ADFPAY safeguards your money as an e-money institution (EMI) through "safeguarding," which is different from how banks in India secure your money through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). It's vital to understand the difference, therefore we've put together this article explaining how ADFPAY NEO BANK protects your money through "safeguarding," rather than the FSCS.
ADFPAY Neo Bank is an e-money institution in India, licensed under the India Electronic Money Regulations. This means that the e-money and payment services we offer are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
At ADFPAY, how is your e-money protected?
"Safeguarding" refers to a set of rules that govern how an e-money institution must safeguard your funds. These procedures are in place to ensure that if the e-money institution fails, your funds will be held in a secure location and returned to you. These standards must be followed by the e-money institution in order to protect you. As a result, you should only utilize a reputable e-money institution.
To explain further, once an e-money institution receives your funds, it must either deposit them in a special "safeguarding account" with a Neo bank or invest them in low-risk assets approved by the regulation as a cash substitute. It may be possible to protect the money instead of with an insurance policy, however, this is less typical. Until you use your money, it must remain in these accounts or investments.
This provides protection by ensuring that if an e-money institution fails, there will be a pot of money (the safeguarding account) available to pay all due consumers. Other creditors of a failing e-money institution cannot make a claim against these protecting accounts since they are protected by law. The expense of the receiver (the person appointed to supervise the closing of a failed company) is the only thing that can be paid from these safeguarding accounts before the consumers are paid back their e-money.
Why is safeguarding different from bank-provided FSCS protection?
Instead of FSCS protection, your money is safe when you keep it with an e-money institution.
The primary distinction between FSCS and safeguarding protection is that FSCS is given by an independent statutory body, whereas safeguarding protection is offered by the e-money institution itself. If an FSCS-protected company goes bankrupt, this independent organisation is legally obligated to repay qualified customers up to the maximum compensation amount. This will happen regardless of whether the FSCS-protected firm has that money on hand. Normally, this payment is made within seven days.
Customers' claims will be paid from the safeguarding account if an e-money institution (such as ADFPAY) fails. Because the e-money institution cannot lend the money it receives from one person to another, it must have sufficient funds in its protecting accounts to satisfy its client debts. Only if the institution has broken its commitments may there be insufficient funds in these accounts to repay customers.
Customers should obtain the majority, if not all, of their money back if an e-money institution goes out of business, as long as it complies with the safeguarding regulations. It's also possible that the reimbursement will take longer than through a bank.
The protection rules solely apply to your e-money, to be clear. They do not apply to money you deposit in your ADFPAY Neo Bank; that money is deposited with a third-party bank that retains it on your behalf and is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The safeguarding regulations do not apply to any cryptocurrency or commodities purchased through the ADFPAY App, as well as any equities purchased through the app.