What's safeguarding?

Safeguarding is a process in which we keep all your funds completely segregated from all other funds, and deposit it into a specially designated safeguarded bank account held at Barclays Bank PLC.

For every safeguarded account we use to hold our customers' money, the following rules apply:

• It is named in such a way that shows it is a safeguarded account
• It is not used to hold any other funds, other than those of our customers
• No one (other than Equals Money International Limited) has any interest in or right over the funds in the account
• The safeguarding account is held at a UK or EEA Authorised Credit Institution
• A letter has been provided by the bank confirming the safeguarding status of the account

Are my funds protected in the same way as a bank?

Banks have different protections to EMIs (Electronic Money Institutions). Funds in a bank are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which cover the first £85k of your funds.

EMIs like Equals Money International Limited, the issuer of your Card One Money Mastercard® Card, use the alternative arrangements, outlined above, called safeguarding. These arrangements are regulated by the FCA to ensure that the correct steps are taken to protect customer money.

The safeguarding procedures are designed to protect your whole balance (even above £85K). However, these arrangements can mean that in the unlikely event of Equals Money International Limited going into administration, it could take longer for you to get a refund than it would have taken with a bank in the FSCS. It is also possible that some of your funds would be taken as costs by an administrator.

However, we’d like to stress that it is highly unlikely that the business would fall into administration in this way.