Safeguarding

Holding customer funds in accounts segregated from a firm's own operating money, so that the two are legally distinguishable if the firm fails.

Safeguarding is not deposit insurance, and the difference matters. A deposit guarantee scheme pays out up to a limit when a bank fails. Segregation changes how customer money is treated in an insolvency, and no scheme stands behind it.

Any provider describing safeguarded funds as protected in the way a bank deposit is protected is overstating the position.