ETF after-care: you’ve invested, now what?

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Written By Ele de Vere

24 August 2022

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Maintaining items after purchase is something we do in many areas of our lives

The same is true for your investments. After you’ve made an investment in an ETF via a brokerage account there are important steps to take to effectively manage your investments’ ‘after-care’.

Summary:

  • After you’ve invested in an ETF, look out for the ‘trade note’ confirmation from your online broker which will contain your HIN number
  • Check your letterbox for a welcome letter from the fund registrar if it is your first time investing – BetaShares’ fund registrar is Link Market Services
  • Check your letterbox for a letter from the ASX called a CHESS statement
  • Register your details online with Link Market Services for ongoing communication about your investments via email

A step-by-step guide to stay in touch with your investments

After you’ve invested in an ETF

After your investment has been confirmed, you’ll receive a confirmation, called a trade note, from your online broker. This will be sent to the email address linked to the brokerage account you’ve used. Keep this trade note handy, as it contains important information that you’ll need later, including your Holder Identification Number, or HIN.

 

Two business days (industry terminology refers to this as ‘T+2’ – trade day plus two business days) after you’ve made the investment, the trade settles. When a trade settles, this means the ETF units you bought have now been transferred under your ‘HIN’.

 

HIN stands for ‘Holder Identification Number’. A HIN starts with the letter X and is followed by a series of numbers e.g. X0001234567. If you’re looking for your HIN via your brokerage account or trade note, it may be displayed without the X. e.g. 1234567.

 

Every time you set up an account with an online broker, you’ll be issued a HIN by the ASX. If you have multiple brokerage accounts, you’ll have multiple HINs.

Check your letterbox

In addition to the trade note, you’ll receive two letters in the mail – if this is the first time you’ve invested in the ETF, you’ll receive a welcome letter from the fund registrar (Link Market Services is BetaShares’ registrar) and a letter from the ASX called a CHESS statement.

CHESS stands for Clearing House Electronic Sub-register System.  It is the computer system the ASX uses to keep track of your investment information and facilitate settlement of trades. At this stage, CHESS letters are not sent electronically, so you’ll continue to be sent these via paper post.

One of the most important steps in investment after-care is ensuring you’ve registered your details with the unit registrar. A unit registrar (such as Link Market Services or Computershare) is appointed by every ETF manager in Australia. In the case of BetaShares, our unit registrar is Link Market Services.

Link Market Services supports you as an investor by providing ongoing communication about your investments, recording your bank details (so you get paid any distributions), filing fund tax info (so you don’t pay double tax), and lots of other activity.

Unlike CHESS statements, you can receive notifications from Link directly to your email address. To enable this, provide your email address under ‘Communication Preferences’ so you receive information about your investment promptly when its issued.

We’re happy to assist BetaShares investors who wish to receive electronic communications.

Managing your investments is simple once you’ve got yourself set up – which is fast and easy to do.

Photo of Ele de Vere

Written by

Ele de Vere

Marketing Director

Ele de Vere is responsible for the strategic direction and implementation of marketing, communications, and customer strategy initiatives. With a keen interest in markets and personal finance, Ele regularly contributes to articles, on podcast and speaks at events across Australia.

Read more from Ele.