Interactive Brokers Australia (“IBA”) takes a proactive approach to customer protection. IBA determines the amount of cash and securities owed to customers daily and segregates funds for the exclusive benefit of customers in bank accounts correctly identified as client segregated accounts as defined under the Corporations Act 2001. This segregation is a requirement of Australian Financial Services License (“AFSL”) holders and, Interactive Brokers Australia (“IB Australia”), as an AFSL holder, fully complies with these principles. By properly segregating the customer's assets, if no money or stock is borrowed and no futures positions are held by the customer, then the customer's assets are available to be returned to the customer in the event of a default by or bankruptcy of the broker.
Clients of Interactive Brokers Australia (IB Australia) may be able to access compensation available under the National Guarantee Fund (NGF) in circumstances prescribed in Division 4 of Part 7.5 of the Corporations Regulations, including losses resulting from the failure of a market participant, but excluding losses resulting from the decrease in market value of financial products. Subject to the size of the NGF, there is no maximum amount of compensation that applies to any individual claim; however, if a market participant were to become insolvent, the maximum amount of compensation that may be available for all clients of the market participant collectively would be no more than 15% of the total value of the NGF. The NGF is administered by the Securities Exchange Guarantee Corporation.
In addition to the above, I would encourage you to review further information on our financial strength and history on our website.