1.      What does the Transfer mean for me? What terms and conditions will govern my relationship with IBCE following the Transfer?

Following the Transfer, IBCE will be responsible for ensuring the safe custody of your assets. The IBCE General Business Terms [https://gdcdyn.interactivebrokers.com/Universal/servlet/Registration_v2.formSampleView?formdb=4500] ("GBR") will govern your account and assets while they are held under custody in trust at IBCE in this limited capacity. You will not be able to place trades or make other financial decisions on your account and IBCE will not provide any investment services to you unless you expressly agree to the GBR and sign the Client Agreement and complete any other open steps needed to open an IBCE account. IBCE will send you an email following the Transfer with the steps to take to secure your login credentials to access your account at IBCE.

2.      What do I have to do if I want to continue doing business with Interactive Brokers?

If you want to continue doing business with Interactive Brokers, we require your cooperation and action in order for IBCE to provide you investment services. Specifically, we need you to open a new account with IBCE, expressly agree to the GBR and sign the Client Agreement and any other required documents, and provide any additional documents or information requested.

If you do not want to continue doing business with Interactive Brokers, you may instruct IBCE to transfer your assets to another broker or bank, and IBCE will comply with your instructions subject to applicable laws and IB's standard procedures.

3.      How will my assets be custodied at IBCE?

Until you agree to and accept the GBR and the Client Agreement and open a brokerage account with IBCE, IBCE will provide custody services in limited scope:

·         for any cash balance transferred to IBCE, you will be entitled to the amount of the cash balance in your account base currency on the date it is transferred to IBCE and IBCE will not convert your cash balance to another currency or pay any interest on cash that it holds in custody for you. 

·         for any financial instruments transferred to IBCE, you will be entitled to those financial instruments and IBCE will not provide any investment services in relation to your financial instruments while they are in IBCE’s custody. For example, IBCE will not take any measures to mitigate losses resulting from market movements. However, in the event your account has insufficient margin, IBCE will take appropriate measures and liquidate positions, without issuing a margin call to you, to bring your account in compliance with margin requirements which are subject to change. More information is provided in FAQ 10.

If you open an IBCE account, Hungarian custody rules will fully apply to your relationship with IBCE. Like the Luxembourg custody rules, the Hungarian conduct of business rules are based on the recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, the Markets in Financial Regulation and various delegated directives and regulations (collectively, "MiFID").

4.      Am I protected against loss?

The Hungarian Investor Protection Fund according to Act CXX of 2001 on the Capital Market may protect your assets from loss, at an amount up to a maximum of EUR 100,000, should IBCE default and be unable to meet its obligations to you. To be eligible for the Fund, you must have a contractual relationship with IBCE.

The compensation provided by the Fund covers claims arising from contracts entered into within the agreement with IBCE of brokerage activity, securities custody, securities account management and client account management activities performed by IBCE.

Hungary's compensation scheme is similar to the compensation scheme you have access to in Luxembourg. The purpose of the Fund is to pay compensation to you in the event that:

·     the Central Bank of Hungary initiates liquidation proceedings of IBCE, or

·     a court orders the liquidation of IBCE. 

IBCE is a member of the Fund (please see https://bva.hu/en/ipf/ipf-members/). 

If you are eligible, you can only make a claim after a firm goes out of business and its assets have been liquidated and distributed to those who are owed money. Please check the details of the schemes for any limits that apply – not all losses will be covered as there are maximum levels of compensation.   The Fund will pay you compensation for the amount you have lost up to a maximum of EUR 100,000.

The amount paid by the Fund is:

·     100% up to the limit of the EUR equivalent of one million forints (EUR 2,805 on 5^th September 2021),

·     above one million forints: 1 million forints and 90% of the part above one million forints to a maximum of EUR 100,000.

5.      How do I make a complaint to IBCE? What if my complaint relates to something that happened while I was a customer of IBLUX?

The GBR sets out how to lodge a complaint with IBCE. The IBCE complaints handling procedures are materially similar to those that apply to your existing relationship with IBLUX, but the scope of the complaint provisions is much narrower as the services provided to you are limited to holding your assets under custody in trust until you submit transfer instructions or become a full IBCE client.

If the substance of your complaint relates to something that happened prior to the Transfer, then you should address your complaint to IBLUX. 

6.      After the Transfer, will I still have access to the CSSF to file a complaint?

In case of a complaint, investors should follow the complaints procedure as referred to in the IBLUX Customer Agreement. Once the Transfer has taken place, the CSSF will cease to have jurisdiction over any complaints that you may have in respect of IBLUX. However, please be aware that Hungary has a dispute resolution scheme operated by the Central Bank of Hungary in the form of the Financial Arbitration Board ("FAB"). The FAB is a free and independent statutory dispute resolution scheme for financial services. You may be eligible to make a complaint to the FAB if you are a retail customer.  Details of FAB can be found on https://www.mnb.hu/en/hungarian-financial-arbitration-board

 The FAB can be contacted at: 

Postal Address

Financial Arbitration Board

1525 Budapest

Pf. 172

Email

ugyfelszolgalat@mnb.hu

7.      How will my personal data be processed and protected? Are there any material differences that will apply to my relationship with IBCE compared to those that apply to my existing relationship with IBLUX in this context?

Your data will be processed and protected in accordance with the Interactive Brokers Group Privacy Policy which can be found at:https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=305. There will be no material change.

8.      Will the range of services be the same?

No. This account has been created solely for the safe custody of your assets while we wait for you to instruct us on where to transfer your assets or elect to become a full IBCE client. As a result, our services are limited to holding your assets and where relevant taking action to ensure you meet applicable margin requirements.

9.      Did you liquidate some or all the positions in my account to facilitate the Transfer?

As we previously wrote to you explaining, in many cases we liquidated some or all positions in client accounts back to the account’s base currency to facilitate that Transfer to IBCE. Where positions remain, FAQs 10-11 address how they will be transferred and custodied at IBCE.

10.  I have a margin account. Are the margin terms governing my account different following the Transfer to IBCE?

No. Your obligations and responsibilities in connection with your margin account and trading on margin remain following the Transfer as they were at IBLUX. However, you are not able to freely operate the account, including opening of new positions, unless you become a full IBCE client.

Please review the provisions relating to margin in the IBCE Client Agreement [https://gdcdyn.interactivebrokers.com/Universal/servlet/Registration_v2.formSampleView?formdb=4501], as they will apply to your account and assets while they are held under custody in trust at IBCE.

11.  What happens to any security I have granted to IBLUX as part of a margin loan?

If you have granted security or collateral to IBLUX this will transfer to IBCE upon the Transfer taking place.

12.  Will all account balances be transferred at the same time and what is the timing?

IBCE will support a limited number of deposit currencies.  The following ten cash deposit currencies, the "Allowed Deposit Currencies" are: EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, DKK, NOK, SEK, HUF, CZK and PLN

Where appropriate to facilitate the Transfer, we converted long cash balances in other currencies to one of the Allowed Deposit Currencies before migration.

In accordance with the client asset protection rules in Hungary, client funds must be protected in the same form that they were received by the broker.  This contrasts with your previous broker, IBLUX, whose regulatory client asset rules allowed them to protect your funds in equivalent value in another currency.  Short currency balances are unaffected.  

All cash balances will be transferred at the same time, and your current account at IBLUX will be closed and inaccessible for trading purposes. You will still be able to access this closed account via the Client Portal for purposes of viewing and printing historical statements.

13.  Will IBKR’s commissions and fees change when my account is migrated? 

IBKR commissions and fees do not vary by the broker your account is maintained with.

However, while your assets are held in custody in trust at IBCE until you either transfer your assets to another financial institution or to a new account with IBCE, IBCE will apply a monthly fee to hold your account initially set at Euro 100. The monthly fee can be amended at any time in IBCE’s sole discretion notification to you, which might be by way of email or IBCE’s website.

In addition, IBCE will not pay interest to you but shall charge interest to you at such interest rates and on credit or debit balances as are then set forth on the IBCE website. IBCE will also charge a currency handling fee for cash balances in currencies that have negative interest rates.

Keep in mind, if the cash balance of your account is insufficient to cover these fees, IBCE may liquidate assets in the same manner IBLUX would liquidate assets before the Transfer.

14.  I have other questions about what will and will not be changing following the Transfer? 

If you still have questions, please contact IBKR Client Services.