Frequently Asked Questions have been developed to address commonly asked questions and provide a quick reference guide.

If you have a question that is not covered in the FAQs or seek further clarity of an item that is, please contact BlackRock directly on 1300 366 100.


Contacting BlackRock Investment Management

By telephone or facsimile: Faxed requests are acceptable.

BlackRock Account Services Centre
Telephone: 1300 366 101
Facsimile: 1300 366 107

BlackRock Australia Client Services Centre
Email: clientservices.aus@blackrock.com
Telephone: 1300 366 100
Facsimile: 1300 366 107

BlackRock Australia Adviser Services Centre
Email: adviserservices.aus@blackrock.com
Telephone: 1300 366 101
Facsimile: 1300 366 107

BlackRock Australia Distribution Services Centre – for Institutional Clients and Consultants
Email: distributionservices.aus@blackrock.com
Telephone: 1300 658 766
Facsimile: 61 3 9657 3411


By letter: If you do not have a PIN, you can submit your question/request in writing.

Account Services Centre
GPO Box 225
Melbourne 3001

OR

Account Services Centre
Level 18,
120 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000

Personal Identification Number (PIN) and password

A PIN is a personal identification number and may only be used by the account holder to authorise transactions over the telephone. These transactions include redemptions and switches, providing the switch is within the same PDS. Otherwise you will need to complete a new application form. A password simply allows you to view your details on our website.

To obtain a PIN, you need to forward a written request. On receipt, a PIN will be forwarded to your registered address.

To obtain a password, you need to forward a written request. When we receive your request, a password will be forwarded to your registered address.

Using your password, you can log into the secure Account Access site to view the details of your BlackRock account.

Investing in Managed Funds

A. Yes. You can supplement your investment with a savings plan. You must complete the form, titled Regular Contribution Plan Application Form in the back of the relevant Product Disclosure Document, and include it with your application. Please note that the Regular Contribution Plan is only available for the Investment Funds Products.

Savings plan payments are directly debited from your nominated bank account, on a fortnightly or monthly basis. The minimum contribution is $50 per fortnight or $100 per month.

You can download this form from our website at www.blackrockinvestments.com.au

A. Yes. If you are invested in a fund or funds that allow for direct debit payments, you can make one-off payments this way, provided you have completed a direct debit authority form.

You can also make lump-sum deposits by sending us a cheque with a covering letter giving instructions for the investment.

Please make cheque payable to:-
"BlackRock Investment Management (Australia) Limited - (your name)"

Ensure that you quote your Account number in the covering letter and confirm that it is an additional investment into your account. If you hold units in more than one fund, please specify to which fund(s) the deposit is to be credited.

No.

Redeeming your investment

A. If you submit your bank details at the time of making your request (either in writing or by telephone), cleared funds will generally be deposited into your account within 4-5 days after we receive your request. Alternatively, if you have requested payment by cheque, the cheque is generally mailed within 3 days.

A. You can request to redeem your investment(s) in one of three ways.

By telephone: Call our Account Services Centre on 1300 366 101. You must quote your Account number and Personal Identification Number (PIN).

By letter: If you do not have a PIN, you must submit your request in writing. It must be signed by all holders and include your Account number. Company redemptions should be signed by at least two signatories (except for sole company directors and company secretaries, in which only one signature is required).

Account Services Centre
GPO Box 225
Melbourne 3001

OR

Account Services Centre
Level 18,
120 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000

By facsimile: Faxed requests are acceptable. Fax your signed letter to 1300 366 107.

A. Yes. You may redeem part of your investment(s) at any time. To keep your investment open, you must leave a minimum amount in your investment that is no less than the minimum application amount.

A. The process for redeeming part of your funds is the same as for fully redeeming your investment.

By telephone: Call our Account Services Centre on 1300 366 101. You must quote your Account number and Personal Identification Number (PIN).

Via the Internet: Note that you cannot redeem investments via the Internet.

By letter: If you do not have a PIN, you must submit your request in writing. It must be signed by all holders and include your Account number. Company redemptions should be signed by at least two signatories.

Account Services Centre
GPO Box 225
Melbourne 3001

OR

Account Services Centre
Level 18,
120 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000

By facsimile: Faxed requests are acceptable. Fax your signed letter to 1300 366 107.

A. If you submit your bank details at the time of making your request (either in writing or by telephone), cleared funds will generally be deposited into your account within 4-5 days after we receive your request. Alternatively, if you have requested payment by cheque, the cheque is generally mailed within 3 days.

A. Your redemption will generally be processed at the unit redemption price next calculated as at close of business on the day we receive your request provided your request is received prior to 2:00pm Australian Eastern Time (Melbourne / Sydney time). Requests received after this time will be treated as received the following business day.

Switching from one fund to another

* Please note that switches are limited to Funds available through the Investment Funds product range and the Funds that are included within the Professional Investor Funds product range. If switching to a fund in a different PDS you must complete a new application form.

A. You can organise to switch your investment from one fund to another by calling our Account Services Centre on 1300 366 101. You must quote your Account number and PIN. Please note that switches are limited to the 'Investment Funds' and 'Professional Investor Funds' products.

Alternatively, you may send us a written request, by either mail or fax, signed by all investment holders. Send the letter to:

Account Services Centre
GPO Box 225
Melbourne 3001

OR

Account Services Centre
Level 18,
120 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000

Fax your signed letter to 1300 366 107.
*An additional application form is not needed to be completed when switching between Funds in the same disclosure document.

A. We do not limit the number of switches you can make. However, you should be aware that there might be taxation implications.

Furthermore, units are switched at forward prices (i.e. the unit price ascertained at the close of business on the date the switch request was received), so you will not know the exact pricing at the time of your request.

A. There are no switching fees for switching between funds. However, transaction costs may apply. Transaction costs also known as the buy-sell spread reflect the transaction costs associated with buying and the assets of a fund when investors invest or withdraw from a fund. Transaction costs are included in the unit application and unit redemption price and are not an additional cost to you.

A. A taxation liability may be incurred when you switch because a capital gain may have been realised by the sale of the units when the switch occurs.

Distributions

A. When the fund managers sell shares in a portfolio, profits from the sale of those shares (after CPI adjustment) must be distributed to unit holders, otherwise the fund has to pay tax.

A. Traditionally, share market fund income distributions are bigger in June and December than the September and March distributions. This is because most companies pay their dividends in the December and June quarters. Any realised Capital Gains must be distributed to unit holders by the end of the financial year in which they were received. However, if shares in a portfolio are sold (which can occur in any quarter), it may significantly increase the size of an income distribution, as this necessitates that capital gains be distributed.

A. Franking credits represent the tax paid on franked dividends by companies in which the portfolio owns shares. Since tax has already been paid on the dividends received by the fund, unit holders may claim a credit for this amount in their tax return. We recommend you speak to your tax adviser if you have further questions about tax and franking credits.

A. You can request to receive distribution payments by cheque (not an option for the Managed Income Fund) or have payments automatically deposited into a nominated bank account. This can be arranged in a number of ways:
Call the Account Services Centre on 1300 366 101 and quote your Account number & PIN.

Send us a signed fax on 1300 366 107. Be sure to include your Account number and bank account or mailing details.

Make your request via letter and post it to GPO Box 225 Melbourne 3001 or Level 18, 120 Collins Street Melbourne 3000. Include your Account number and bank account or mailing details.

A. Yes. You can request this at the time you apply to invest in a fund or at any other time by contacting us.

Using the Website

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To make best use of the interactive tools within this site, we recommend a monitor resolution of 1024x768 pixels or greater, and a colour depth of 256 or greater.

This site uses JavaScript and cookies. If you have disabled either of these functions within your browser, certain interactive features of this site may not display properly. Please enable them should you wish to use all functionality of the site.

Note that some of the content within this site makes use of Adobe Flash technology and the Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF).

If you have not already installed these standard components, you can download and install them using the links below. You will be taken to the software developers homepage to download the software.

Software Download links:

If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please go to the contact us page.

As a service to our visitors, we make a number of documents and files available on the Account Access website 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).

To download a .pdf file from the Account Access web site, simply click on the document title.

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.

If you have Adobe's Acrobat® Reader™ software installed on your computer, the .pdf file should open automatically.

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 software and some financial software allows data to be imported from CSV files.

To download a data (CSV) file containing the data listed on an Account Access web site page, simply click "Download data file" in the page. Your web browser prompts you for permission to download the file and allows 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.

To print information on the Account Access web site, choose the "Format for print" on the page you are in. A printable version of the data on the page appears. Click the "Print" button to proceed.

Site Security

Our Web Servers use a 128-bit Server ID (also known as a "digital certificate") issued by Entrust (www.entrust.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 our Account Access web site all communications are secured using "best of breed" cryptography.

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.

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

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.

We use cookies as part of our security system. Access to the Account Access web site is restricted to registered members. When you complete the login process, a cookie is set confirming that you are authorised to access the Account Access web site.

If you disable cookies, you will not be able to access pages on the Account Access web site.