Client Complaints and UK EMIR Dispute Procedure

Effective from 01 November 2026

  1. Our commitment to you

Smart Currency Options Limited (“SCOL”, “we”, “us” or “our”) aims to provide its clients with a high standard of service.

We recognise that things can sometimes go wrong. When they do, we want you to tell us so that we can investigate the matter, explain what happened and, where appropriate, put things right.

Making a complaint is free of charge. You do not need to use the word “complaint”, complete a special form or make your complaint in legal or technical language.

We will not treat you differently or disadvantage you because you have made a complaint.

  1. About SCOL

Smart Currency Options Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

FCA Firm Reference Number: 656427
Registered company number: 09034947
Registered address:
9th Floor
1 Lyric Square
Hammersmith
London
W6 0NB
United Kingdom

The FCA Register currently records SCOL as authorised and lists this address and Firm Reference Number. FCA Register

  1. Who may make a complaint?

This procedure is available to:

  • existing clients;
  • former clients;
  • potential clients; and
  • an authorised person acting on behalf of a client or potential client.

It applies regardless of whether you have been categorised as a retail client, professional client or eligible counterparty.

However, your client classification may affect whether the Financial Ombudsman Service can consider your complaint. This is explained in section 9.

  1. What can you complain about?

You may complain about any aspect of the investment or ancillary services that SCOL has provided, offered or failed to provide.

This may include concerns about:

  • information or communications provided to you;
  • the explanation of an FX option or hedging arrangement;
  • product risks, benefits or potential outcomes;
  • client categorisation;
  • an appropriateness or suitability assessment, where applicable;
  • pricing, costs, charges or commission;
  • conflicts of interest;
  • the execution, booking or confirmation of a transaction;
  • the handling of instructions;
  • contract terms, settlement, exercise, expiry or termination;
  • margin or collateral;
  • the valuation of a transaction;
  • transaction or UK EMIR reporting;
  • the handling of your account or personal information;
  • the conduct of an employee or representative of SCOL;
  • delays, errors or poor service; or
  • the way an earlier concern or dispute was handled.

A MiFID complaint generally includes a recorded oral or written expression of dissatisfaction about an investment or ancillary service which alleges actual or potential financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience. FCA Handbook

  1. How to make a complaint

You can make a complaint in any of the following ways.

Email:
[email protected]
Please include “Complaint – Smart Currency Options Limited” in the subject line.

Telephone:
+44 (0)20 7898 0541

Post:
The Compliance Officer
Smart Currency Options Limited
9th Floor
1 Lyric Square
Hammersmith
London
W6 0NB
United Kingdom

You may also raise your complaint with your usual SCOL contact or account manager. They will refer it to the Compliance Team.

You do not have to raise your concern with your account manager before contacting Compliance directly.

Information that will help us to investigate and respond to your complaint.

Please provide, where available:

  • your name and company name;
  • your account or client reference;
  • your preferred contact details;
  • a description of what happened;
  • relevant dates;
  • relevant trade, transaction or confirmation references;
  • copies of relevant emails, documents or communications;
  • details of any financial loss or other impact; and
  • what you would like SCOL to do to resolve the matter.

We will still record and consider your complaint if some of this information is unavailable.

You may appoint someone to act for you. We may ask for written authority before disclosing confidential information to that person. We may also ask for proof of your identity and/ or the identity of any person that you appoint to act for you.

  1. What happens after you complain?

6.1 Acknowledgement

We will record your complaint and acknowledge it promptly, normally within three business days.

Our acknowledgement will usually:

  • confirm that we have received the complaint;
  • provide a complaint reference;
  • identify the person or team dealing with it;
  • explain the next steps; and
  • confirm the applicable response timeframe.

6.2 Investigation

Your complaint will be investigated competently, diligently and impartially.

Where reasonably possible, it will be investigated by someone who was not directly responsible for the matter complained about.

The investigator may:

  • review relevant telephone recordings, emails and correspondence;
  • review transaction records, confirmations, valuations and market data;
  • review your client agreement and other documents provided to you;
  • speak to the employees involved;
  • ask you for further information;
  • consider applicable FCA rules, UK EMIR requirements and relevant guidance;
  • consider whether similar clients or transactions may be affected; and
  • determine whether remedial action or financial redress is appropriate.

6.3 Keeping you informed

We will keep you reasonably informed about the progress of our investigation.

Where we need additional information, we will explain what we require and why it is relevant.

A delay in receiving information may affect how quickly we can complete our investigation, but we will not unreasonably delay or reject a complaint solely because particular information is unavailable.

6.4 Complaints resolved quickly

Where we resolve your complaint by the close of the third business day after receiving it, we may send you a summary resolution communication.

This will:

  • confirm that the complaint has been resolved;
  • explain the resolution;
  • tell you that we consider the complaint closed; and
  • explain any further rights you may have, including possible referral to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

6.5 Final response

SCOL will seek to issue its final response as soon as reasonably possible.

As a matter of policy, SCOL applies a maximum period of eight weeks to complaints covered by this procedure, including complaints from clients who may not themselves be eligible to use the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Our final response will:

  • summarise your complaint;
  • explain the investigation undertaken;
  • state whether your complaint is upheld, partly upheld or not upheld;
  • give clear reasons for our decision;
  • explain any corrective or remedial action;
  • explain any financial redress offered and how it was calculated;
  • identify any remaining action and applicable timescale; and
  • explain your further options, including Financial Ombudsman Service rights where applicable.

6.6 Where we cannot complete the investigation within eight weeks

If we cannot provide our final response within eight weeks, we will write to you explaining:

  • why the investigation has not been completed;
  • what remains to be done;
  • any further information that we may need from you;
  • when we expect to issue our final response;
  • whether you may refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service; and
  • if so, the Financial Ombudsman Service’s contact details.

6.7 Agreed redress

Where you accept an offer of remedial action or redress, we will implement it promptly, subject to any information or documentation reasonably required from you.

Depending , depending on the circumstances any redress that we offer may include one or more of the following:

  • correcting an error;
  • providing a further explanation;
  • amending records;
  • refunding or adjusting a charge;
  • recalculating a transaction or valuation;
  • making a financial payment;
  • changing a process; or
  • taking other appropriate remedial action.
  1. Complaints involving another company in the Smart Currency group or a third party.

SCOL is a separate legal entity from Smart Currency Exchange Limited.

Where your complaint concerns both:

  • an investment or option service provided by SCOL; and
  • a payment or foreign exchange service provided by Smart Currency Exchange Limited,

the relevant companies may coordinate their investigations, while ensuring that each regulated entity meets its own responsibilities and response deadlines.

We will tell you if:

  • part of your complaint has been referred to another  company in the Smart Currency group;
  • different regulatory response periods apply to different parts of the complaint; or
  • another regulated firm may be solely or jointly responsible.

We will not forward your complaint simply to avoid considering SCOL’s own involvement.

  1. UK EMIR contract, valuation and collateral disputes

8.1 What is a UK EMIR dispute?

A UK EMIR dispute is generally a disagreement between counterparties concerning:

  • whether an OTC derivative contract exists or has been correctly recognised;
  • the terms recorded for a contract;
  • the valuation of an OTC derivative contract;
  • a valuation methodology, market input or calculation;
  • the amount or calculation of margin or collateral;
  • whether collateral has been correctly delivered, received or returned; or
  • a collateral settlement break.

A UK EMIR dispute is not automatically the same as a regulatory complaint.

However, the same matter may be both:

  1. a UK EMIR dispute about a transaction, valuation or collateral; and
  2. a MiFID complaint alleging poor service, error, unfair treatment or financial loss.

Where this occurs, SCOL will record and manage both elements. Raising a UK EMIR dispute will not remove or reduce your right to have an associated complaint investigated under the MiFID procedure described above where that is also relevant.

8.2 How to notify us of a UK EMIR dispute

Please notify your usual SCOL contact and the Compliance Team as soon as possible.

Use the email address:

[email protected]

Please include “UK EMIR Dispute – Smart Currency Options Limited” in the subject line and provide, where possible:

  • the relevant transaction or trade reference;
  • the date of the transaction;
  • the currency pair and notional amount;
  • the amount in dispute;
  • whether the dispute concerns contract terms, valuation or collateral;
  • your calculation or valuation;
  • the market data or methodology supporting your position;
  • the date the dispute was first identified; and
  • copies of relevant confirmations, statements or correspondence.

8.3 How SCOL will handle the dispute

SCOL will:

  • record the date the dispute was identified;
  • identify the counterparty and transactions concerned;
  • record the disputed amount or value;
  • record the reason for the dispute;
  • monitor how long the dispute remains outstanding;
  • compare the parties’ records and calculations;
  • seek to resolve the dispute promptly; and
  • retain appropriate records of the dispute and its resolution.

Where a dispute has not been resolved within five business days, it will be escalated through a specific senior-level process involving appropriate representatives from the Options, Operations and Compliance functions.

Depending on the nature of the dispute and the applicable client agreement, the resolution process may include:

  • senior-level discussion;
  • reconciliation of transaction records;
  • comparison of market data;
  • review of valuation methodologies;
  • obtaining market quotations;
  • referral to an independent valuation source or expert; or
  • another contractual dispute-resolution mechanism.

8.4 Reporting certain disputes to the FCA

SCOL may be required to notify the FCA where a UK EMIR dispute concerns an OTC derivative contract, its valuation or collateral where it;

  • exceeds €15 million in amount or value; and
  • remains outstanding for at least 15 business days.

Please note that where such  a report to the FCA is required, SCOL may disclose relevant information about the counterparty, transactions, amount, cause and duration of the dispute to the FCA.

8.5 Continuing contractual obligations

Unless we have specifically agreed a suspension or some or all of your obligations to SCOL under your client agreement  raising a dispute does not remove or suspend any of your obligations to SCOL under that agreement. You must continue to meet all relevant obligations including but not limited to:

  • undisputed payment obligations;
  • undisputed collateral or margin obligations;
  • settlement obligations;
  • exercise or expiry provisions; or
  • SCOL’s contractual close-out or risk-management rights.

To the extent that you do not intend to meet some part of your obligation relating to the disputed matter, pending its resolution, you should make that clear in your complaint, and we will confirm to you if that can be agreed, and / or whether delaying or  suspending your performance of that obligation may incur additional costs for you.

  1. Financial Ombudsman Service

The Financial Ombudsman Service is a free and independent service that may be able to consider a complaint after SCOL has had the opportunity to investigate it.

You may be able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if:

  • you are dissatisfied with our final response; or
  • eight weeks have passed since we received your complaint and we have not provided a final response; and
  • you are eligible to use this service (see below).

Financial Ombudsman Service contact details

Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0800 023 4567
Post:
Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR

These are the Financial Ombudsman Service’s current published consumer contact details. Financial Ombudsman

Who is eligible?

Not every SCOL client will be eligible to use the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Eligibile clients  may include certain:

  • consumers;
  • micro-enterprises;
  • small businesses;
  • charities;
  • trusts; and
  • guarantors.

However, a complainant who was acting as a professional client or eligible counterparty in relation to the activity concerned is generally excluded from the Financial Ombudsman Service’s compulsory jurisdiction, subject to limited exceptions. The Financial Ombudsman Service makes the final decision about whether  a client is eligible and whether it can consider a particular complaint.

Please note that SCOL will investigate MiFID complaints from professional clients and eligible counterparties even where those clients are not eligible to use the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Where the Financial Ombudsman Service is not available, our final response will explain any other relevant escalation route, which may include rights under your client agreement or the possibility of civil proceedings.

  1. Your other rights

This procedure does not remove any rights you may have under:

  • your client agreement;
  • applicable legislation;
  • FCA rules;
  • UK EMIR; or
  • general law.

Making a complaint may not suspend contractual or statutory limitation periods. You should consider obtaining independent legal advice where necessary.

  1. Confidentiality and personal information

We will handle information relating to your complaint confidentially and in accordance with applicable data protection law and our privacy notice.

Information may be shared where reasonably necessary with:

  • relevant SCOL employees;
  • other Smart Currency group companies involved in the matter;
  • professional advisers;
  • insurers;
  • auditors;
  • service providers;
  • the Financial Ombudsman Service;
  • the FCA or another regulator;
  • law enforcement authorities; or
  • another person where disclosure is required or permitted by law.

We will only use complaint information for legitimate purposes, including investigating the complaint, meeting legal and regulatory obligations, identifying wider issues and improving our services.

  1. Learning from complaints

SCOL’s Compliance function analyses complaints and dispute information to identify:

  • recurring issues;
  • possible control failures;
  • product or service risks;
  • concerns affecting particular client groups;
  • weaknesses in communications;
  • training requirements; and
  • potential regulatory breaches.

Where a wider issue is identified, SCOL will consider whether other clients may be affected and whether corrective action, remediation or regulatory notification is required.