KPMG Updates Alpari UK Clients on Insolvency Process, Parsing out Some Numbers

KPMG, special administrator to Alpari UK, released an update to clients and creditors on Monday. The update confirms Forex Magnates’ report that the company’s intellectual property has been acquired by Andrey Dashin.

It also confirms that Alpari UK will be sold for parts after no buyers of the company as a whole emerged, and it further affirms that 114 employees have since resigned or been made redundant, the remaining 52 employees assisting KPMG.

We do receive some welcome (or unwelcome) numbers as to Client Money . KPMG reassures that client funds were held in segregated accounts totaling approximately £65.5 million. All of the institutions that held client money on behalf of Alpari UK have been contacted and, to date, have transferred approximately £43.3 million (about 66% of the funds) to trust accounts under KPMG’s direct control. The remaining £22.2 million of segregated funds is awaiting confirmation of transfer.

They remind customers that information regarding the pricing of trades is not expected to impact clients who only held cash balances in their accounts at 9:30 am GMT on January 15 and who entered no subsequent trades.

Beyond that, the analyzing of trades closed on the 15^th and 16^th of January continues. Until that's done, KPMG can’t confirm final client account balances. For what it’s worth, “the Joint Special Administrators appreciate that the current situation and ongoing delay may cause difficulties and uncertainty for clients…[and they] are aware of the importance of completing this process as soon as possible and are working hard to achieve this.”

However, given the complexity and need to comply with Regulation , they aren’t able to give a definitive timeline for completion, leaving many customers with little-to-no answers. Once the validation process has been completed, another statement will be issued. In any event, another update will be provided February 20^th.

Regarding their controversial claims portal, KPMG says that development is progressing well. As soon as the portal is available, clients whose balances have been validated should be able to view their statements. As of yet there is no need to submit a claim, and if you have already filled out a Proof of Debt form or attempted to lodge a claim vie email, these will, in effect, be ignored.

Some cold comfort to employees is that, at most, they will have to wait eight weeks to the day of KPMG’s appointment as special administrators. By then, KPMG is required to send proposals to all known clients and creditors.