What does IG do with my money and my assets?
Unlike banks, we’re required to separate client money and assets from our own resources. This means that we’re not allowed to use them in the course of our business activities, and that client money and assets are completely ring-fenced and protected in the unlikely event that we became insolvent.
We’re authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA have strict regulatory requirements, known as the client money and client assets rules (found in the Client Assets Sourcebook – CASS), which govern exactly what we can do and how we must do it.
The only clients whose money and assets aren’t treated like this are professional clients (like financial firms), or eligible counterparties who have signed a legal document explaining how their money and assets are held differently (this is known as ‘title transfer’).
Under the FCA’s CASS rules, we may also place client money in Qualifying Money Market Funds (QMMFs). This is mostly made up of low-risk investments like government bonds, and the primary objective of the fund is to maintain value. QMMFs offer an alternative way for us to hold your money without compromising on security. They’re a standard tool used by large financial institutions to diversify credit risk.
Where client money is placed in QMMFs, the units or shares in those QMMFs will be held as safe custody assets in accordance with the FCA’s CASS rules.