An important and positive announcement has just been made by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Representatives of the scheme have completed talks with UK regulators on whether all investment products once offered by ill-fated Alpari (UK) Limited (Alpari) are FSCS protected. A confirmation has been received and this means that claimants that have lost money due to the demise of the UK FX broker will be able to apply for compensation from FSCS.
Claims have first to be agreed with the joint special administrators from KPMG first.
And now, the most important part: the schedule for the payments.
FSCS expects to start paying claims in May 2015.
Currency issues
The payments will be made in US dollars, thus guaranteeing that compensation payments will be consistent with the distributions to be made by the joint special administrators. FSCS will convert from GBP to USD with reference to the Bank of England daily exchange rate of 1.5158 as at 19 January 2015.
The FSCS reminds the public that the compensation cap for investment claims is up to £50,000 per person, per firm. The USD equivalent of the maximum compensation will be $75,790.
Where will the money be transferred?
FSCS will make payments directly into an eligible claimant’s nominated account.
Funds recovery
If FSCS recovers funds in the Alpari special administration, it pledges to make further payments to the claimant if uncompensated losses remain.
To view the official announcement by FSCS, click here.
KPMG update
KPMG, the special administrators of Alpari UK, also issued an update regarding compensation claims. The message says that the Alpari Claims Portal will soon be equipped with a functionality to help traders claims their compensation from the FSCS. Also, there will be an option to directly transfer funds to an account with ETX Capital, the owner of Alpari UK client list.
KPMG admits that 11,000 clients of Alpari UK still do not have access to the Claims Portal and promises to resolve the problem soon.
The Q&A document regarding the Claims Portal has also been updated today. You can view it by clicking here.