IFX Trading Terms and Conditions
1. WHO WE ARE
1.1 We are IFX (UK) Ltd. Throughout these terms, we refer to IFX (UK) Ltd as “IFX”, “we”, “us” or “our”.
1.2 IFX is a private limited company registered in England with company registration number 05422718. Our registered office is at 119 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5PU, United Kingdom.
1.3 IFX is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (with firm reference number 900517) under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. We are authorised to issue electronic money and provide certain payment services.
2. HOW TO CONTACT US
2.1 You can contact us by:
Post: To our registered office
Phone: +44 (0)20 7495 8888
Email: info@ifxpayments.com
Online: Secure messaging through our online Platforms
2.2 Our office hours are 08.30 to 17.30 in the United Kingdom, Monday to Friday, when banks in England are open for business. We call these days “Working Days”. You can call us any time during these hours on Working Days.
2.3 Our website details other ways you can get in touch with us and has details of our branch offices in other countries https://www.ifxpayments.com/contact/.
3. COMMUNICATIONS WITH YOU
3.1 We may contact you by telephone, email or through one of our Platforms using the details you provide to us. Our “Platforms” include our website and other web applications through which we provide our services, including any mobile or tablet applications that we offer.
3.2 All communications between us will be in English.
3.3 We may record and monitor telephone conversations that we have with you. These recordings will be stored in accordance with our legal obligations and our privacy policy. We may use these recordings in accordance with our privacy policy; as evidence of instructions given to us or other communications between us; and for quality assurance, training, fraud prevention and compliance purposes.
3.4 Monthly statements of your account will be provided to you by email, and are available for download via our Platforms.
4. THE LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND US
4.1 You are entering into a legally binding agreement by using our services. The agreement will commence on the day you first use our services, and will end when terminated in accordance with paragraph 16. The agreement between you and us (which we call the “Terms”) consists of:
(a) these general terms and conditions (which form a framework contract between you and us) and any document referred to in them;
(b) the information you provided to us when opening your account (and any subsequent changes to that information);
(c) our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy and Terms of use and
(d) any additional terms and conditions applicable to certain services we may provide to you, we call these “Additional Terms”. The Additional Terms will form part of your agreement with us as soon as and whenever you use the additional service(s) to which the Additional Terms relate.
4.2 If you do not agree to the Terms, you should not use our services.
4.3 We may change the Terms at any time but will give you two months’ notice before the changes take effect (subject to compliance with legal requirements). You may terminate your agreement with us immediately and without charge if we change the Terms by giving us written notice, otherwise you shall be deemed to have accepted the changes.
5. OUR SERVICES
We provide foreign exchange and payment services to individuals and businesses. We only buy and sell currency for trade, commercial or other non-speculative purposes. You must not use our services for speculative or trading purposes. We do not offer or provide advice or investment services of any nature.
6. ELIGIBILITY
You must be at least 18 years old to use our services. You must only operate your account in your own name and not on behalf of any other person that you have not disclosed to us. We do not offer our services in any jurisdictions where we do not have the necessary licences or approvals.
APPLYING TO USE OUR SERVICES
6.1 You can apply to use our services by completing the account opening form on our website. We can also provide you with an application form on request, which you can send back to us by post or email.
6.2 Once we have received your completed account opening form, we will make various checks to ensure you are eligible for our services, and to comply with our legal obligations. We may have to ask you for additional information or documents.
6.3 You must provide us with true, complete and accurate information. You must also update us of any changes to such information promptly. We will rely on the information you provide to us.
6.4 We will let you know once we have accepted your application and opened an account for you. We may refuse to accept your application without giving you any explanation.
6.5 Individual clients may open an account in joint names. In this case, the Terms apply to you both. We will accept instructions from either one of you, without authority from the other. If one of you tells us there is a dispute between you, we may suspend further transactions on your account. We would need authority (in whatever form we request) from both of you to close your account in this instance. If one of you dies, your account will continue in the sole name of the surviving account holder and any money we hold in your account will be owned by them.
6.6 Business clients must specify an authorised person or persons to operate their account. We call such person(s) “Users”. You will be responsible for the acts (or omissions) of any other person you authorise to act on your behalf as if they were your own. We will not be responsible for any act (or failure to act) of anyone you authorise to operate your account, if we did not know or reasonably suspect they were acting dishonestly. You should ensure all Users comply with the obligations on you under these Terms.
6.7 You must keep your email account(s) and other online accounts secure as we will act on instructions we reasonably believe to be from you. You must use up to date anti-virus software and ensure any information you send to us is free from viruses. You must not introduce viruses to our Platforms or other systems.
7. VALUE DATES AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE ORDERS
7.1 When you wish to effect a currency exchange, we call this an “Order”. We will agree the date on which you wish us to transfer the relevant funds and process the Order. We call this the “Value Date”.
7.2 When you place an Order, it will be:
(a) a “Spot Contract” when the Value Date is two Working Days or less; or
(b) a “Forward Contract” when the Value Date is two Working Days or more.
7.3 You can also specify a “Market Order”, which is an instruction to execute your Order when a desired exchange rate is achieved.
7.4 If you place an Order for a Forward Contract, we may require you to pay a deposit to us in cleared funds as a condition of us accepting your Order, and additional deposits at any time in such amount as we determine (we call this “Margin”).
7.5 You shall pay such Margin in cleared funds to our bank account within 24 hours of us request- ing the Margin. If you fail to pay us the Margin, we may terminate your Order. You also agree to reimburse us the actual costs we reasonably incur as a result of you failing to pay the Margin and us terminating your Order.
7.6 The outstanding settlement of an Order must be paid on or before the Value Date.
7.7 Our exchange rates are based on foreign exchange markets which can change at any time. As such, exchange rates may vary immediately without notice.
8. PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS
8.1 When you wish us to make a payment we call this a “Payment Instruction”.
8.2 You can provide Payment Instructions by telephone, email or through one of our Platforms.
8.3 When placing a Payment Instruction, we will use reasonable efforts to verify your identity based on the information we hold about you. When you telephone or email us, we will need to identify you as an authorised User of the account. We may ask you various questions or perform various checks to confirm your identity. We will accept Payment Instructions from any person we reasonably believe to be authorised to give such instructions.
8.4 You will need to provide us with the relevant account numbers and other information on the beneficiary you wish to transfer funds to. You are responsible for providing us with correct beneficiary details. We will rely on the beneficiary details you provide. We will not be responsible for any errors that you make in Payment Instructions, and you agree to reimburse us costs we reasonably incur as a result of any errors.
8.5 We will have to satisfy our internal identity checks before sending money to a new or different beneficiary. We will ensure the intended beneficiary has been authorised by you and approved by us.
9. ERRORS, VARIATIONS AND CANCELLATIONS
9.1 Once you have placed an Order or Payment Instruction, you cannot cancel or vary it without our agreement. You must contact us immediately if you wish to cancel or vary an Order or Payment Instruction. We will try to withdraw or change your Order or Payment Instruction where this is reasonably practicable, but we cannot guarantee this. If we consent to such variation or cancellation, there may be a cost due to changes in exchange rates and we may charge you a fee. This fee will correspond to the costs we incur in taking the necessary corrective action. We will let you know what this fee will be in advance where this is possible.
9.2 We may refuse to accept an Order or Payment Instruction for any reason.
9.3 We may stop an Order or Payment Instruction, or take any other action we reasonably deem necessary to protect you or us, including where:
(a) we suspect there is unauthorised, prohibited or irregular activity on or connected with your account;
(b) we believe there may be a manifest error with all or part of an Order or Payment Instruction;
(c) you fail to provide us with the settlement funds in time to process your Order or Payment Instruction; or
(d) we are required to do so by law, a law enforcement agency or regulatory authority.
We will attempt to notify you by phone, email or through our Platforms before taking such action and provide you with our reasons for doing so. There may be occasions where we cannot notify you or give you reasons for us taking such action. This might be because it would be a breach of our legal obligations, or if we thought it would compromise reasonable security measures.
10. SETTLEMENTS, FEES AND YOUR MONEY
10.1 You can transfer settlement funds to us using bank transfers, credit or debit cards. The methods we offer for transferring settlement funds to us are not part of our services, they are provided by third parties and may change or be withdrawn at any time.
10.2 You must pay any amount due to us in full, unencumbered and cleared funds without any deductions.
10.3 Please inform us if a third party will be sending money to us on your behalf. Any funds we receive will be credited to your account as soon as reasonably practicable, after we have satisfied ourselves as to the sender’s identity and complied with our legal obligations.
10.4 All funds we receive or hold on your behalf will be held in one or more segregated bank accounts, separate from our own funds and in accordance with applicable law.
10.5 You shall not be entitled to any interest on any funds held by us.
10.6 We may deduct from any balance in your account such amounts that you owe to us under the Terms or under law. We may convert any liabilities you owe to us in a different currency at an exchange rate which we determine to be reasonable. Any exercise of this right of set off is without prejudice to any other rights and remedies which we may have.
10.7 Certain payment instruments that you may use to transfer settlement to us offer you the ability to dispute a transaction with your card issuer, for example. These are known as chargebacks.
10.8 You agree that you will only exercise your right to chargeback if there has been an unauthorised or fraudulent transaction on your account. You agree not to exercise your right to chargeback for any reason that for which we are not responsible.
10.9 If we need to investigate a chargeback that you have raised with your card issuer, we may charge you our reasonable costs for doing so and may deduct such amount from your account.
11. EXECUTION TIMES AND DELIVERY
11.1 If you place a Payment Instruction for same day processing, we must receive your cleared settlement funds before 14.00 on a Working Day. If we receive your settlement funds after 14.00 or on a day which is not a Working Day, we will process your Payment Instruction on the next Working Day.
11.2 We will use reasonable endeavours to credit the funds to the beneficiary’s account:
(a) by the end of the next Working Day, if your Payment Instruction is in euro or sterling;
(b) by the end of the fourth Working Day, if your Payment Instruction involves a currency other than euro or sterling but is executed wholly within the European Economic Area; and
(c) as soon as possible in any other case.
11.3 We have no control over when the beneficiary’s payment services provider allows the beneficiary to access the funds. We will not be responsible for delays caused by another payment services provider in transferring money to us, or allowing a beneficiary to access the transmitted funds.
12. SECURITY, PASSCODES AND PLATFORMS
12.1 When you use one of our Platforms, we will issue you with personalised security codes (such as usernames and passwords) (“Passcodes”). You must use these Passcodes to access the Platforms. If the Passcodes are correct, we will assume it is you that has given any Orders or Payment Instructions or made any other communications.
12.2 You must keep your Passcodes secret and make sure they are not stored or shared in a way that enables others to impersonate you. You must not allow others to use your Passcodes. You must not write down your Passcodes. If you disclose the Passcodes to any person, you are and will continue to be responsible for any use or misuse of your account.
12.3 If you suspect an incorrect instruction or unauthorised activity on your account, or that someone may have access to your Passcodes, you must notify us without delay by email to legal@ifxpayments.com.
12.4 If you have intentionally or with negligence failed to use the Passcodes in accordance with the Terms (including paragraph 12.2), you will be responsible for any unauthorised transactions on your account, even if they were not given by you, until you notify us in accordance with paragraph 12.3.
12.5 We cannot guarantee that our Platforms will be available at all times. There may be occasions where we need to suspend access to our Platforms for technical reasons, emergencies or regulatory reasons, or for periods of maintenance or updates. We will not be responsible if our Platforms are unavailable to you for any reason.
13. UNAUTHORISED AND INCORRECT TRANSACTIONS
13.1 If you are a consumer (being a person acting outside a business, trade or profession) or a microenterprise (being any entity engaged in economic activity which employs less than 10 persons and has an annual turnover or balance sheet total of €2 million or less):
(a) we will be responsible to you in the event our error or negligence causes a payment to be made to the wrong recipient or in an incorrect amount, in which case we will restore your account to the position it would have been had the error not been made. Any refund will be made before the end of the following Business Day. We will not be responsible to you if we can prove the correct beneficiary’s payment services provider has received the funds;
(b) We will not be responsible to you for any unauthorised payment on your account where:
(i) you have acted fraudulently; or
(ii) you have intentionally or with gross negligence failed to keep your account secure in accordance with paragraph 12; and
(c) in the event of an incorrect payment or an unauthorised transaction, you must notify us without undue delay, and in any event within 12 months of the event, otherwise we will not be responsible to you for the transaction(s).
13.2 If you are not a consumer or a microenterprise, we will not be responsible to you:
(a) if we make a payment incorrectly, unless you notify us of the incorrect payment within 30 days; or
(b) for any unauthorised transactions on your account other than in accordance with paragraph 15 and you agree that all of the regulations listed in Regulation 51(3)(a) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017 (as amended or replaced) do not apply.
14. OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOSSES
14.1 If we fail to comply with our obligations under the Terms, then, subject as set out below, we will be responsible to you for the loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of us breaking the Terms. However, we will not be responsible for loss or damage that is not foreseeable, whether such loss or damage arises as a result of us breaching the Terms or otherwise. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or, if at the time we entered into this agreement, both you and we knew that it might happen.
14.2 We will not be responsible to you for any loss of profit; loss of business; loss of or damage to goodwill; loss of use or corruption to software, data or information; business interruption; or loss of business opportunity.
14.3 We will not be responsible to you for any losses you suffer or costs that you incur because:
(a) we relied on any information you provide to us;
(b) we acted in accordance with the Terms;
(c) you breached the Terms or failed to perform the obligations we reasonably expected you would perform in accordance with the Terms;
(d) you failed to realise the anticipated savings or benefits of a transaction; or
(e) we failed to fulfil our obligations under the Terms as a result of:
(i) the actions or omissions of any third party that are outside our control;
(ii) any planned or essential maintenance to our systems;
(iii) any changes in law that we have to comply with; or
(iv) any abnormal and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which would have been unavoidable despite all efforts to the contrary.
14.4 Our total liability to you under the Terms or at law (including but not limited to any representation, tortious act or omission, including negligence, arising under or in connection with these Terms) shall be limited to the aggregate net revenue we have received from you over the preceding six months.
14.5 Nothing in the Terms excludes or limits our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or for breach of your legal rights in relation to the services we provide.
15. CLOSING YOUR ACCOUNT
15.1 You may cancel your agreement with us and close your account at any time without incurring additional fees or charges.
15.2 We may terminate your account for any reason by providing you with 60 days’ notice by post, email or through our Platforms. However, we may terminate your account immediately, or place restrictions on your account, if:
(a) you fail to pay any amount due to us under the Terms when it is due;
(b) you commit a serious breach of the Terms which cannot be remedied or, if it can be remedied, you fail to remedy the breach within such reasonable time period that we notify to you;
(c) we suspect any fraudulent, unlawful, suspicious or other similar activity on your account,
(d) we or you become bankrupt or insolvent; or
(e) we are required to do so for regulatory or legal reasons.
15.3 If you become aware of any event referred to in paragraph 15.2, you shall notify us immediately.
15.4 If we terminate your account, we will try to notify you in advance. Where this is not possible, we will notify you immediately after. There may be instances where we cannot notify you at all for legal reasons.
15.5 Immediately before closing your account, we will settle all outstanding transactions on your account, and deduct any applicable fees and charges due to us. We will return any amounts remaining in your account to you as soon as reasonably possible. If you owe us outstanding amounts, you shall pay these to us without delay. There may be instances where we cannot settle transactions on your account or close positions, such as for legal or regulatory reasons.
15.6 Once we have closed your account, we may continue to hold data about you and your account in accordance with our privacy policy and for legal or regulatory reasons.
16. NOTICES AND SERVICE
16.1 Notices given under the Terms shall be in writing and shall be sent by pre-paid first-class post or email. Any notice shall be deemed to have been received:
(a) if sent by pre-paid first-class post, at 9.00 am on the second Working Day after posting; and
(b) if sent by email, 24 hours after sending unless that is not a Working Day, in which case the notice will be deemed to be delivered at 9.00 am on the next Working Day. Notices sent by email shall not be valid if you or we receive any undelivered or other error messages.
16.2 We will send notices to you to your last known address or email address (as applicable). You can send notices to us to our address in paragraph 2 or by email to legal@ifxpayments.com.
17. DATA PROTECTION
17.1 You and IFX shall comply with our respective obligations under applicable data protection legislation. Neither of us shall commit any act or omission that puts the other in breach of such obligations.
17.2 We will also process any personal data collected during your use of our website or services in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You should read our Privacy Policy before using our services as it forms part of our agreement with you.
17.3 You must ensure you have secured any consents we or our service providers need to process personal data you send to us. This includes any consents required to process and/or transfer the personal data to parties outside the European Economic Area.
You agree that we may share the personal data, information and documents you provide to us with our selected third party providers, or any law enforcement or regulatory body, to perform identity and other searches to comply with our legal obligations (such as the prevention or detection of crime). We, and our service providers, may store the results of such searches and the fact that such searches have taken place, including on your credit file.
18. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
We retain ownership of all the intellectual property in our systems, materials, documents and software that we share with you. We grant you and your Users a revocable, non-exclusive, non-sub-licensable, royalty free licence to use the same, but only for using our services while this agreement is in force.
19. GENERAL
19.1 No partnership: Nothing in the Terms shall be deemed to create a partnership or joint- venture or agency relationship between the parties or confer any right or benefit to any third party.
19.2 Third party rights: A person who is not a party to the Terms shall not have any rights under or in connection with them.
19.3 No variation: The Terms shall not be superseded or modified except with our written consent.
19.4 Severance: Should any of the Terms be deemed unenforceable or illegal, the remaining terms will nevertheless continue in full force and effect.
19.5 Commission disclosure: In accordance with standard industry practice, IFX pays commission to the individuals and companies that introduce clients to it.
19.6 Assignment: You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these terms and conditions to any other party. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms and conditions and will provide you with prior notification of any such transfer.
19.7 Complaints: If you wish to make a complaint to us, you should contact your account representative or write to us at the address given above. All complaints will be handled in accordance with the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority and the applicable Payment Services Regulations. A copy of our complaints procedure is available on request. You may be eligible to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service and you can contact them by writing to South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR, by telephone on 0300 123 9 123 or by visiting the Financial Ombudsman Service website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
19.8 No waiver: No failure or delay by IFX to exercise any right or remedy provided under these Terms or at law shall constitute a waiver of that right or remedy.
19.9 Law and jurisdiction: English law governs the agreement between you and us and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes. However, if you are applying for an account for purposes wholly or mainly outside your business, trade or profession, and you are resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland, nothing in the agreement will prevent you from bringing legal proceedings in your local courts.