A. Cardinal Capital is a corporation formed on January 2, 1992, in the state of North
Carolina. Cardinal Capital became registered as an Investment Adviser Firm in January
1992. Cardinal Capital is principally owned by Glenn C. Andrews, who serves as
Cardinal Capital’s President and Chief Investment Officer.
B. As discussed below, Cardinal Capital provides its clients (currently: individuals, high net
worth individuals, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, insurance companies, and
corporations or other business entities) with investment advisory services and investment
related consulting services. Cardinal Capital does not hold itself out as providing
financial planning or related consulting services.
INVESTMENT ADVISORY SERVICES
Cardinal Capital provides discretionary and/or non-discretionary investment advisory
services on a fee-only basis. Cardinal Capital’s annual investment advisory fee is based
upon a percentage (%) of the market value of the assets placed under Cardinal Capital’s
management. Before engaging Cardinal Capital to provide investment advisory services,
clients are required to enter into an Investment Advisory Agreement with Cardinal
Capital setting forth the terms and conditions of the engagement (including termination),
describing the scope of the services to be provided, and the fee that is due from the client.
Cardinal Capital provides investment advisory services specific to the needs of each
client. Before providing investment advisory services, an investment adviser
representative will ascertain each client’s investment objectives. Thereafter, Cardinal
Capital will allocate and/or recommend that the client allocate investment assets
consistent with the designated investment objectives. Once allocated, Cardinal Capital
provides ongoing monitoring and review of account performance and asset allocation as
compared to client investment objectives, and may periodically rebalance and execute
transactions for the account based upon such reviews.
MISCELLANEOUS
Limitations of Financial Planning and Non-Investment Consulting/Implementation
Services. Although Cardinal Capital does not hold itself out as providing financial
planning, estate planning or accounting services, to the extent specifically requested by
the client, Cardinal Capital may provide limited consultation services to its investment
management clients on investment and non-investment related matters, such as estate
planning, tax planning, insurance, etc. Cardinal Capital shall not receive any separate or
additional fee for any such consultation services.
Neither Cardinal Capital nor its investment adviser representatives assist clients with the
implementation of any financial plan, unless they have agreed to do so in writing.
Cardinal Capital does not monitor a client’s financial plan, and it is the client’s
responsibility to revisit the financial plan with Cardinal Capital, if desired.
Cardinal Capital does not serve as a law firm, accounting firm, or insurance agency, and
no portion of its services should be construed as legal, accounting, or insurance
implementation services. Accordingly, Cardinal Capital does not prepare estate planning
documents, tax returns, or sell commissioned insurance products.
To the extent requested by a client, Cardinal Capital may recommend the services of
other professionals for certain non-investment implementation purposes (i.e., attorneys,
accountants, insurance agents, etc.). The client is under no obligation to engage those
services. The client retains absolute discretion over all such implementation decisions and
is free to accept or reject any recommendation from Cardinal Capital and/or its
representatives.
If the client engages any recommended unaffiliated professional on a separate and
individual basis, and a dispute arises thereafter relative to such engagement, the client
agrees to seek recourse exclusively from and against the engaged professional. At all
times, the engaged licensed professional(s) (i.e., attorney, accountant, insurance agent,
etc.), and not Cardinal Capital, shall be responsible for the quality and competency of the
services provided
Non-Discretionary Service Limitations. Clients that determine to engage Cardinal
Capital on a non-discretionary investment advisory basis must be willing to accept that
Cardinal Capital cannot effect any account transactions without obtaining prior consent to
such transactions from the client. Therefore, in the event that Cardinal Capital would like
to make a transaction for a client’s account (including in the event of an individual
holding or general market correction), and the client is unavailable, Cardinal Capital will
be unable to effect the account transactions (as it would for its discretionary clients)
without first obtaining the client’s consent.
Retirement Rollovers-Potential for Conflict of Interest: A client or prospective client
leaving an employer typically has four options regarding an existing retirement plan (and
may engage in a combination of these options): (i) leave the money in the former
employer’s plan, if permitted, (ii) roll over the assets to the new employer’s plan, if one is
available and rollovers are permitted, (iii) roll over to an Individual Retirement Account
(“IRA”), or (iv) cash out the account value (which could, depending upon the client’s
age, result in adverse tax consequences). If Cardinal Capital recommends that a client roll
over their retirement plan assets into an account to be managed by Cardinal Capital, such
a recommendation creates a conflict of interest if Cardinal Capital will earn new (or
increase its current) compensation as a result of the rollover. If Cardinal Capital provides
a recommendation as to whether a client should engage in a rollover or not, Cardinal
Capital is acting as a fiduciary within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act and/or the Internal Revenue Code, as applicable, which are laws
governing retirement accounts. No client is under any obligation to roll over retirement
plan assets to an account managed by Cardinal Capital, whether it is from an employer’s
plan or an existing IRA.
Use of Exchange Traded Funds: Many exchange traded funds are available directly to
the public. A prospective client can obtain many of the funds that may be used by
Cardinal Capital independent of engaging Cardinal Capital as an investment advisor.
However, if a prospective client determines to do so, he/she will not receive Cardinal
Capital’s initial and ongoing investment advisory services.
In addition to Cardinal
Capital’s investment advisory fee described below, and
transaction and/or custodial fees discussed below, clients will also incur, relative to all
exchange traded fund purchases, charges imposed at the fund level (e.g., management
fees and other fund expenses).
Portfolio Activity. Cardinal Capital has a fiduciary duty to provide services consistent
with the client’s best interest. As part of its investment advisory services, Cardinal
Capital will review client portfolios on an ongoing basis to determine if any changes are
necessary based upon various factors, including but not limited to investment
performance, financial circumstances, and changes in the client’s investment objectives.
Based upon these and other factors, there may be extended periods of time when Cardinal
Capital determines that changes to a client’s portfolio are neither necessary nor prudent.
Clients nonetheless remain subject to the fees described in Item 5 below during periods of
account inactivity.
Cash Positions. Cardinal Capital continues to treat cash as an asset class. As such,
unless determined to the contrary by Cardinal Capital, all cash positions (money markets,
etc.) shall continue to be included as part of assets under management for purposes of
calculating Cardinal Capital’s advisory fee. At any specific point in time, depending upon
perceived or anticipated market conditions/events (there being no guarantee that such
anticipated market conditions/events will occur), Cardinal Capital may maintain cash
positions for defensive purposes. In addition, while assets are maintained in cash, such
amounts could miss market advances. Depending upon current yields, at any point in
time, Cardinal Capital’s advisory fee could exceed the interest paid by the client’s money
market fund.
Cash Sweep Accounts. Certain account custodians can require that cash proceeds from
account transactions or new deposits, be swept to and/or initially maintained in a
specific custodian designated sweep account. The yield on the sweep account will
generally be lower than those available for other money market accounts. When this
occurs, to help mitigate the corresponding yield dispersion Cardinal Capital shall (usually
within 30 days thereafter) generally (with exceptions) purchase a higher yielding money
market fund (or other type security) available on the custodian’s platform, unless
Cardinal Capital reasonably anticipates that it will utilize the cash proceeds during the
subsequent 30-day period to purchase additional investments for the client’s account.
Exceptions and/or modifications can and will occur with respect to all or a portion of the
cash balances for various reasons, including, but not limited to the amount of dispersion
between the sweep account and a money market fund, the size of the cash balance, an
indication from the client of an imminent need for such cash, or the client has a
demonstrated history of writing checks from the account.
The above does not apply to the cash component maintained within a Cardinal Capital
actively managed investment strategy (the cash balances for which shall generally remain
in the custodian designated cash sweep account), an indication from the client of a need
for access to such cash, assets allocated to an unaffiliated investment manager and cash
balances maintained for fee billing purposes.
The client shall remain exclusively responsible for yield dispersion/cash balance
decisions and corresponding transactions for cash balances maintained in any Cardinal
Capital unmanaged accounts.
Client Obligations. In performing its services, Cardinal Capital shall not be required to
verify any information received from the client or from the client’s other professionals,
and is expressly authorized to rely thereon. Moreover, each client is advised that it
remains their responsibility to promptly notify Cardinal Capital if there is ever any
change in their financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing,
evaluating, or revising Cardinal Capital’s previous recommendations and/or services.
Cybersecurity Risk. The information technology systems and networks that Cardinal
Capital and its third-party service providers use to provide services to Cardinal Capital’s
clients employ various controls, which are designed to prevent cybersecurity incidents
stemming from intentional or unintentional actions that could cause significant
interruptions in Cardinal Capital’s operations and result in the unauthorized acquisition or
use of clients’ confidential or non-public personal information. Clients and Cardinal
Capital are nonetheless subject to the risk of cybersecurity incidents that could ultimately
cause them to incur losses, including for example: financial losses, cost and reputational
damage to respond to regulatory obligations, other costs associated with corrective
measures, and loss from damage or interruption to systems. Although Cardinal Capital
has established procedures to reduce the risk of cybersecurity incidents, there is no
guarantee that these efforts will always be successful, especially considering that
Cardinal Capital does not directly control the cybersecurity measures and policies
employed by third-party service providers. Clients could incur similar adverse
consequences resulting from cybersecurity incidents that more directly affect issuers of
securities in which those clients invest, broker-dealers, qualified custodians,
governmental and other regulatory authorities, exchange and other financial market
operators, or other financial institutions.
Disclosure Statement. A copy of Cardinal Capital’s written Brochure as set forth on
Part 2 of Form ADV and a Client Relationship Summary as set forth on Form CRS shall
be provided to each client prior to, or contemporaneously with, the execution of the
Investment Advisory Agreement.
C. Cardinal Capital provides investment advisory services tailored to the specific needs of
each client. Before providing investment management services, an investment adviser
representative will ascertain each client’s investment objectives. Thereafter, Cardinal
Capital will allocate and/or recommend that the client allocate investment assets
consistent with the designated investment objectives. The client may, at any time, impose
reasonable restrictions, in writing, on Cardinal Capital’s services.
D. Cardinal Capital does not offer a wrap-fee program for its investment advisory services
E. As of March 22, 2024, Cardinal Capital had $785,131,336 in assets under management
on a discretionary basis and $20,011,095 in assets under management on a non-
discretionary basis.