Facts about DSW

Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz e.V. (DSW) is Germany’s oldest and largest association of private investors. The head office is located in Düsseldorf. Additionally, DSW has 8 regional offices which are run by honorary representatives.

Founded in 1947, DSW now has more than 25,000 members. Furthermore, DSW is the umbrella organisation of 7,000 investment clubs in Germany (of which more than 700 are paying members of DSW) with approximately Euro 500 Mio invested capital.

DSW offers the following services:

- Seminars on specific stocks and round-table discussions in co-operation with banks

- Advisory services for shareholders  concerning US-Class-Actions

- Service for the refund of foreign withholding tax on dividends

- Lectures and seminars for Investment Clubs

- Manual „How to establish an Investment Club?“

- International Investors Fair (IAM) every 2 years with up to 12,000 participants

- International Conferences e.g. on Corporate Governance

- Internet: www.dsw-info.de / www.nebenwerte.de / www.hauptversammlung.de /  www.schutzvereinigung.com / www.schutzvereinigung.info / www.investmentclub.de  / www.quellensteuer.info

Offers to Members:

- We represent our members at approximately 850 annual general meetings per year.

- We analyse and appraise activities and performance of board members and oppose their proposals whenever necessary.

- We give free initial legal advice to our members outside the court especially in the field of banking and securities law.

- We assist investors in applying for refunding of foreign withholding tax on dividends.

- We support German shareholders in filing claims for US-class-action law suits.

- Whenever fundamental matters are concerned, we file law suits such as the Bond case where DSW managed to reimburse Euro 100 Mio. Since 1965, we have helped our members recover in excess of Euro in more than 45 legal cases on take-over bids. A large number of such lawsuits are still pending.

- Being the umbrella organisation of about 7,000 investment clubs in Germany we aid in the founding of these clubs and assist them continously.

Other Activites:

- Chancellor's expert committees, government commissions, courts and other officials ask for our advice on corporate governance, stocks, taxes, and corporate law.

- DSW representatives also sit on the boards of the Düsseldorf, Bremen, Berlin, Hannover and Stuttgart stock exchanges.

- DSW is member of the take-over commission at the BaFin, the Cromme-Commission, the European Corporate Governance Forum, the German Auditiong Agency on Accounting (DPR), the Issuer Market Advisory Committee and the stock exchange expert commission in Frankfurt, which advises the German government on capital market questions.

- In order to offer foreign shareholders the possibility to vote at German annual general meetings we co-operate with well-known institutions in the US and Great Britain.

- DSW is member of the European Corporate Governance Service (ECGS), which provides corporate governance research and proxy voting advice on the leading 300 European stocks. ECGS is an alliance of leading corporate governance research and advisory groups in Europe.

- We regularly participate in international conferences on important issues like „Corporate Governance“ in Europe and the US.

- DSW is a member of „Euroshareholders“ in Brussels, a confederation of European shareholder associations to represent the interests of individual investors at an EU-level.