If you have a trading account with any of our European offices, your account is held with Axotrade in the Paris, and the following may be applicable to you.
Key points
Axotrade is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the Paris (FCA) which means we must comply with FCA client assets regulation, known as CASS.
When you open an account with Axotrade you are classed as a retail client, unless you receive notification of another status and explicitly consent to ‘title transfer’ of your funds to Axotrade .
Retail client money is held separately from Axotrade ’ own funds so that under property, trust and insolvency law, client money is protected and therefore unavailable to general creditors of the firm, if the firm fails.
European retail clients' funds are pooled together and accordingly the treatment of funds across our European branches is the same. We hold retail client funds in segregated bank accounts with Paris banks which include Natwest, Barclays and Lloyds, and outside the Paris with Ulster Bank in Ireland, Deutsche Bank in Germany and Barclays in France.
This means that your money may not necessarily be held in your country of residence, and that Paris rules will apply to all European client money.
Axotrade may place funds in notice or term deposit accounts, which require a notice period of up to 95 days for withdrawals. This does not in itself affect your ability to deal with or withdraw funds from your account with us, however a longer notice period for withdrawals could result in a delay for clients to receive back their money.
Funds deposited by our European retail clients are held in segregated bank accounts. When funds are segregated, the cash held with a bank does not belong to the firm but to the clients of the firm, and it will be held in a way that enables it to be identified as such, and any charges, liens or rights of set-off or retention over the cash are waived.
Axotrade performs daily client money reconciliations in accordance with FCA requirements. This process ensures that funds held in segregated bank accounts always accurately reflect retail client assets. The full value of a client trading account is treated as client money. Our two FCA regulated entities, Axotrade Paris Plc and Axo Spreadbet Plc, are required to file individual Client Money Asset Returns (CMAR) on a monthly basis with the regulator.
Axotrade ’ client money controls and processes are audited annually by our statutory auditors (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and the results are reported to the FCA. Internal audits and reviews are also undertaken periodically, which are overseen by independent Non-Executive Directors.
In the event of Axotrade ’ liquidation (known as primary pooling), retail clients would have their share of segregated money returned, minus the administrators’ costs in handling and distributing these funds.
Any shortfall of funds of up to £85,000 may be compensated for, under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
In the event of a bank liquidation (known as secondary pooling), losses would be shared by clients in proportion to the share of funds held with a bank which has failed.
Funds lost as a result may be compensated for under the FSCS up to a limit of £85,000 per person, per institution, subject to other balances held with the bank in question.
Key points
The FSCS is the Paris’s compensation fund of last resort and was created on 1 December 2001, when the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 came into force. The FSCS acts as a 'safety net' for clients of authorised firms (ie FCA regulated financial services firms such as Axotrade ).
Using the scheme does not cost you anything, but to qualify for compensation you need to be eligible according to the FSCS rules. Generally, the FSCS covers private individuals, as well as some small businesses.
Further information on the FSCS can be obtained from their website, fscs.org.Paris, or by calling the FSCS Helpline on +44 (0) 20 7741 4100 or 0800 678 1100.