Discover our latest AI-powered innovations around faster payments, smarter workflows, and real-time visibility.Learn more →
A Client Money Account (CMA) is an account opened by a UK and European Economic Area regulated firm to hold money that belongs to one or more of that institution’s clients.
In the case of a CMA, the firm acts as a trustee of the account, but the funds still belong entirely to the client(s). Money in a CMA is held separately from the firm’s own funds, so that there is no co-mingling of client money with money belonging to the firm itself. CMAs must also always be clearly identified, so that there is no potential for confusion between client funds and the funds of the firm.
Client money accounts are useful in a variety of instances, including when fintech companies are holding funds on behalf of clients of their own or when funds need to be held in a trust. Accountants and solicitors (or lawyers), may also need CMAs to keep funds on behalf of clients.
In some cases, these accounts are regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). CMAs may also be regulated by individual regulatory body’s specific to an industry—for example, a CMA for an accountant could be subject to regulation by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) or the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), among others. The same is true for other professions, too: if members of a given profession have client money accounts, then those CMAs are subject to profession-specific regulation.
Try Modern Treasury
See how smooth payment operations can be.
Learn
Bank accounts are monetary repositories maintained by a financial institution.
A clearing account acts as a temporary account that holds transactions before they are finalized or allocated to the correct permanent account.
Lockboxes are secure bank-run mailing locations where businesses can redirect their paper-check payments, allowing banks to take over the depositing process.
Virtual accounts are unique account numbers assigned within traditional, physical bank accounts, which are also known as settlement accounts. They can be used to send and receive money on behalf of the settlement account.
Implementing a multi-bank strategy is vital for companies looking to reduce risk exposure. In this article we explain how to reduce financial risk by implementing bank redundancy.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Commission was created in 1933 to reinforce the public’s trust in the American banking system. Since the Great Depression, it has successfully prevented widespread loss of consumer deposits in the event of a banking crisis.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC) was created to protect deposit holders in the event of a bank failure. In this article we explain how FDIC receiverships work.
A Client Money Account (CMA) is an account opened by a UK and European Economic Area regulated firm to hold money that belongs to one or more of that institution’s clients.
When businesses borrow funds, their lenders have options for protecting against the risks of extending credit.
Popular in the banking and finance world, penny tests are a simple way to verify the validity of a bank account or bank integration, prior to a large finance transaction taking place.
Sweep accounts are a particular type of bank account where funds are automatically transferred between different accounts to optimize the use of available cash and maximize returns
An FBO account, or a For Benefit Of account, allows a company to manage funds on behalf of—or for the benefit of—one or more of their users, without assuming legal ownership of the account.