Global Currency Account Terms of Service

These terms and conditions apply from 1 December 2020. 

1. This Agreement

This Global Currency Account Terms (the “Agreement”) governs your use of the global currency account (the “Global Currency Account” or the “GCA”) for businesses offered by OFX Payments Ireland Limited trading as OFX (“OFX”).

In this Agreement, “you” and “your” refers to you, and “we,” “us” and “our” refer to OFX. To use the GCA, you must accept all the terms of this Agreement.

This Agreement is in addition to and must be read in conjunction with the Customer Agreement. If there is any inconsistency between this Agreement and the Customer Agreement, this Agreement will prevail. Capitalised terms not defined in this Agreement have the same meaning set out in the Customer Agreement.

These documents contain legal obligations for you and for us so you should read them carefully to make sure you understand them. If you have any questions, please contact us on +353 1 582 5307.

You can get a copy of this Agreement at any time by calling us, or emailing us at customer.service@ofx.com.

2. Our GCA service

You can load funds into your GCA from an account in your name or from a third party to hold as electronic money (“e-money”) to use to make payments.

If you apply for a GCA, we will assess the suitability of a GCA service for your business.  You must be using the GCA for business purposes and have a legitimate need to use it. You must not be carrying out Prohibited Business Activities (which are defined in section 16). 

Following approval, we will provide you with a unique account number and account information on opening a GCA.

You may hold e-money in any currencies that we support. We may change these at any time, but we will usually give you two months’ notice before we withdraw a currency. You acknowledge that you accept any risks related to holding balances in multiple currencies and that exchange rates may fluctuate. You agree you will not use the GCA for speculative trading.

You can redeem the e-money at any time by giving us a payment instruction as set out in section 5, otherwise, the e-money held on a GCA does not expire other than when your account is closed. See section 9 for more information.

We do not pay interest on any e-money held in your GCA.

The GCA is an e-money account, not a bank account. This means your e-money isn’t protected by the Irish Deposit Guarantee Scheme. Instead, we will segregate and safeguard funds corresponding to your e-money amount (‘safeguarded funds’) in a separate bank account in accordance with the European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 183/2011).  This protection continues until you ask us to redeem your e-money by instructing us to making a payment from your GCA.  This means in the event of our insolvency, your claim and the claims of other GCA customers are to be paid from the safeguarded funds in priority to the claims of all other creditors. 

3. Information about your Global Currency Account

We will email you whenever there is a payment in or out of your GCA, confirming the reference, the amount of the payment in the currency used and any currency conversion, any charges, and the date the payment was received or made.

This information is also available free of charge by logging into our ofx.com website (“Secure Website”) and selecting the GCA. If you decide to turn off e-mail notifications, it is your responsibility to check these regularly and print or save a copy of this information for your records. If you notice any errors or unauthorised transactions, please contact us immediately using the contact details below.

4. Loading your Global Currency Account

You may have multiple GCAs, either in the same currency or different currencies, provided we consider, in our sole discretion, there is a reasonable business need. You must elect a single currency for each GCA.

To load your GCA, funds can be sent electronically in the same currency you have elected for your account by paying in:

If you want to make the payment this way, we may require evidence that you are entitled to the funds.

Once we receive the funds, we will issue the e-money and update the balance of your GCA.

We do not accept cash, cheques, or other ways of loading funds onto your GCA. If funds are rejected, we will not be responsible for any costs you may incur. We may also need you to evidence ownership of any funds before returning them to you.

5. Paying out of your Global Currency Account

You or an Authorised User can use the security procedures provided to you to ask us to make a transfer or give us payment instructions via our Secure Website, verbally by telephone, or by email where we agree.

You can ask us to make a payment from your GCA either  as an immediate one-off payment, or set up an automatic conversion payment, that is, when you instruct us to convert funds from one currency to another and make a payment immediately upon us issuing the e-money (a “Automatic Conversion”).

Transfers between GCAs: You can transfer funds between your GCAs or send e-money to someone else’s GCA by adding the account details as a recipient either online or by calling us (a “Transfer”).

Before confirming an immediate Transfer, we will tell you the amount of e-money you will use to purchase your required currency and the OFX Spot Exchange rate to be applied (if relevant). We do not usually offer automatic conversion Transfers on a GCA, but if we agree, we will convert the e-money at the OFX Spot Exchange Rate we offer at the time we process your instruction. You can find the current rate by checking our Secure Website or by calling us, however, you acknowledge that exchange rates can fluctuate rapidly and a different rate may apply to a particular Transfer.

Payments from your GCA: You can redeem e-money by giving us an instruction to pay another account in your name or someone else’s. This needs to include the details of the recipient you want to pay (in particular, their account number, which we rely on to make the payment, their full name and address and the full name and address of the recipient bank), the amount, and (if applicable) the currencies you want to exchange.

You can redeem by paying in the same currency as your GCA or by paying in a different currency.  If you wish to pay in a different currency, your confirmation will comprise your agreement to enter into a Spot Contract for a foreign exchange (FX) transaction.  On receipt of your instruction, we will specify the transaction details including:  

We will redeem the e-money by debiting the relevant amount from your GCA. 

It is your responsibility to ensure that you give us accurate and complete details. We rely solely on the account number you give us and will not check that the name you provide matches the account number you have given us.

How much a Transfer or payment costs: We do not charge a fee if your Transfer or payment requires a currency conversion. However, if we quote you a rate that is clearly a mistake on our part as the result of a technical or human error, it is not binding on us. You must notify us as soon as the mistake comes to your attention and we will requote the rate as soon as possible.

If your Transfer or payment does not require a currency conversion, we charge a flat fee per Transaction or a fee which will be an agreed percentage of the payment amount in the currency the Transfer or payment is being sent in, whichever is confirmed in the quote. We will deduct any fees from your GCA.

We usually require you to hold sufficient e-money in your account prior to executing your instructions for a Transfer or payment.  However, in the event that we agree to make a Transfer or payment without the full amount of e-money in your account, you must pay the full amount of the Transfer or payment to us within 14 days.  Please refer to section 10 below for interest accruing on late payments.

6. Execution times

We process Transfers and payments on Business Days (a day, other than Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, on which banks are open for business in London, or where relevant, in the country of the currency you are exchanging), provided we receive your instruction before our relevant cut off time, otherwise we will deem it to be received the following Business Day. You can find our cut-off times on our website or you can ask us for them.

When we ‘receive’ your instruction depends on the type of Transfer or payment you have asked us to make:

We will process a Transfer the same Business Day as your instruction is received and make the funds available to the recipient GCA straight away. Please refer to the Customer Agreement for the execution times that apply for payments.

You can see the status of a payment by logging into our Secure Website.

You may cancel an automatic conversion instruction at any time by giving us at least 24 hours’ notice, which will apply to any funds received into your GCA after this time. Otherwise, a Transfer or payment instruction cannot generally be withdrawn or changed once it has been received.

7. Payment Service Providers

You may authorise regulated payment services providers to give us instructions in certain circumstances. These are:

You must also take the steps set out in section 6 of the Customer Agreement to ensure your security procedures remain secure. Please contact us if you’d like further information.

8. Loss that you want to claim from us

In addition to the grounds set out in the Customer Agreement, we will not be liable to you:

These exceptions will not apply if we acted fraudulently, with gross negligence or we are at fault and the law doesn’t allow us to exclude or limit liability.

9. Duration and termination of this Agreement

This Agreement will remain in force until terminated by you or us.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing by you, you may terminate this Agreement at any time without charge by notifying us in writing or telling us (we may ask you to confirm this in writing).

We may terminate this Agreement and close your GCA(s) at any time by giving you two calendar months’ notice in writing. In addition to the grounds set out in the Customer Agreement, we may also terminate this Agreement and close your GCA(s) immediately if we reasonably believe:

If we close your GCA(s), you agree to provide us with any information we reasonably need to reactivate it.

If any of your GCA(s) is inactive for an extended period of time, being four months without a payment or Transfer, we may close the GCA(s) on giving written notice to you,

When you or we close your GCA(s), you must redeem any e-money that is still in the Account within a reasonable time by asking us to make a payment to another account in your name. We do not charge for redemption but there may be a charge for the payment (see ‘How much a transfer or payment costs’). After this time, you may not be able to access your GCA and will need to contact Customer Service to redeem any remaining e-money. You have the right to do this for a period of 6 years from the date your GCA is closed.

If you owe us money, we may deduct the amount owed from any balance on your GCAs without further notice to you.

10. Warranties

You agree that the following statements are true and accurate, and you acknowledge that we may refuse to follow an instruction or close your GCA in the event that they are not true and accurate:

If you are acting as a trustee of a trust, this Agreement binds you in your personal capacity and in your capacity as trustee of the trust.

11. Indemnities

You agree to pay us any costs, expenses or fees we may reasonably incur as a result of your failure to perform your obligations under this Agreement. This includes any legal costs, on a solicitor and own client basis, that we may incur in order to enforce our rights or recover any amounts you owe us. You also agree to pay us any fees, costs, duties and taxes validly charged by third parties in relation to the services you enter into, including fees charged by your recipient bank.

If you are merchant receiving funds from an e-commerce marketplace, or via a payment processor, you acknowledge that:

In the event you fail to pay on time any sum due under these terms on time, we may charge you interest on any sum owing at a rate of 2% per annum over the base rate of the Bank of England (or of such monetary authority as may replace it). Interest will accrue and will be calculated daily and be compounded monthly from the date payment was due until the date full payment is made by you.

12. Our contact details

Our head office is at 77 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Block C, Grand Canal Docklands, Dublin D02 VK60, Ireland.

You can contact us by:

This Agreement and all other documents we make available to you are written and available only in English and we will only communicate with you in English.

13. Complaints and disputes

If you are not satisfied with any aspect of our service, please contact us in any of the ways set out in the ‘Our contact details’ section above.

For details of our internal complaint handling procedures please refer to our Complaints Policy which can be found on our website. Alternatively, you can ask us to send you a copy.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint and it relates to your GCA  or a Payment Service, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (“FSPO”) by using the online form available at https://www.fspo.ie/complaint-form.aspx or calling +353 1 567 7000 to ask for a form. You can find further information on eligibility at https://www.fspo.ie/.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint and you are a business that is not eligible for FOS, it must be submitted to arbitration by an arbitrator appointed by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, or a similar body, whose decision shall be binding upon the parties.

14. Governing law

This Agreement shall be interpreted in accordance with the laws of Ireland. Both you and we submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Ireland, except for an action for injunctive relief, which may be brought in any appropriate jurisdiction.

If any provision of this Agreement is found to be illegal or unenforceable, that provision will be limited to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement will otherwise remain in full force and effect.

15. Assignment and waiver

You may not assign this Agreement or any rights under it, in whole or in part, without OFX’s prior written consent.

If we fail to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement it shall not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce the same right or provision on a future date.

16. Definitions

“Prohibited Business Activities” means using the GCA or receiving or making payments in connection with the following products or services (we may add to this list at any time):

© 2020 OFX Payments Ireland Limited.