020 7898 0500
Smart Currency Business segregates your funds in ring-fenced accounts to ensure their safety.
Last Updated: 1 December 2025
Overview: Are my funds safe with Smart Currency Business?
Yes. Your funds are always held in segregated client accounts that ring-fenced with Tier 1 banks (e.g. Barclays). This means your money is always held entirely separately from our business funds.
You retain full control of your funds thanks to our online platform, which serves as a digital wallet. Smart Currency Business can and will only move money on your direct instructions.
If anything were to happen to Smart Currency Business, your funds are protected and returned to you, not used to pay our creditors.
Table of contents
- What is a segregated client account?
- Controlling your capital
- Compliance with FCA requirements
- Understanding margin calls
- FAQs
What is a segregated client account?
One of the most common questions we receive from new corporate clients is: “How is the segregation handled, and does my money get mixed with yours?”.
Our funds and client funds are strictly structured to ensure your money remains completely separate from our accounts. The table below shows how we segregate the two types of account.
| Feature | Business Account (Firm Funds) | Segregated Account (Client Funds) |
| Purpose | Used to pay Smart Currency staff, office costs, and other bills. | Used only to hold client money for transfers. |
| Ownership | Smart Currency Business | The Client (You) |
| Access | We use this for daily operations. | We cannot use these funds for our own debts or costs5. |
| Safety | Subject to business risk. | Ring-fenced and protected by FCA safeguarding regulations. |
In summary, your money never mixes with our operating account. It sits in a secure vault until you explicitly tell us where to send it.
Controlling your capital
A major concern for Finance Directors is the fear of losing access to capital once it leaves their primary bank account. Some people might justify worry that they can’t control those funds once they are transferred across.
This is a misconception. When you transfer funds to Smart Currency Business, think of it as moving them to a secure repository housed within our platform. Here’s how the process works works.
- Allocation: As soon as your funds arrive in the segregated account, they are digitally allocated to your specific client profile.
- Visibility: You can log in to the Smart Online Platform 24/7 and see your balance sitting there, just like a bank account.
- Instruction: The funds remain dormant until you authorize a payment. We cannot move, trade, or send your money without your specific instruction to pay a beneficiary.
Register with Smart Currency Business today and benefit from our robust client safeguarding protocols.
Compliance with FCA requirements
Smart Currency Business is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a Payment Institution. This requires us to adhere to “Safeguarding” regulations, which differ from the FSCS protection you might know from high-street banks.
- Banks (FSCS): Protects up to £85,000 per person if the bank fails.
- Payment Institutions (Safeguarding): Protects 100% of your funds (with no upper limit) by keeping them separate from the company’s own assets. If the broker fails, the third party (e.g., the liquidator) must return the safeguarded funds to the clients, not the creditors.
Understanding margin calls
If you book a Forward Contract (locking in a rate for the future), businesses need to understand the risk of a margin call that might be prompted by market movements. So, what happens if the exchange rate moves against you?
If the market rate drops significantly (typically by between 5% to 10%) against the rate you locked in, a gap opens up between the contract value and the current market value.
To keep the contract secure, we may ask for a “Margin Call” (a top-up deposit).
Please keep in mind this is not a fee. It is merely held on file to secure the position and is either returned to you when the market corrects, or used to pay the final balance of the contract.
Read our full explainer on margin calls and mark to market risk.
Smart Currency Business is committed to keeping all its clients -informed of market movements so a margin call never comes as a surprise. We produce a regular diet of market news, insight pieces and longer form white papers to showcase the latest trends in treasury management. Have a look at our latest Quarterly Forecast to arm yourself with the most recent information.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Do I need a Director’s ID to open a segregated account?
A: Generally, no. For UK-based businesses, we verify directors electronically via Companies House data. We only require physical ID if electronic verification fails. You simply need authorization from the director to book trades on the company’s behalf.
Q: Can I pay my suppliers directly from this account?
A: Yes. Once funds are in your segregated account (“wallet”), you can instruct us to pay any third-party beneficiary (supplier) worldwide. You do not need to send the money back to your own bank first.
Q: Is there a minimum balance required?
A: No. Whether you are transferring £5,000 or £5 million, the safeguarding protections apply equally to all client funds held in our segregated accounts.
