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Contract reading

What Atlantic Securities legally published, but does not want you to read

Every clause below is published by Atlantic Securities itself, on its own website, today. The finding is not that the text exists. It is the distance between what a client is shown and what a client agreed to. Read from its own documents on .

Contracting entity: Atlantic Securities Ltd

hidden feesole discretionclient assetsdeemed acceptanceaccount restrictionscompensation schemedisclosureintroducing brokerwithdrawalsarbitration

Atlantic Securities introduces you to Interactive Brokers Ireland, which then holds your money under Irish law. Your commission is a markup on top of Interactive Brokers' own fee, and the split is never stated. The global fees page promises you would not pay more, while the contract behind it lets prices change the day they are posted. Suspicion of a crime, including one committed against you, lets the account be frozen and emptied with no claim.

Back to Atlantic Securities

Contract risk

Money at risk
6.0/10

Where this contract sitsHow far this contract goes, overall. Under 2 is nothing beyond the ordinary; 6 to 9 means several clauses put money you have already earned at risk; 9 and above reads as designed to make payout refusable.

0510
CriticalClauses that can cost you money you have already earned or deposited, or that remove your ability to challenge it.
13
FlaggedEvery clause worth knowing about, at all three severities. Ordinary terms that every broker has are not counted.
29
DocumentsHow many of the broker's own legal files this reading is based on. Each one was downloaded and hashed on the date shown.
56
ContradictionsPlaces where a promise the broker makes in public is not kept by the clause that governs it.
4

How the 29 break downThe same flagged clauses, split by how much each one can cost you. Severity is our reading of the clause, not the broker's label.

Critical13
Warning14
Notice2

section 22 of 29is where the deepest clause sits, 76% of the way into the document it is in

The numbers in this contractFigures taken from this broker's own clauses, so the labels differ from broker to broker. The four in the panel above are the same on every report.

3 of these 4 figures come from a clause we rate critical, which means it can take your money or your profit rather than only delay it.

Critical2In the contract. Jump to the clause this comes from.Two firms share your account and neither answers for the otherCritical0.2%Fee you were not shown. Jump to the clause this comes from.Your commission is a markup and the split is never statedCritical$20000Withdrawal limit. Jump to the clause this comes from.A bank failure is shared out among clients, including you$25000Account limit. Jump to the clause this comes from.A 25,000 dollar floor after three day trades in five days

What the documents say

29 clauses worth knowing about, worst first, each quoted from Atlantic Securities's own files

01

Atlantic Securities introduces you to Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, and IBIE then holds your cash, keeps your shares and sets the contract terms. The clearing notice says IBIE does not supervise Atlantic, and Atlantic cannot bind IBIE to anything.

In plain words

Supersedes means beats: where two documents disagree, that one wins.

Why this matters

Your money sits with a Dublin firm under Irish law, while the firm you signed up with is in Nicosia. When the two disagree about your account, neither document makes either of them answerable for the other.

Exhibit 1CriticalStandard wording2

IBIE does not control, audit or supervise the activities of the Introducing Broker or its registered representatives.
Clause 10 in IB Ireland Ltd Notice and Acknowledgement of Clearing Agreement, p.2
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 4The same split that divides responsibility also decides who you may complain to.
  • Worse together with Exhibit 2The split is why your commission has two owners and one published number.
02

Atlantic adds its own fee on top of what Interactive Brokers charges, then shows you one combined number. European shares cost 0.20% with a 5 EUR minimum, and nothing tells you how much of that Atlantic keeps.

Why this matters

You cannot see what you are paying your own broker, so you cannot compare it with anyone else. To work it out you have to price the same trade on a second company's website and subtract.

Exhibit 2CriticalHarder than usual0.2%

Client acknowledges that while fees are presented as a total cost, IBKR acts as the clearing firm and will deduct the total amount from the Client’s account, remitting the markup portion to Atlantic Securities Ltd.
Quoted in Account opening Global Consent and Fee disclosure
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
Set against a regulated standard: CySEC (Cyprus), FCA (UK), ESMA (EU)

Firms licensed by CySEC and the FCA must give a retail client the cost of a service before the client trades, and must break that cost down on request. Atlantic's own account opening disclosure says the total is presented as one figure and that the markup portion goes to Atlantic, without saying what that portion is.

Atlantic Securities is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

  • Worse together with Exhibit 6Neither layer of the commission has to tell you before it changes.
03

If Interactive Brokers suspects your account is involved in any crime, including as the victim, it can freeze the account, liquidate your positions and remove the money. The same clause then takes away your right to claim for what that costs you.

Why this matters

You can be the person who was defrauded and still lose access to your balance, with positions sold at whatever the market gives that day. You waive any claim for the loss.

Exhibit 3CriticalRarely seen

If IBIE in its sole discretion believes or suspects that the Client’s account(s) has been involved in any fraud or crime or violation of laws or regulations, or has been accessed unlawfully, or is otherwise involved in any suspicious activity (whether victim or perpetrator or otherwise), IBIE may suspend or freeze the account or any privileges associated with the account, may freeze or liquidate funds or assets, remove funds and/or assets from your account or may utilise any of the remedies in this Agreement for a "Default".
Clause 2A(viii) in Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, p.7
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 13The default clause gives the same liquidation powers on a belief about what may happen next.
04

The clearing notice tells you to take every problem to Atlantic and not to Interactive Brokers. Atlantic forwards it to IBIE, and IBIE sends its answer back to Atlantic rather than to you.

Why this matters

A dispute about your own money is decided by a firm you are told not to contact, and the answer reaches you second hand. The documents also name different ombudsmen, in Ireland and in Cyprus, and neither says which one handles a complaint about your account.

Exhibit 4CriticalHarder than usual

You should not contact IBIE customer support directly, and instead you must contact the Introducing Broker.
Clause 6 in IB Ireland Ltd Notice and Acknowledgement of Clearing Agreement, p.1
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Only applies after Exhibit 1The routing only exists because the account is split between two firms.
05

Atlantic's global fees page says you could pay less but would not pay more. The contract behind the account lets the price change the moment a new one is posted, and charges Atlantic publishes elsewhere are missing from that page.

Why this matters

You are shown a table and told it is the worst case. The documents behind it allow a different price from the day it appears online, and they allow charges the table never mentions.

Exhibit 5CriticalHarder than usual

Above are the standard costs. You could pay less, but you would not pay more
Quoted in Fees Global
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 21The compensation fund charge is one of the costs the global page leaves out.
  • Worse together with Exhibit 11The withdrawal, closure and transfer fees are on the local page only.

What comes back is not guaranteed to be what you are owed

Funds are not released until positions settle, and a general lien lets Interactive Brokers withhold everything until obligations are met, including obligations that are only contingent. Your cash sits in pooled accounts whose failure is shared out among clients, with the Irish compensation scheme covering 20,000 EUR. Leaving costs 50 EUR for every holding transferred out, 3 EUR per withdrawal request and 10 EUR to close the account.

Getting money out4 clauses flagged

Every asset in your account is pledged to Interactive Brokers, and it can refuse to hand anything back until all your obligations are met, including obligations that are only contingent. The clause says it applies whatever else the agreement says.

Why this matters

A possible future liability is enough to keep your shares and cash where they are. IBIE can also combine your accounts across its affiliates and set one balance off against another.

Exhibit 8CriticalHarder than usual

IBIE hereby has, and the Client hereby grants, a continuing general lien on all Client Assets and shall (notwithstanding any other terms of this Agreement) have a right to withhold redelivery to, or to the order of, the Client of the Client Assets held by IBIE (or any sub-custodian, depository or agent appointed by IBIE) including without limitation, a general right of retention on all Client Assets recorded in the Client's accounts maintained, until satisfaction of all liabilities and obligations (whether actual or contingent) of the Client to IBIE.
Clause 4B(i) in Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, p.20
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Your cash sits in pooled accounts at banks and money market funds that Interactive Brokers picks. The client assets document says IBIE does not carry the risk if one of them fails, and that the loss is spread across the clients it affects.

Why this matters

You do not choose the bank and you have no claim on a specific account, so a failure in the chain costs you a share of the shortfall. The Irish compensation scheme covers 20,000 EUR of what is left.

Exhibit 9CriticalStandard wording$20000

Therefore, in the event of a shortfall in funds arising from a default of a Third Party, you may not receive your full entitlement (all your money back) and you may share in any shortfall, on a pro-rata basis.
Clause 5 in Client Assets Key Information Document, p.6
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Buried at section 22 of 29 in the Client Assets Key Information Document, 76% of the way through.

Set against a regulated standard: CySEC (Cyprus), FCA (UK)

Firms licensed by CySEC and the FCA must keep client money apart from their own and must explain to retail clients what pooling means for them. Interactive Brokers does both, and the same documents place the loss on the client if a bank or fund in the chain fails.

Atlantic Securities is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

  • Worse together with Exhibit 10In some markets the assets are not even kept separate from the holder's own.

The current client assets document adds a section for countries that do not require client assets to be kept separate. It says your assets may be treated as part of the insolvent firm's assets, and that the MiFID protections do not apply while they are held there.

Why this matters

In those markets your shares stop being ring fenced, so a failure could put them among someone else's creditors. Interactive Brokers says it takes a written acknowledgement from the holder and keeps its own ownership records, but it does not promise the protection you would have in Ireland.

Exhibit 10CriticalHarder than usualNew

(a) your assets may not be protected should IBIE or the Third Party become insolvent and may be treated as part of the insolvent firm’s assets, and (b) you do not benefit from the provisions of the MiFID Regulations for as long as your assets are held with the Third Party, other than the requirements to make the disclosures set out in this section.
Clause 4 in Client Assets Key Information Document, p.5
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Buried at section 19 of 29 in the Client Assets Key Information Document, 66% of the way through.

Atlantic's fees page charges 50 EUR per title to transfer securities to another custodian, 3 EUR for each withdrawal request and 10 EUR to close an account. None of those three appear on the global fees page.

Why this matters

Moving a ten stock portfolio to another broker costs 500 EUR in transfer fees before anything else. If your account is a global one, you are pointed at a page that mentions none of this.

Exhibit 11WarningHarder than usual$50

Transfer of dematerialised securities to another custodian fee EUR 50 per title
Quoted in Fees
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 14Fractional holdings cannot be transferred at all, so they have to be sold first.

A price ceiling and an official language that the documents do not support

Atlantic's global fees page tells you that you could pay less but would not pay more. The agreement behind the account lets costs change the instant they are posted, and charges Atlantic publishes on its local page are absent from the global one. A second gap runs through the whole shelf: the client information document names Greek as the official language of the relationship, while the agreement that governs the account exists only in English.

Page against contract1 clause flagged

Atlantic's client information document says the official language of communication with the firm is Greek. The contract that governs a global account is Interactive Brokers' English customer agreement, which says it is supplied in English and that the relationship will be conducted in English.

Why this matters

Whichever language you read, half of this relationship arrives in the other one. A Greek speaker signs an English contract, and an English speaker is promised that everything the firm sends will be in Greek.

Exhibit 26CriticalHarder than usual

Η επίσημη γλώσσα επικοινωνίας με την ΚΕΠΕΥ είναι η ελληνική.
Clause 4 in Information-for-clients, p.2
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

The commission has two owners and one published number

Atlantic charges 0.20% on European shares with a 5 EUR minimum, and that single figure covers both Atlantic's fee and Interactive Brokers' execution fee. Atlantic's own account opening disclosure confirms that the markup portion is remitted to Atlantic, without saying what it is. Prices on either layer take effect the moment they are posted online, and the yearly compensation fund charge appears on neither global page.

Cost disclosure3 clauses flagged

Interactive Brokers can change what you pay with no notice period at all. Clause 5 says a change takes effect immediately on being posted to the website, emailed, or given in any other written notice.

Why this matters

You can place a trade expecting one commission and be charged another, because the new rate applies from the moment it appears online. The same clause covers interest rates and the instructions for sending money in.

Exhibit 6CriticalHarder than usual

Changes to Costs and Charges are effective immediately upon any of: posting on the IBIE website or email or other written notice to the Client.
Clause 5A(iv) in Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, p.22
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
Set against a regulated standard: CySEC (Cyprus), FCA (UK)

Firms licensed by CySEC and the FCA must tell a retail client what a service will cost before the client trades. This clause lets the price take effect the instant it appears on a web page.

Atlantic Securities is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

Atlantic passes its investor compensation fund contribution on to clients. The charge is 0.10% of your eligible capital a year, capped at 20 EUR, plus a 1 EUR administration fee, and it can be taken whenever you withdraw money or move securities.

Why this matters

The scheme that would pay you if the firm failed is billed to you at up to 21 EUR a year. Your own withdrawal can trigger the charge instead of a date in the calendar.

Exhibit 21WarningHarder than usual0.1%

The CIF considers fair that this cost which is effectively a premium that is obliged to pay to insure the eligible capital and financial instruments of its covered clients, is borne by its covered clients.
Quoted in INVESTORS-COMPENSATION-FUND-POLICY
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Atlantic's client money policy says the company does not pay interest on client money. The customer agreement says Interactive Brokers may keep interest earned on your funds, and that it has no duty to tell you when its rates change.

Why this matters

Cash sitting in your account can earn money for someone else. Where a negative rate applies to the account holding it, that rate is passed on to you instead.

Exhibit 22WarningHarder than usual

Η Εταιρεία δεν καταβάλλει τόκους για τα χρήματα των πελατών.
Quoted in Clients-money-policy
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Two clauses can take a gain away and leave you without a claim

Suspicion of a crime, including one committed against you, lets Interactive Brokers freeze the account, sell positions and remove funds, and the same clause waives your claim for the loss. A second clause lets it decline to exercise options that are in the money at expiry, again with no claim for the lost profit. Both powers rest on the firm's own view of your account rather than on a stated test.

Money already earned1 clause flagged

If Interactive Brokers decides you may not have enough equity to take delivery, it can instruct that your options are not exercised, even when they are in the money at expiry. You agree you have no claim for the profit that disappears.

Why this matters

An option worth money on expiry day can be allowed to lapse, and the gain is gone. The clause says you have no claim for damages or lost profits for that decision.

Exhibit 7CriticalHarder than usual

IBIE has the right, but not the obligation to a) liquidate some or all of the options or rights position prior to expiration; and/or b) lapse some or all of the options (i.e., instruct that they not be exercised), even if in-the-money at expiration
Clause 4A(vii) in Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, p.20
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Positions can be closed without a call, and some holdings cannot leave

Atlantic's margin disclosure says it will generally issue no margin call and will liquidate your positions without notice, and Interactive Brokers warns that its automatic liquidation is not a stop loss. Default can be declared on a belief that something is likely to happen imminently. Three day trades in five days brings a 25,000 dollar minimum equity rule, and fractional shares have to be sold before an account can be moved.

Control of the account6 clauses flagged

Atlantic's own margin disclosure says it will generally not issue margin calls and will liquidate positions in your account without telling you first. You do not choose which positions go, or in what order.

In plain words

Negative balance protection is a limit that stops you owing more than you put in. Without it, one fast market move can leave you owing the broker money on top of your deposit.

Why this matters

A position can be closed at the worst moment of the day without a phone call, and you still owe any shortfall left behind. Interactive Brokers also warns that you must not treat its automatic liquidation as a stop loss order.

Exhibit 12CriticalStandard wording

You should understand that pursuant to the AS Margin Agreement, AS generally will not issue margin calls, that AS will not credit your account to meet intraday margin deficiencies, and that AS generally will liquidate positions in your account in order to satisfy margin requirements without prior notice to you and without an opportunity for you to choose the positions to be liquidated or the timing or order of liquidation.
Quoted in Margin-Trading-Risk-disclosure
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference
Set against a regulated standard: CySEC (Cyprus), FCA (UK), ESMA (EU)

Firms licensed by CySEC and the FCA must give retail clients negative balance protection on contracts for difference, so a CFD loss cannot take the account below zero. That protection does not cover the securities and futures margin this disclosure deals with, and the disclosure says you can lose more than you deposit.

Atlantic Securities is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

  • Worse together with Exhibit 13A deficit left after liquidation becomes a debt with collection costs attached.

A default happens automatically and without notice on a list of events, and the last entry is Interactive Brokers having reason to believe one of the others is likely to occur imminently. It can then liquidate any part of your positions at any time.

Why this matters

You can be in default before anything has actually gone wrong. If a deficit is left over you agree to pay the cost of collecting it, including lawyers, and the claim can be sold to anyone.

Exhibit 13WarningHarder than usual

(ix) IBIE having reason to believe that any of the foregoing is likely to occur imminently. The Client unconditionally agrees that, upon a Default, IBIE may terminate any or all IBIE's obligations to the Client and IBIE shall have the right in its discretion, but not the obligation, without prior notice, to liquidate all or any part of the Client's positions in any IBIE account, individual or joint, at any time and in any manner and through any market or dealer.
Clause 6A in Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, p.24
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Fractional shares are not transferable to another broker. To move your account you have to sell them first, and Interactive Brokers charges commission on those closing trades.

Why this matters

Changing broker turns part of your portfolio into a sale you did not choose, with tax consequences and commission. You also get no vote on fractional holdings and cannot take part in a tender offer with them.

Exhibit 14WarningStandard wording

While the Client maintains complete day-to-day control of any fractional Shares in their account, fractional Shares are not transferable to another broker. If the Client wants to transfer the holdings in an account to another brokerage firm, the fractional Share holdings cannot be transferred and will need to be liquidated before transfer, which may have tax consequences and will result in commission charges.
Clause 2C(i)(b) in Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, p.10
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Atlantic classifies an account as a pattern day trader once it makes three day trades in a five day period. That account cannot trade at all unless it holds at least 25,000 dollars.

Why this matters

Three round trips in a week can lock a smaller account out of trading until you fund it to 25,000 dollars. The threshold appears in a risk disclosure, not on the fees or account opening pages.

Exhibit 15WarningHarder than usual$25000

As required by current SEC and SRO rules and regulations, AS will classify an account that effects three (3) day trades within a five (5) day period as a Pattern Day Trader account.
Quoted in Day-Trading-Risk-Disclosure-Statement
Read from the broker's site on Archived copyOpen the reference

What happens, and when

The stages this clause runs through, taken from the broker's own document
TriggerWhat the broker may then doClause
3 day trades in 5 daysAtlantic classifies the account as a Pattern Day Trader account.
Minimum equityThe account cannot carry out any transactions unless it holds at least 25,000 dollars.

The structured products disclosure says Interactive Brokers may or may not pass on an early exercise, even when the terms of the product specifically allow for it.

Why this matters

A right written into the product you bought can be unavailable in practice. Nothing in the disclosure says when it will be honoured and when it will not.

Exhibit 16WarningRarely seen

IBIE may not Support all Structured Product Features: IBIE may or may not facilitate the early exercise of Structured Products, even when the terms of the product specifically allow for it.
Clause 6 in Risk Disclosure For Structured Products with IB Ireland Ltd, p.1
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Where it sits: section 8 of 38 in the Risk Disclosure For Structured Products with IB Ireland Ltd, near the start.

Two risk disclosures require you to keep alternative trading arrangements in place alongside this account, in case the platform is unavailable.

Why this matters

The cost of that backup is yours. If the system is down and you never opened a second account, the documents put the consequences on you.

Exhibit 17NoticeStandard wording

In this regard, Customer must maintain alternative trading arrangements in addition to Customer's AS account in the event that the AS system is unavailable for any reason.
Quoted in Electronic-Trading-and-Order-Routing-Systems-risk-disclosure
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

The broker can be your counterparty, your lender and your competitor

Interactive Brokers discloses that it and its affiliates may trade their own money in the same products as you, on either side of the market, and may do so while holding your unexecuted order at the same price. A one page summary does say orders are generally processed in the order they arrive, including the firm's own. Where the group's venue ties with an outside venue on total cost, your order goes to the group's venue.

In plain words

On a principal basis, as your counterparty, means the broker takes the other side of your trade itself. Your loss is then the firm’s gain, so it has an interest in how your trade ends.

Whose side the broker is on3 clauses flagged

The agreement discloses that Interactive Brokers and its affiliates can trade their own money in the same products as you, at the same time, on either side of the market. It adds that they may do so while holding your unexecuted order at the same price.

Why this matters

Your order can sit unfilled while the firm's own trade goes through at the price you asked for. The same clause says they have no duty to tell you about their trading.

Exhibit 18CriticalHarder than usual

IBIE and its affiliates may execute proprietary trades even if IBIE may simultaneously hold unexecuted Client orders for the same or related products at the same price.
Clause 14A(ii) in Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, p.33
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
Set against a regulated standard: CySEC (Cyprus), FCA (UK), ESMA (EU)

Firms licensed by CySEC and the FCA must carry out comparable client orders promptly and in the order received, and must not place their own interests ahead of a client's. This clause reserves the right to trade the firm's own money at the same price while your order is unexecuted. A separate one page summary says orders are generally processed in the order they arrive, including the firm's own.

Atlantic Securities is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

When the group's own trading venue matches the best total cost available anywhere else, your order goes to the group's venue. For fractional shares the policy puts lower cost ahead of best price.

Why this matters

The tie break always points at the firm's own book, and on those trades the firm is your counterparty. The agreement also allows payments for sending orders to particular venues.

Exhibit 19WarningHarder than usual

In the event of a tie-break between the IB SI and another venue in terms of total consideration, the order will be directed to the IB SI on the basis that the likelihood of execution and successful settlement is higher with the IB SI than an external venue.
Quoted in Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited Order Execution Policy, p.4
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Section 3 of the customer agreement collects a list of express consents. They let Interactive Brokers lend your shares, use them on its own account, pool them with other clients' assets, keep interest earned on your cash and return assets other than the ones you deposited.

Why this matters

Cash moved into a money market fund stops being covered by the client money safeguarding rules, and the agreement says so plainly. A later clause does promise cash collateral of equivalent value while your shares are in use, and return of the same or an equivalent instrument.

Exhibit 20WarningHarder than usual

IBIE may use Client financial instruments to enter into securities financing transactions and / or use such Client financial instruments on own account or for the account of another person or client(s) of IBIE on specified terms agreed between us.
Clause 3E(ii) in Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, p.16
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Where it sits: section 13 of 29 in the Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, 45% of the way through.

Your complaint is routed through the firm that is not holding your money

Atlantic's complaints policy is clear and generous: an acknowledgement in five calendar days, a proposed answer within two months and a final answer within three, then four months to reach the Financial Ombudsman. The clearing notice then tells you not to contact Interactive Brokers at all, and says that notice overrides the customer agreement where the two differ. Market data disputes sit in a separate agreement that sends you to arbitration in Switzerland.

Complaining1 clause flagged

Market data and research are sold by a Swiss company in the same group. Any dispute over that agreement is settled by arbitration in Switzerland under Swiss law, and liability is capped at the fees you paid in the previous 30 days.

In plain words

A manifest error means an obvious mistake by the broker.

Why this matters

A disagreement about a monthly subscription has to be taken to a Swiss arbitration, which costs far more than the fee in dispute. Fees are not refundable, and the agreement can be changed by posting a new version online.

Exhibit 24WarningRarely seen30 days

The seat of the arbitration will be Switzerland. This Agreement and the rights of the parties hereunder shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of Switzerland exclusive of conflict or choice of law rules.
Clause 18A in Global Financial Information Services Subscriber Agreement
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

The firm you sign up with is not the firm that holds your money

Atlantic Securities acts as introducing broker for Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, so a global account is governed by Irish law and a 67 page English agreement from Dublin. Atlantic sets your commission and answers your questions, and Interactive Brokers holds the cash, keeps the shares and decides the disputes. If you want to bring a claim the forum is Ireland, while Interactive Brokers may bring one against you in any court that will take it.

Who you contract with1 clause flagged

Irish law governs the account, and disputes belong to the Irish courts alone, except that Interactive Brokers may sue you in any other court that has jurisdiction. The next clause says claims shall be settled by arbitration in Dublin before three arbitrators.

Why this matters

If you want to bring a claim you go to Dublin. If they want to bring one, they can come to you. You also agree in advance that your assets may be transferred to another investment firm.

Exhibit 25WarningHarder than usual

All disputes shall be of the exclusive competence of the Courts of Ireland, unless IBIE chooses to bring an action against the Client before any other court having jurisdiction under ordinary rules of procedure, in particular according to the applicable jurisdiction rules of the relevant European regulation or applicable convention.
Clause 14D(ii) in Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd Customer Agreement, p.34
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Identity checks run through a third party and a biometric record

Opening an account means consenting to Interactive Brokers and AU10TIX holding your biometric data, for 30 days at AU10TIX and longer at the broker. The consent form sends you to a privacy policy through a link that was never filled in. Atlantic's client acceptance policy, published in Greek only, puts clients taken on at a distance from higher risk countries in its high risk category.

Opening the account1 clause flagged

Opening the account means consenting to Interactive Brokers and AU10TIX collecting, processing and storing your biometric data. AU10TIX keeps it for 30 days and the broker keeps it for as long as anti money laundering rules require.

Why this matters

Your face becomes a record held by a company you did not choose. The consent form points you to the privacy policy through a link that was never filled in, so the document you are agreeing to is not there.

Exhibit 27WarningStandard wording30 days

By clicking I AGREE, you consent to Interactive Brokers (your Clearing Broker) and AU10TIX, collecting, processing and storing your personal and biometric data for the purpose of customer due diligence.
Quoted in Au10tix Consent Intermediated, Default
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

No dormancy fee, but holding still costs 0.12% a year

Nothing in these documents charges you for being inactive, which is better than many brokers manage. A custody fee of 0.12% a year is calculated and charged monthly on what you hold, and reactivating or closing an account costs 10 EUR. Atlantic's client money policy also reserves the right to charge fees for administering accounts without naming an amount.

In plain words

Dormancy means an account left unused.

The cost of doing nothing1 clause flagged

There is no dormancy fee and no inactivity charge anywhere in these documents. There is a custody fee of 0.12% a year, calculated monthly, and a 10 EUR fee to reactivate or close an account.

Why this matters

A buy and hold account pays the custody fee every month on what it owns, on top of the yearly compensation fund charge. Doing nothing is not free.

Exhibit 23WarningHarder than usual0.12%

Custody Fees 0.12% Annually, calculated and charged on a monthly basis
Quoted in Fees Global
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

A 2001 Cypriot licence, an Irish clearing firm, and a shelf that has gone stale

Atlantic Securities holds CySEC licence 005/03, trades since August 2001 and belongs to Atlantic Insurance Co. Public Ltd, a listed Cypriot company. Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited holds the global accounts under Central Bank of Ireland authorisation CBI00423427, and each firm sits behind a different compensation scheme. The conflicts and best execution policies still cite the directive MiFID II replaced in 2018, the shares cost grid is dated 1 January 2023, and the investor compensation information document contains no readable text.

Licences and paperwork2 clauses flagged

Atlantic's conflicts of interest policy and its best execution policy both give their legal basis as Law 144(I)2007 and Directive 2004/39/EC. MiFID II replaced that directive in January 2018, and the about page says the firm operates under MiFID II.

Why this matters

The two policies that show how your orders are handled and how conflicts are managed describe an older rulebook. The cost grid linked from the global fees page is dated 1 January 2023, and two day trading disclosures on the same shelf set different thresholds.

Exhibit 29Warning

Ο Νόµος αρ.144(Ι)2007 που προνοεί για την παροχή επενδυτικών υπηρεσιών, την άσκηση επενδυτικών δραστηριοτήτων, τη λειτουργία ρυθµιζόµενων αγορών και άλλα συναφή θέµατα (στη συνέχεια «ο Νόµος») ο οποίος ενσωµατώνει την Οδηγία 2004/39/ΕΚ του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου για τις Αγορές Χρηµατοπιστωτικών Μέσων (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ή σε συντοµία MiFID) στο Κυπριακό ∆ίκαιο
Quoted in Conflict-of-interest-policy, p.1
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference
Our own capture of atlanticfs.com, taken on Oct 11, 2026The claim, on History section of the About Us pageVisit this page on the broker's siteDownload the full size image file
Set against a regulated standard: CySEC (Cyprus), ESMA (EU)

Firms licensed by CySEC have to keep a conflicts of interest policy and an order execution policy that meet the MiFID II requirements in force since 2018. Both published policies state their basis as the directive MiFID II replaced. A policy can be current in substance while the version on the website is out of date.

Atlantic Securities is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

Atlantic Securities Ltd is a Cypriot firm licensed by CySEC under number 005/03 and a subsidiary of Atlantic Insurance Co. Public Ltd. For a global account the customer agreement is with Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Why this matters

Which regulator and which compensation scheme answers for you depends on which part of the service failed. You are billed every year for the Cypriot scheme, while the Irish one covers what Interactive Brokers holds.

Exhibit 28NoticeStandard wording

Η Atlantic Securities Ltd είναι θυγατρική εταιρεία της Atlantic Insurance Co. Public Ltd, η οποία
Clause 2 in Information-for-clients, p.1
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Where the marketing and the contract disagree

A promise made in public, set against the clause that governs it

01

The page offers a price ceiling, while the agreement behind it lets the price change the moment it is posted.

Said in public, in English

Above are the standard costs. You could pay less, but you would not pay more

Line under the commission table on the Fees Global page

In the contract · clause 5A(iv)

Changes to Costs and Charges are effective immediately upon any of: posting on the IBIE website or email or other written notice to the Client.

02

You are sent to one page for the costs, and the compensation fund charge is not on it.

Said in public, in English

Before proceeding with the account opening, please review our cost and charges as explained on the Fees Global page: https://atlanticfs.com/fees-global. If you are not satisfied with the cost and charges, please do not proceed with the account opening.

Instruction above the agreements package on the Account Opening Global page

In the contract

These ICF fees will amount to 0,1% of the value of the eligible capital of each covered client subject to a maximum amount of €20 plus €1.

03

One document promises Greek for everything the firm sends, and the governing agreement exists in English only.

Said in public, in EL

Η επίσημη γλώσσα επικοινωνίας με την ΚΕΠΕΥ είναι η ελληνική.

Word for word in English: The official language of communication with the Cyprus investment firm is Greek.

Section 4 of Atlantic's Greek language information document for clients

In the contract · clause 14F(ix)

This Agreement is supplied in English, and we will communicate with you in English during the course of our relationship with you.

04

The page says the firm operates under MiFID II, while the conflicts policy it publishes rests on the directive MiFID II replaced.

Said in public, in English

It is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (http://www.cysec.gov.cy) (Licence no. 005/03) and operates under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (EU Directive 2014/65/EE).

History section of the About Us page

We took a picture of this page. It is shown once, with the finding it belongs to. See our capture of atlanticfs.com

In the contract

ο οποίος ενσωµατώνει την Οδηγία 2004/39/ΕΚ του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου για τις Αγορές Χρηµατοπιστωτικών Μέσων (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ή σε συντοµία MiFID) στο Κυπριακό ∆ίκαιο

What changed quietly

First reading of this broker, so there is nothing to compare it against. One document has moved on its own. The client assets document dated 31 August 2026 adds a section on markets that do not require client assets to be kept separate, and an earlier copy without that section is still published beside it.

  • ADDEDClause

    The current edition adds a section on markets that do not require client assets to be kept separate, and the earlier copy Atlantic still publishes has no equivalent.

    However, it may be necessary for us to deposit your assets with a Third Party in a jurisdiction which does not require the Third Party to comply with a Segregation Requirement where the nature of the instruments or connected investment services require us to deposit them in that jurisdiction

  • ADDEDClause

    The current edition carves crypto assets out of the client asset protections and places them with a Dutch firm, which the earlier copy does not mention.

    IBIE is not responsible for protecting assets that you hold in an account with another firm including funds and crypto-assets held in an account with zerohash europe B.V. (“zerohash”).

The documents this reading is based on

56 files, all published by Atlantic Securities. Each shows when we read it and a fingerprint of its wording.

WIKILIX keeps the copy of each file it read, and does not republish it: what is published is the fingerprint of its wording. Download the file yourself and hash its text, lowercased with runs of whitespace collapsed, and a matching fingerprint means the wording quoted above is still the wording Atlantic Securities publishes.

How this reading was done

Every clause above was read out of a document Atlantic Securities publishes itself

This reading was published on .

Documents
20 of 56downloaded from the broker's site, and 20 read in full
Pages opened
30pages walked to find those documents, footer links included
Older copies
1earlier versions downloaded
Marketing pages
11public pages set against what the contract says
Languages
EL vs ENthe language it advertises in, against the language it contracts in
Position measured
4clauses whose position was counted: which numbered section of the document holds them, out of how many

Who the contract is with

Atlantic Securities Ltd

Atlantic Securities Ltd is a Cypriot firm, licensed by CySEC under number 005/03 and trading since August 2001. Its own client information document names its parent as Atlantic Insurance Co. Public Ltd, a company listed in Cyprus. For a global account Atlantic acts only as introducing broker. The customer agreement is with Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited in Dublin, which holds the cash and the securities and is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland. Cyprus Stock Exchange and Athens Exchange business stays with Atlantic itself.

Quotations are copied verbatim from the documents named above, with the clause number and the page each one came from. Where a clause is quoted in another language, the original is shown first and the English is a translation.

The plain-language parts, what a clause means for a client, how ordinary it is, and how it reads against a regulated standard, are WIKILIX's analysis and are labelled as such on every card. This is a reading of public documents, not legal advice and not an allegation of wrongdoing.

In fairness, and what we could not check

A reader who knows the edges of the work can trust the middle of it

The complaints policy is better than most. Atlantic promises an acknowledgement within five calendar days, a proposed answer within two months and a final answer within three, and it puts no deadline at all on you for complaining. The fees pages carry real numbers rather than slogans, and the global page states plainly that the commission includes a markup returned to Atlantic. Interactive Brokers also publishes a one page plain English summary of its harshest terms, including the warning that its automatic liquidation is not a stop loss. Client securities sit with a named nominee company, reconciled daily and audited yearly, and every client is categorised as retail by default.

We read 27 of these files end to end and parts of 11 more. Nineteen we did not open at all, including both privacy policies, the cookie policy and the complaint form. Several of Atlantic's PDFs produce damaged text. Where the same term appeared in a file we could read, we quoted that one, so nothing here rests on a damaged file. Atlantic's twelve page investor compensation information document contains no text, only page images, and we could not read it. Atlantic also publishes its pre 2026 global fee schedule. The amounts in that file do not come out as text, so we could not compare the old prices against the new ones. Nothing else on the shelf has an earlier edition to compare against, so this is a first reading.

How to check any of this yourself

Every quote above links to the Atlantic Securities file it came from. This is what to do with it.

Open the three stepsFind the words in the source, work out the fingerprint, and read what a difference does and does not prove.

Open the source and search for the words

Every quote has a link under it. Open the file, or the web page, and search it for the words we quote. The clause number next to the quote tells you where to look.

If the words are not there any more, the source may have changed after we read it. That is worth knowing too. We keep the date we read it, and a code worked out from its wording, so the quote stays checkable.

What a fingerprint is

A fingerprint is a code worked out from what a source says. Change one word and the code changes completely. We keep two codes for every file we read, and the panel on each source shows both.

The first is the code of the exact file we downloaded. The second is the code of its wording alone, with capital letters lowered and runs of spaces collapsed. When the same words are saved as a new file, the first code changes and the second one stays the same.

Only the first code can be worked out on your own computer. Save the file, then run one of these, putting the name of the file you saved where the example is. The panel on each source prints the command with that source's real file name already in it.

macOS or Linux:
  shasum -a 256 the-file-you-saved.pdf

Windows:
  certutil -hashfile the-file-you-saved.pdf SHA256

The two codes are different from each other, and they are not meant to match. Comparing one against the other proves nothing.

What a difference means, and what it does not

A different file code on its own proves nothing. A PDF saved again with a new date inside it is a new file saying exactly the same thing.

A different wording code means the words themselves changed. That is the one that matters, and it is why we keep it.

Even then, a change is not proof of bad faith. Companies update their documents. What this report says is what the document said on the day we read it, and every quote carries that date.

A source that is a web page and not a file has no file to save, so only the code of its wording is shown.

How this report is made

Every clause quoted above comes from a document Atlantic Securities publishes on its own website, downloaded and hashed on the date shown, with the clause number and page recorded so any reader can check it. We do not allege anything the documents do not say, and we do not judge Atlantic Securities on anything other than its own published terms and its own public marketing. Where a clause has a qualifier that softens it, the report says so. Last read Oct 11, 2026.

If you represent Atlantic Securities and a clause has changed, been withdrawn, or is being read out of context, tell us and we will re-read the documents and update this page. Corrections from the broker are welcome and are published with the reading they change. Contact us.

This is a reading of a contract, not legal advice and not a ruling on Atlantic Securities. Whether its licence is real and current is a separate check on the broker profile.

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