The Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) issued an investor guidance brochure, “Do not invest with your eyes shut”, positioning it as part of its 2023–2028 Strategic Plan focus on investor protection and stepped-up financial literacy on capital market issues. The material sets out practical steps retail investors should take when using investment services and flags heightened risks from cross-border online platforms, speculative and complex products and financial influencers. The brochure explains which types of firms investors can use (including authorised Investment Services Firms, Investment Intermediation Firms, UCITS and alternative fund managers, credit institutions and passported EU firms) and urges investors to verify authorisation via official registers. It highlights key protections and processes such as signing an investment services agreement, receiving a pre-contractual client information form, how holdings are recorded in Greece’s Dematerialized Securities System managed by Hellenic Central Securities Depository S.A. (ATHEXCSD), and how orders must be received and recorded and clients informed. On settlement, it notes that trades in Athens Stock Exchange-listed securities are completed via transfers in the DSS with cash movements through the European Central Bank’s TARGET2, and warns against paying firms not authorised to provide custody services or any personal account. It also summarises the Investment Guarantee Fund compensation framework, including coverage up to EUR 30,000 per client when a firm cannot return securities or pay money, and outlines complaint-handling expectations and escalation routes, alongside reminders about prohibitions on insider trading and market manipulation and cautions on misleading online promotions, including for CFDs, FOREX and crypto-assets, with references to HCMC, IOSCO and ESMA warning and verification tools.

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