Wholesale Investor Definition

What is a Wholesale Investor?

A Wholesale Investor is an investor that

  • invests a minimum amount into a financial product, or
  • is certified by their accountant as a ‘Wholesale Investor’, or
  • is defined as a ‘Professional Investor’ under the Corporations Act 2001.

Minimum Amount

If an investor invests AUD$500,000 or greater into a financial product, then for the purposes of that investment, they are deemed to be a Wholesale Investor.

Accountant's Certificate

An investor that has net assets of at least AUD$2.5 million or gross income for each of the last two financial years of at least AUD$250,000 can obtain an accountant's certificate certifying that they are a Wholesale Investor. In order for the certificate to be valid, it must be no older than 2 years from the date of issue.

Professional Investor

Section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001 defines Professional Investor. The definition includes:

  • Australian financial services licensees
  • Trustees of superannuation funds, approved deposit funds, pooled superannuation trusts and public sector superannuation schemes under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 with net assets of at least AUD$10.0 million, and
  • persons who control at least AUD$10.0 million.