How to Become a Certified Adviser

To become a Certified Adviser on First North in Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania the company must fill the application form available in the web and sign the agreement with NASDAQ OMX stock exchanges in Tallinn, Riga or Vilnius. The Adviser must also enter into an agreement with each company for which it is performing the function of Adviser. In addition to that Adviser has to comply with certain requirements in order to guarantee high-quality services to First North companies:

1. At least two employees with sufficient experience:

At least two years experience in matters such as consultancy services regarding companies’ capital structure, strategy, acquisitions and sale of companies or related consultancy service
Must attend a training seminar provided by the exchange regarding First North rules and requirements

2. Develop internal trading rules. It has to be stipulated that persons in the Certified adviser role shall not be allowed to trade with the shares of the issuer to whom they provide consultancy.

3. Avoid conflict of interest. Rules governing treatment of confidential information have to be developed.

4. Document all the relevant information in appropriate manner.

5. Be independent from issuer:

Certified adviser or related persons cannot hold more than 10% of share capital in issuers to which the Certified adviser provides advise.
In conjunction with the publication of semi-annual reports, the Certified adviser must provide the exchange with information about their holdings in those companies to which they provide advise.
The Certified adviser or anyone representing the Certified adviser may not hold the position in management or supervisory board of the Issuers to which the Certified adviser provides advise.

Important information

First North is an alternative market, operated by the different exchanges within NASDAQ OMX. It does not have the same legal status as a regulated market in EU, which is a term used in the EU directive, called MiFID. According to MiFID, trading can be organized with a less complicated set of rules within the framework of a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF). First North is operating as MTF and Companies traded there are subject to the rules of First North and not the legal requirements of regulated market. Due to lower requirements in First North, the risk in such an investment may be higher than on the regulated market.