Question 1

Can I turn off notifications?

Accepted Answer

All clients are currently set to receive notifications as their default setting.

If you message your Relationship Manager or support@wearefreemarket.com, we can switch this for you.

Question 2

Do you add fees for negative interest rates?

Accepted Answer

Custody Fee/Negative Interest

As of 1st October 2022, the applicable total negative interest ‎rate is 0.00% (0.75% ECB rate + -0.25% markup = 0.50%, however, as we are a Payment Institution, not a Bank, we are not permitted to pay interest on funds held on account with us, so the EUR custody fee is adjusted to 0.00%) per annum on the average daily balance in a calendar month on Account held in EUR. Freemarket reserves the right to charge custody/negative interest fees with respect to any other currencies which attract negative interest rate fees in the future.

Why do we charge custody/negative interest fee?

This fee is charged to recover our costs associated with holding funds in a particular currency. It includes negative interest reference rates, which are set by central banks, such as the ECB for funds held in EUR. In addition to the negative interest rates, our mark-up over the reference rate includes certain additional cost components we have to consider, including any other costs such as ECB deposit facility rates passed on to Freemarket by its banking partners.

Normally, banks do not pass their costs on to their customers as they can use the deposit base for lending activities, but due to regulatory restrictions all funds held for payment service providers like Freemarket must be 100% liquid, and so these additional costs are charged to clients like Freemarket.

Thus, as an example, the ECB base reference rate for EUR is currently +0.75% and mark-up is -0.25%, giving a total negative interest rate of +0.50% per annum for EUR balances held on account. However, as we are a Payment Institution, not a bank, we are not permitted to pay interest on funds held on account with us, so the EUR custody fee is adjusted to 0.00%.

Negative Interest Fee Illustration:

A transfer to your account of €100,000 was made on 1st April 2022 and you have given us instructions for an onward transfer of €50,000 on 16th April 2022. There have been no withdrawals from your Freemarket account since then. The remaining balance on your account on 30th April is €50,000. The average daily balance for the month is therefore €75,000 (€100,000 for 15 days and €50,000 for 15 days) The applicable total negative interest rate is 0.25% per annum based on the average daily balance in a calendar month on account held in EUR. Thus, you would be automatically charged €15.63 (€75,000 * 0.25% / 360 *30).

Effective Dates: the new rates as set out in the table below are effective as follows:

New Clients:

Corporate: 1st October 2022

Small Charity & Micro Enterprise: 1st October 2022

Existing Clients:

Corporate: 1st October 2022

Small Charity & Micro Enterprise: 1st October 2022

*As of the Effective Date and Subject to Change without notice.

**Total Interest Rate as of the Effective Date. The total interest rate is indicative only and subject to change without notice.

***Actual 360 is the method that calculates interest daily by counting the number of days in the calendar but uses a fixed 360 length.

****Adjusted to 0.00 as no custody fee is chargeable as total interest rate after applying Bank Mark-up is positive.

Question 3

Do you have a customer complaints procedure in place?

Accepted Answer

At Freemarket, we always aim to provide you with the best standards of service when using our product.

Our customer service representatives are available at all times to help with your inquiries. Freemarket recognises that in rare circumstances, our service might not have lived up to your expectations. If this is the case, we sincerely apologise if you feel that we have let you down. We will continue to do all in our power to make things right with you.

Freemarket has a complaints mechanism in place to make sure that we handle complaints and enquiries properly as a fully regulated business. Our regulators at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) have provided suggestions and regulations that have guided the creation of the complaint procedure below.

The Head of Compliance will acknowledge and investigate each complaint. A complainant must first submit their complaint to Freemarket, and if they are dissatisfied with the outcome, they may be permitted to submit their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. You may not be able to file a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman if you agree to our corporate terms and conditions.

To ensure that we have an audit trail and that we have all the facts to help us understand your case, we request that you email support@wearefreemarket.com with the details of your complaint, including your account number (beginning with an ‘A’).

We will then:

Send you written acknowledgement that your complaint has been received;
Contact you further should we require any additional details;
Fully investigate your case and your concerns, followed by issuing a detailed response including an explanation of our decisions and reasons for said decision. If you remain dissatisfied with our response, you have the right to forward your concerns to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Please note: we always encourage you to allow us to undergo our internal complaints procedure before referring your concerns to the Financial Ombudsman.

Question 4

Do you make payments to third parties?

Accepted Answer

Before a payment is made to a new beneficiary the account must be checked in order to authenticate its validity and the account is not fraudulent. Once this stage is complete, we can freely make payments to third parties.

Question 5

Do you offer multi-currency IBAN accounts?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we do; a multi-currency account allows you to send and receive money in a variety of different currencies.

While we expand the number of local collection and settlement options you may use on our network, we can make local payments for you and utilise a number of payment networks.

Question 6

Does it cost me to have an account at Freemarket?

Accepted Answer

Although we make every attempt to render the registration process as simple as possible, it may take up to 60 days before your Freemarket account is completely operational and you are able to utilise it to its maximum. This means that we want to correctly set up your account with our partner banks and aggregate banking services that you receive.

It costs nothing to open an account with us, but we reserve the right to do so in accordance with our terms and conditions, with a 60-day notice period for consumers and 30 days for businesses.

If you click here to contact a member of our team and start your adventure with B2B cross-border payments, and we'll email you a link to register for an account with us.

Question 7

Does the platform allow to settle funds globally?

Accepted Answer

The business is global in its reach, and we transfer money internationally. We can pay the designated beneficiary as long as the beneficiary information is accurate and authorised.

Once you have confirmed the transaction's value, provided the beneficiary information is accurate, the funds are available on the platform, and you are using a currency pair you have access to, the transaction information and beneficiary details might permit us to make a payment on your behalf.

It's important to keep in mind that the platform uses UTC time, thus the settlement timeframes may vary as a result. We enable you in optimising your funds across various markets, jurisdictions, and time zones.

Question 8

Have you reconciled the funds that I sent to my Freemarket account?

Accepted Answer

Where funds have been transferred without including a reference, sometimes this may delay us automatically reconciling a payment to your account. Our operations team will have to manually find and reconcile the payment to credit your account. At this stage, please confirm which account the funds should be allocated to and provide evidence that the money should be allocated to that account.

Question 9

How are Freemarket regulated?

Accepted Answer

FreemarketFX Limited is an Authorised Payment Institution (API), authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA reference number is 585093). FreemarketFX Ireland Limited is a Payment Institution, authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (Firm No. C456818).

APIs can provide customers with a range of regulated payment services. The activities which APIs can undertake are based on their FCA permissions (which can be found in the FCA’s Financial Services Register.)

The Central Bank of Ireland granted a license as a Payment Institution pursuant to Regulation 18 of the European Union (Payment Services) Regulations 2018 (you can find more here).

Freemarket’s permissions enable it to carry on payment services activities; this includes receiving bank transfers, processing withdrawals and conducting foreign exchange.

Question 10

How can I add funds to my account?

Accepted Answer

The scheduled exchange allows us at Freemarket to operate a pre-funded model as this is how we are able to achieve mid-market rates and match funds for our clients. The pre-funded model means that all of clients that use the system must transfer the required funds in their entirety prior to the payment order occurring.

The platform allows you to transfer funds before or after booking a payment order with us, although we suggest that you do this beforehand, particularly if you have a sell payment order set up to happen with us. Please bear in mind that we will not proceed with the payment order until we have receipt of all the funds being on the account, once we receive the funds, we will execute the order.

If you require to make a transfer, you can do this on our platform by going to the add funds section on the top of the page by the main menu. From the add funds page, select the currency of the funds you wish to exchange, and the relevant bank details will appear. Once confirmed, you’ll receive an email confirmation once the funds have reached your account and are able to be allocated.