CASS 7.8 Notification and acknowledgement of trust

When a firm opens a client bank account, the firm must give or have given written notice to the bank requesting the bank to acknowledge to it in writing that:

1. (a)

   all money standing to the credit of the account is held by the firm as trustee (or if relevant, as agent) and that the bank is not entitled to combine the account with any other account or to exercise any right of set-off or counterclaim against money in that account in respect of any sum owed to it on any other account of the firm; and

2. (b)

   the title of the account sufficiently distinguishes that account from any account containing money that belongs to the firm, and is in the form requested by the firm.

In the case of a client bank account in the United Kingdom, if the bank does not provide the required acknowledgement within 20 business days after the firm dispatched the notice, the firm must withdraw all money standing to the credit of the account and deposit it in a client bank account with another bank as soon as possible.

A firm which undertakes any contingent liability investment for clients through an exchange, clearing house, intermediate broker or OTC counterparty must, before the client transaction account is opened with the exchange, clearing house, intermediate broker or OTC counterparty:

1. (a)

   notify the person with whom the account is to be opened that the firm is under an obligation to keep client money separate from the firm's own money, placing client money in a client bank account;

2. (b)

   instruct the person with whom the account is to be opened that any money paid to it in respect of that transaction is to be credited to the firm's client transaction account; and

3. (c)

   require the person with whom the account is to be opened to acknowledge in writing that the firm's client transaction account is not to be combined with any other account, nor is any right of set-off to be exercised by that person against money credited to the client transaction account in respect of any sum owed to that person on any other account.

If the intermediate broker or OTC counterparty does not provide the required acknowledgement within 20 business days of the dispatch of the notice and instruction, the firm must cease using the client transaction account with that broker or counterparty and arrange as soon as possible for the transfer or liquidation of any open positions and the repayment of any money.