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Adviser Services Centre
 1300 366 101

02 December 2008
Adviser Common Questions

FAQ’s about BlackRock and using this Site


Click on a topic title below to jump directly to the relevant section. Alternatively, use the scroll-bar to browse all help topics.


Contacting BlackRock Investment Management -:- Adviser Administration -:- Using the Website



Contacting BlackRock Investment Management



Adviser Administration



Using the Website






Contacting BlackRock Investment Management



Q. How can I communicate with you?
By Telephone: Call our Adviser Service Centre on 1300 366 101.

By letter:

GPO Box 225

Melbourne 3001
OR
Level 18,

120 Collins Street

Melbourne 3000

By facsimile: Fax your correspondence to 1300 366 107

By email: You can email general queries to adviserservices.aus@blackrock.com



Q. What is Adviser Insight?
A. Adviser Insight is a Web-based service that gives you access to your clients' investment details as well as the latest product, performance, and market information.



Q. How can I view my clients’ details?
To access the secure part of the site, you will need your Adviser Number and a password.

Access to Adviser Insight also allows you to:

  • Generate Transaction Statements for your clients.
However, please note that you cannot generate Distribution Statements, CGT Statements and Tax Statements. You will need to contact Adviser Services.



Q. Can I alter my clients’ account details?
In all cases, we require your clients’ authority to alter any existing arrangements. We can accept faxed instructions.

If you are unsure of your Adviser Number or you need a password, please contact our Adviser Service Centre on 1300 366 101.




Adviser Administration



Q. How do I set myself up as an adviser with BlackRock Investment Management?
A. To register as an adviser, you must provide us with a copy of your Authorised Representative Authority together with your full contact details.

You will then be allocated an Adviser Number and provided with the details of your Business Development Manager.



Q. What if my details are already listed on the ASIC AFSL Register, do I still need to provide you with a copy of my Authorised Representative Authority?
A. We are able to access this Register to check your Authority. However, we will still need all of your contact details. These must be provided by you.



Q. I have just received my own Australian Financial Services Licence and no longer wish to be associated with my current dealer group – how do I organise for commission to be paid directly to myself?
A. To ensure that commission is paid to your new dealer group, we require the following documentation:

  • A copy of your Australian Financial Services Licence
  • A copy of your Authorised Representative Authority under the Australian Financial Services Licence, along with your contact details – please include your email address.
  • A signed Recipient Created Tax Invoice Agreement (which can be obtained on request from BlackRock Adviser Service Centre – Tel: 1300 366 101)
  • We will also need payment instructions (e.g. direct credit to a bank account or via cheque) plus details of where statements and other documentation should be sent.

Within 48 hours of receipt of your request you will be emailed from BlackRock Adviser Services Centre with details of your Adviser Number.



Q. What about clients that I had with my previous dealer group – what is required from BlackRock to transfer them across to my new dealer group?
A. Before any clients can be transferred to your new dealer group, we require:

A signed authority from each client allowing BlackRock to transfer his or her accounts to the new adviser.

OR

A signed bulk transfer authority from the previous dealer group allowing the transfer of all clients to the new dealer group/adviser. Two authorised signatories from the previous dealer group must sign this.

We will also require a copy of the new Authorised Representative Authority (if it has not yet been supplied) in order to allocate an Adviser Number for these clients.



Q. Frequency of Commission payments.
A. During the first week of every month, BlackRock arranges payment of commissions relating the previous month.

Generally, these payments are arranged with dealer groups. Your dealer group (where appropriate) will then organise for commission payments to be forwarded to you.

For ease of payment and administration, BlackRock uses direct credit as the preferred method of payment of commissions.





Using the Website



Optimal Viewing Experience

This site is best viewed with Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer version 4.0 or above.

Earlier browser versions may encounter difficulties displaying or using some of the more advanced services offered on this site, or accessing the secure sections of the site.

If you are unsure which version you are using:

  • Click on the Help pull-down menu within the main Web browser window.
  • Select About Internet Explorer or About Communicator (depending on Web browser you are using).
  • A dialog box will appear containing version details.

To download the latest version of your Web browser (free of charge), click on the following icon


 



Downloading Files from this Site

As a service to our visitors, we make a number of documents and files available for offline viewing or use.

  • Product Disclosure Statements (PDS), investment reports and marketing materials are provided in Adobe’s Portable Document Format (.pdf).
  • Financial and investment data, such as historical unit pricing, is provided in “comma delimited” format (.csv).



Downloading and viewing .pdf files

We make a number of official documents, such as Product Disclosure Statements (PDS), available in .pdf format on our Web site. If a .pdf file is available for download, a small icon will indicate its availability.

Before you can view the contents of a .pdf file, you must download and install a copy of Adobe’s Acrobat® Reader™ software. This is provided free of charge by Adobe. You can download a copy here.

To download the .pdf file, simply click on the document title.

If you have Adobe’s Acrobat® Reader™ software installed on your computer, your Web browser will automatically launch the software and display the contents of the .pdf file within the Web browser window.

A compact toolbar is displayed at the top of the browser window providing access to key document functions, such as saving and printing.

To save a permanent copy of the document on your hard disk, click on the Save button on the Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ toolbar (it features a floppy disk-style icon). You will be prompted to specify a name for the document as well as the folder that you wish to save it in.

If you don’t have a copy of Adobe’s Acrobat® Reader™ software installed on your computer, or if for some other reason your Web browser cannot automatically display the document, it will prompt you instead for permission to download the file to your hard disk. In this case, you will be prompted to specify the folder in which you wish to store the file.




Downloading and viewing Data (CSV) files

A data or CSV file is essentially a plain text file containing raw spreadsheet data, where each comma or carriage return indicates the separating points for columns and rows.

Most spreadsheet and some financial software allow data to be imported from CSV files.

To download the data (CSV) file, simply click on the title download data file. Your Web browser should automatically prompt you for permission to download the file and allow you to specify the folder in which you wish to store the file.

Refer to your software’s manual or online help menu for instructions on how to import or view the contents of a CSV file.




How to Print from this Site

There are two options for printing a “hard copy” of information found on this Web site.

Option 1. – Web browser “Print” button

You can click on the “Print” button on your Web browser toolbar at any time to print a copy of the currently displayed Web page.


Option 2. – Web site Print icon

Due to the nature of the text formatting and images used within our Web site, some pages may not print properly if you simply click on your Web browser’s Print toolbar button.

We have included special Print icons on key information pages (such as pages displaying your Transaction history or Account information).

When you click format for print, a special, “printer-friendly” version of the page will be displayed ready for you to proceed with clicking the print button on your web browser.




Performing a Search

To perform a simple search, type one or more search words in the search textbox, and then click on the Submit button.

The search results will contain a hyperlinked list of matching documents. To view a matched document, click on its title.

For advanced searches, configure one or more of the search options:

With Title: Match only those documents with the specified word(s) in its title.

Area: Restrict your searches to a specific area of the Web site.




Search Tips

Our search software will automatically search for both your search word and words with the same prefix. For example, if you perform a search using invest as your search word, our system will also find matches for invests, investing and investment.

To search for a specific phrase, place your search words in quotation marks (e.g. “tax benefit”).

To search for documents containing two or more words but not as a phrase, separate them with AND (e.g. tax AND benefit will locate documents containing both of those words anywhere in the document)

To search for documents containing any of your search words, separate them with OR (e.g. commission OR fee).

To exclude words from the search process, use NOT (e.g. taxation NOT rollover will find documents that contain the word taxation but that do not contain the word rollover).

To find documents with words on the same page, use <NEAR> (e.g. foreign <NEAR> currency will match documents in which those two words appear on the same page of text).

To match documents containing similar words, use <THESAURUS> (e.g. <THESAURUS> profit will match documents containing words such as gain, dividend, earnings, returns and revenue, in addition to those containing profit).




Site Security


Encryption
Our Web Servers use a 128-bit Server ID (also known as a “digital certificate”) issued by Verisign (www.verisign.com).

The Server ID offers peace of mind to our members, as it provides authoritative proof that the Web site is owned and operated by BlackRock.

It also works in tandem with our encryption software to ensure that when you log into a secure area of our Web site (which you must do before you can access account information, transaction histories etc.) all communications are secured using “best of breed” cryptography.



Firewalls
We share your concern for privacy and confidentiality. That is why our internal databases and systems are protected by layers of firewalls. Our firewalls are upgraded regularly and we maintain strict control over firewall rules to ensure we can counter current threats.

If someone attempts to compromise or access our member database, for example, they must not only breach our first layer (Internet facing) firewall, they must then breach at least 2 internal firewalls each with its own rule set.

The degree of security offered by our internal and external firewalls means that the risk of unauthorised access to our database is minimised.




Cookies


What are Cookies?
A “cookie” is a small text file sent by a Web site to your computer’s hard disk to store limited, internal information so that it can be retrieved by the Web site later.

This allows the Web site to give the appearance of “remembering” things about you.

For example, a cookie might be used to record your name, so that the Web site can greet you personally when you next return. Similarly, when you buy goods online, the vendor’s Web site may use cookies to temporarily store details of items that you have selected to buy so that they can be recalled when you complete the purchase.

We use cookies on our site so that we can offer a more personalised service.

As you move through the site and view the different content areas available, the site notes which pages you view. These statistics help us in our ongoing efforts to make this site more interesting and user-friendly.

We also use cookies as part of our security system. Certain areas and tools on our site are restricted to registered members. When you complete the login process, a cookie is set confirming that you are authorised to access secure areas. This allows you to move freely within the secured area of the Web site without being prompted to login each time you attempt to view a new Web page.

If you disable cookies, you will not be able to access the secure areas.



Enabling Cookies
To access the secure areas of our Web site, your Web browser must be configured to accept cookies. Most Web browsers are configured to accept cookies by default.

If you experience difficulties using the secure areas of our Web site, it may be that your Web browser’s default configuration has been changed to block or reject cookies.

To reconfigure your Web browser to accept cookies, follow these steps:


Internet Explorer v.4

  • Click on the View pull-down menu.
  • Select Options. This displays the Internet Options dialog box.
  • Click on the Advanced tab.
  • Use the scroll-bar to scroll through the various settings until you reach the Cookies settings (which are in the group of Security settings).
  • Toggle the “Always accept cookies” option by clicking on it once (the small circle next to it should be filled in).
  • Click the OK button to dismiss the Internet Options dialog box.

Internet Explorer v.5

  • Click on the Tools pull-down menu.
  • Select Internet Options. This displays the Internet Options dialog box.
  • Click on the Security tab.
  • Click on the Custom Level button. This displays the Security Settings dialog box.
  • Use the scroll-bar to scroll through the various settings until you reach the Cookies settings.
  • Toggle the “Enable” option setting by clicking on the Enable setting once. Do this for each of the cookies settings.
  • Click the OK button.
  • A dialog box may appear asking: “Are you sure you want to change the security settings for this zone?” Click on the Yes button.
  • Click on the OK button to dismiss the Internet Options dialog box.

Netscape Communicator v.4 & Netscape v. 6

  • Click on the Edit pull-down menu.
  • Select the Preferences option. This displays a list of categories.
  • Click on the Advanced category. The configurable options are displayed to the right.
  • Select the “Accept all cookies” option by clicking on it once.
  • Click on the OK button to close the Preference dialog box.



Caching


What is Caching?
As you explore the Web, your Web browser automatically makes copies of recently visited Web pages and stores them in a folder on your hard disk, which is known as a “cache”.

It does this to enhance the speed at which Web pages are displayed.

If you instruct your Web browser to connect to a Web page that you visited recently, it will check to see if it has a copy saved in the cache. If it does, it will load the cached copy, rather than download the Web page again, which can save considerable download time.

While caching speeds up Web access, it has a downside.

If the Web page that you are seeking to view is updated regularly (such as share prices, news and other time-sensitive information), the copy that your Web browser loads from the cache may not contain the most recent information.

To ensure that you are viewing the latest version of a Web page, it is recommended that you clear or “flush” the Web browser’s cache.



How do I clear the Cache?
To clear the Web browser’s cache, follow these steps:


Internet Explorer v.4

  • Click on the View pull-down menu.
  • Select Internet Options. This displays the Internet Options dialog box.
  • Click on the General tab.
  • Click on the Delete Files button.
  • It may take a minute or so for all the files to be deleted. Once this is done, click the OK button.

Internet Explorer v.5

  • Click on the Tools pull-down menu.
  • Select Internet Options. This displays the Internet Options dialog box.
  • Click on the General tab.
  • Click on the Delete Files button.
  • It may take a minute or so for all the files to be deleted. Once this is done, click the OK button.

Netscape Communicator v.4 & Netscape v. 6

  • Click on the Edit pull-down menu.
  • Select the Preferences option. This displays a list of categories.
  • Click on the Advanced category. The configurable options are displayed to the right.
  • Select the “Cache” option by clicking on it once.
  • Click on the Clear Memory Cache button.
  • It may take a minute or so for all the files to be deleted. Click on the OK button to close the Preference dialog box.
BlackRock Investment Management (Australia) Limited ABN 13 006 165 975 AFS Licence Number 230523 RSE License No L0000116
The Merrill Lynch name and logo are trade marks of, and used under license from, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.