call us (+49 (0)30 89 201-400) or send an email to info@quirion.de.

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What is an exemption order?

A portion of your capital gains (interest payments, price gains and dividend payments) always goes to the tax office. With the exemption order, you instruct your bank to exempt any capital gains that arise from the automatic tax deduction – to "release" them.

However, if you do not submit an exemption order, or if the capital gains exceed the statutory maximum limit, the credit institutions must pay 25 percent capital gains tax and 5.5 percent solidarity surcharge, and sometimes church tax as well, to the tax office on your behalf.

Depending on the product, the capital gains tax is calculated and paid to the tax office at different points in time. In the case of stocks, this happens when price gains or dividend payments have been credited to your account. Since 2023, the tax-free allowance has been 1,000 euros per person.

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What is the Securities Trading Act and why does it matter to me?

The German Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz, WpHG) governs securities trading in Germany. Its main purpose is to oversee service providers that trade in securities as well as financial futures transactions. This protects you as a customer.

The WpHG requires securities services firms to advise you appropriately as an investor. The adviser must find out what experience you have with investments, what goals you are pursuing, what your financial situation is like and how willing you are to take risks. Only in this way can they recommend forms of investment that truly suit you.

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What are kickbacks?

Almost all financial products come with ongoing management fees. The product provider deducts these fees from the fund's assets, for example, and keeps them. And it does so every year. Such costs also exist with certificates.

There they are called the „Management Fee“; „Fee“ stands for a charge. The product provider pays out parts of the management fee to the bank or the respective financial distributor. This payment is intended as an incentive for the distributors that sold the product. You receive the management fee from us in addition to the commission you paid when purchasing.

So the adviser gets paid both by you and by the product provider. They receive a commission for the products sold and therefore cannot advise you neutrally.

An example: You pay a so-called front-end load of 3 percent for an equity fund. In addition, the same equity fund charges an annual management fee of, say, 1.5 percent. Of this, your bank adviser or your bank receives, for example, 0.8 percent. These 0.8 percent are called kickbacks or trailer commissions.

At quirion, all kickbacks are credited to your account. quirion discloses all commissions so that you know exactly what you are paying.

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What are ETFs (index funds)?

As an alternative to open-ended, actively managed investment funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs) have become established in recent years.

An ETF tracks a given index as closely as possible and adjusts its composition to match its reference value.

When you buy an MDAX ETF, for example, you get all the securities included in the MDAX in exactly their current market composition. If the composition of the MDAX changes, the composition of your ETF changes too.

As a result, the management and administration fees for an ETF are significantly lower. On average they are around 0.17 percent of the invested amount per year. When a fund manager actively looks after your investment funds, the costs rise to 1.5 to 2.5 percent per year.

At the same time, many studies show that in over 90 percent of cases an active fund manager cannot beat the index over the long term.

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What are commissions?

These are fees you incur when purchasing a financial product. Depending on the product, they vary in amount. Commissions go to whoever sells you an investment – that is, the bank or an independent adviser.

At quirion there are no commissions. These do not apply to you. In the Digital package you only pay the fee of 0.48 percent on your invested amount. Not a cent more. This means that, apart from third-party charges, all transaction costs are included in the 0.48 percent.

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What is fee-based advice, anyway?

Fee-based advice is objective advice, like the kind you know from your tax advisor or lawyer.
Objectivity is only possible because the advisor receives no additional income from third parties. You pay them for their independent advice – you and no one else.

As a result, they have no interest in persuading you to buy a particular product. For a fee-based advisor, only your individual goals, needs, and wishes count.

The opposite of the fee-based advisor is the ordinary bank advisor, who receives a commission from fund or insurance companies for selling financial products so that the products sell better.

This commission is deducted from the buyer's investment amount, i.e. from your money, and thus reduces your profit.

An end to poor and overpriced products that are of no use to you!
Fee-based advice makes sense if you are not familiar with the subject matter and would like to hear the advice of an independent expert. Objective information is the best basis for decisions you can stand behind.

What does investment class or risk class mean?

People have different levels of risk appetite. If you want to achieve high returns, you also have to reckon with high losses. If you prefer to play it safe, your wealth will grow only in small steps.

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What does Global Portfolio mean?

If you opt for our Global Portfolio, you invest across the entire breadth of the market. From the risk you are willing to take, we derive the composition of your portfolio. More equities mean more risk – but also more return. More bonds, by contrast, reduce the risk – but also the return.

The Global Portfolio is generally suitable for building wealth. You can also take out our Global Portfolio in a sustainable variant.

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Can I also use quirion on mobile devices?

Of course you can also use the quirion website on your mobile devices. Our site automatically adapts to the requirements of your device – whether smartphone or tablet, portrait or landscape mode.
If you want to stay up to date on your investment at quirion at all times, we recommend our handy quirion app for smartphones. Simply download it from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

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Does quirion send emails asking me to enter my login details and PIN?

Never! quirion would never ask you by email to enter your PIN or your login details.

In the worst case, this is what is known as a phishing email, which fraudsters use to try to obtain customer data. They either ask directly by email for your login details, or they deceive you with a link in the email. That link then does not lead to our website, but to a deceptively similar page.

Therefore: only ever log in to your personal login area via the website you know. Do not use links from emails to log in.

If you have received a phishing email, please do not respond to it under any circumstances, and inform us immediately: support@quirion.de

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Are the quirion website and the login area protected?

Data transmission at quirion is protected by a secure connection (TLS/SSL). All incoming and outgoing network traffic is monitored, and only known or authorised connections are allowed.

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Your personal quirion area is additionally secured by your PIN, and a transfer is only possible to your reference account.

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Why is the connection automatically terminated after a period of inactivity?

Once you have logged in on our site, you are automatically logged out after a certain period of inactivity for security reasons.

The „automatic logout“ prevents unauthorised persons from gaining unnoticed access to your confidential data and to your personal login area.

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Why are the username and password not saved in the login input field?

It is more secure if your login data is not stored on the system.

My notifications and account statements are not displayed, or not displayed correctly. Why?

We provide the notifications and your account statements in PDF format. For the best possible display, we recommend using the current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Download at: get.adobe.com/de/reader

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What does data protection look like on your website?

We store and process your personal data as required by German law and EU standards. When you visit the quirion website, automated, purely statistical information such as browser type and access times is recorded.

We use this information to improve the quirion website. This is done in a completely anonymized manner. The data is kept separate from personal information. This makes it impossible to draw any conclusions about your identity from it. Your anonymity remains fully preserved. We do not create personal visitor profiles.

Nor do we pass on any data to companies that could use it to create visitor profiles. We only pass on data about you if we are required to do so by law or by another legal provision. In such cases, the data goes to government institutions and authorities.

The links to other providers and partner companies have been carefully checked. However, we do not know whether the respective operator complies with data protection regulations. We have no influence over this. Please therefore inform yourself about the applicable policies there.

You can request information about the data that quirion AG and Quirin Privatbank AG have stored about you at any time. If you would like us to correct, delete or block it, let us know. You can also demand at a later date that we do not process your data: simply send an email to datenschutz@quirion.de and withdraw your consent.

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How secure is the website? Can thieves withdraw my money?

The quirion website has been developed using the latest technology and is continuously maintained and updated. All incoming and outgoing network traffic is monitored. Only known or authorised connections are permitted, and all data is transmitted in encrypted form (TLS/SSL).

For transferring money between quirion and you, we use your reference account – the one you have registered with us. We debit amounts for your investment with quirion via this account and credit payouts to it. We do not make transfers to third-party recipients. The tricks used by thieves who intercept PINs and TANs therefore do not work on the quirion website.

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Can I invest capital-forming benefits (VWL) with quirion?

So far, we do not offer an option to invest capital-forming benefits.

However, we are already working on a possible offering in this area.

How can quirion have an intelligent investment concept when fund managers generally "cannot beat the market"?

In fact, we do not claim to be smarter than the other professionals. But it may sound paradoxical: this is precisely what makes our concept so intelligent. We do not waste your fees on expensive analysts and star fund managers, whose assessments then often turn out to be wrong anyway. On top of that, we rely on the breadth of the market rather than on a few individual securities, and we are always fully invested. This lowers risks and delivers the full return of the market – giving us a systematic advantage over classic fund managers. One final point: quirion focuses primarily on value and small-cap stocks, thereby drawing on proven sources of returns. Many highly paid fund managers use similar criteria for their stock selection – but charge a considerably higher fee for it.

Where can I find the terms and conditions and the price and service list?

You can find the General Terms and Conditions including the Price and Service List (PLV) in the download area.

In which currency are the accounts at quirion held?

quirion accounts are held in euros.

Can I take out multiple investment strategies?

You can choose several strategies and combine them. Each strategy has its own portfolio sub-account and is shown to you in the investment overview.
You will find the “Add new strategy” function at the bottom after logging in.

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Is it possible to change the investment strategy?

Yes, free strategy changes are possible at any time in all packages. The securities account number and the account number of the investment strategy remain the same. Our investment team adjusts the financial instruments contained in the investment strategy to the new weighting through the purchase and sale of shares. You can request a strategy change in quirion online banking.

How much does investing with quirion cost me?

The fee in the Digital package is 0.48 percent of the invested volume per year, incl. VAT.

A sample calculation: For an invested volume of 10,000 euros you pay just 48 euros per year. On top of this come around 0.17 percent (i.e. only 17 euros a year) in ETF costs, which the ETF providers deduct directly from the fund price. The total costs of 65 euros in the first year thus amount to only 18 cents per day. There are no further hidden costs or fees. If we receive kickbacks, we refund them to you in full. The fee is charged proportionally and settled monthly. This makes quirion unbeatably affordable. For comparison: for a conventional mixed fund you can expect total costs of 2.3 percent per year, i.e. 230 euros per year for 10,000 euros.

What are the requirements for becoming a quirion customer?

You must be at least 18 years old.
You are not subject to tax liability in the USA.
You need a current account within the SEPA area.