FAQs

Due to the volatile nature of the currency market, entering into a forward contract requires some financial commitment from you in the form of a deposit which is held on account until your final draw down. Deposits are always payable within one business day of entering into a forward contract.

What currency should I pay the deposit in?
You can pay this deposit either in the currency you are selling, in which case we will reduce the amount owed to Equals at the end of the contract, or in the currency you are buying in which case we will return the full deposit to you on successful completion of the contract.

How much deposit will I need to provide?
The percentage and value of the deposit we require you to hold against the contract will be shown on the platform and in your confirmation. What is an additional deposit? Occasionally you may be required to pay additional deposits (also called a ‘variation margin’) if there are unfavorable currency movements against the contracts you have with Equals.

For example if your variation margin terms are 3% then every time the market rate moves against your currency pair by 3% we will contact you to request a minimum deposit of 3% to bring your position back to the initial deposit level. We will then contact you for further deposit for every 3% the exchange rate moves against you. Deposit amounts will be held on account for you and paid out/back if the rate moves back in your favour or on completion of the contract. Any additional deposits must be received within one business day of Equals making the request otherwise the trade is at risk of being closed with any loss incurred being invoiced to the client.

Additional deposits are calculated like follows: (this is an example only and does not reflect a contract rate being offered by Equals) January 18th A client buys 300,000 EUR at the exchange rate of 1.2625 for €237,623.76 GBP on a 4-month forward contract with a required deposit of 10%. The client pays £23,762.38 GBP to hold as a deposit at Equals.

April 20th The exchange rate has since moved to 1.3005 [+3%]. The current value (also called mark-to-market) of 300,000 EUR is now £230,680.51 GBP. This would require the payment of an additional deposit. Equals would calculate the additional deposit as follows:

• Decline in value of Forward contract: £6,943.25 GBP
• Additional deposit amount required to meet 3% margin call: £6,943.25 GBP
• Total Deposit held after margin call is met: £23,762.38 GBP + £6,943.25 = £30705.626 GBP ‍

You can create either a Shared or an Individual Balance.

Shared balances are best if a project team or department need to share funds. They can also be used for payments such as subscriptions which are managed by multiple people. Individual balances work well if you want a designated pot for one person's allocated spend.
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How to create an Individual Balance

Go to the Balances page.
Select "Create Balance" which is underneath the view of the currency breakdown of your funds.
Choose Individual Balance.
Choose someone on your account to assign the Balance to.
Select a Parent Balance. Anyone in charge of the Parent Balance will be able to move money to any of the Balances under it.
Select the currencies available to this Balance. You can select any of the currencies available in the parent Balance.

How to create a Shared balance

Go to the Balances page
Select "Create Balance" which is underneath the view of the currency breakdown of your funds
Choose Shared Balance.
Choose a name for your Shared Balance, e.g. "Slack subscription" or "Office xmas party".
Select a Parent Balance. Anyone able to manage the Parent Balance will be able to move money to any of the Balances under it.
Turn on any features you want to be available for this balance. You can only choose features that are available on the Parent Balance.
Lastly, select the currencies available to this Balance. You can select any of the currencies that are available in the Parent Balance.

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To understand how to assign people to Balances and how to choose management and access permissions for Balances, please read our walkthrough.

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We recommend using multiple Balances on your account to allow you to structure pots of funds in a way that optimises your money management. Remember, you can have multiple layers of Balances.

For example:
Your first and highest level balance is always your Account Balance.
Under your Account Balance, you could have a "Marketing" Balance. You can assign your Head of Marketing to manage all the funds in this Balance.
Under the "Marketing" Balance you may choose to have an "Online Ad Spend" Balance. The Head of Marketing can access this, and may assign a Performance Marketer in their team to this sub-Balance.
Under the "Online Ad Spend" Balance you may choose to have individual balances for "Google Ads" and "Facebook Ads".

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