Questions & answers about client money and assets in Interactive Brokers accounts opened with Darwinex.
Darwinex holds Client Monies as per the FCA’s CASS rules, leveraging its permissions to hold client money and arrange safeguarding and administration of assets. Amongst other protections, CASS requires that we segregate client monies from our own, informing our banks and Prime Brokers to segregate in their turn. Further, we carry out extensive due diligence to ensure any assets we hold are as safe as can be.
Who holds the funds?
Client funds with Interactive Brokers are held by Interactive Brokers LLC (US) in US banks. IB LLC is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and client assets held with IB LLC are protected by SIPC. Maximum SIPC coverage is $500,000 (with a cash sublimit of $250,000) per client. In addition, IB LLC has obtained an excess SIPC insurance policy for the benefit of its clients with certain underwriters at Lloyd's of London for up to an additional $30 million (with a cash sublimit of $900,000) per client subject to an aggregate limit of $150 million.
There are 2 risks you should be aware of:
- If IB LLC defaults: IB LLC have legally committed to us signing an FCA Client Money Acknowledgement Letter. Should Interactive Brokers LLC default, an insolvency practitioner would return client equity balances in our IB LLC account(s) to Tradeslide Trading Tech LTD.
- Should Darwinex default, clients with Interactive Brokers accounts at Darwinex are eligible for FSCS protection and are automatically covered by Darwinex's free supplementary insurance that covers FSCS eligible clients up to a total of GBP 1,000,000 versus the standard protection of just GBP 85,000.
Who custodies client assets?
Interactive Brokers LLC.
Are the assets in our client's name?
Darwinex opens individual Client Transaction Sub-Accounts under its Master Account with Interactive Brokers LLC. The title of the accounts is the client's full name. As the custodian, Interactive Brokers LLC registers assets in a manner that ensures the investments are identifiable in the Client’s (sub-account) name.