FOREX FAQ

 IJM Capital operates on a transparent and straightforward fee structure. We only charge fees on a per-transaction basis. There are no monthly bank or platform fees.

The following fees are charged:

Bank Admin Fee (SWIFT Fee):

• This fixed fee, charged by our banking partners, is charged per payment. It covers the administrative cost of using the SWIFT* international payment network

Margin or “Spread”:

• A percentage-based fee, commonly known as the “spread”, is also charged. This is the lesser known but far more significant fee that banks typically overcharge clients.

Our banking partners charge a fee for sending funds via the SWIFT network. There are two fee types which allow you to choose whether the fees are charged on the sender and/or receiver side:

• OUR – The fee is paid on the sender side of the transaction (i.e. all in ZAR).
• SHA/BEN – The fee is “shared” between the sender and receiver side (i.e. in ZAR and foreign currency). As a result, your recipient receives less foreign currency than sent.

We recommend OUR, as it is more predictable and typically lower cost overall.

 *SHA/BEN fees are shared with your recipient. As a result, your recipient receives less foreign currency than sent. 

This refers to the percentage difference between a foreign currency’s buy and sell rate and is typically determined by the client’s transaction volumes. This difference is due to the cost of exchanging one currency for another.

To illustrate, let’s say you are sending R1 million to the USA and converting it to US dollars. If the spot rate is R18 to $1, the bank might charge you R18,36 per dollar bought. The spread is, therefore, R0.36 on each US dollar, or 2% of the transaction value. While R0.36 per dollar doesn’t seem significant, the cost of the transaction, excluding the SWIFT processing fee, is R20,000.

It is common practice in the forex industry, amongst our competitors, to hide the high spreads they are charging. We at IJM pride ourselves on complete transparency and consistency, especially concerning pricing. IJM can provide you with the most competitive “spread”, which we have negotiated through our strong partnerships with a variety of larger banks.

Yes, the more you use our service, the more you can benefit from competitive rates. Chat with one of our consultants to get a quote tailored to your specific needs. 

You have several options:

• Online Platform – Log in to your account and click “Send/Receive funds”
• Phone – To speak directly with one of our dealers and confirm the exchange rate, call our dealing room at ##########.
• Email – Send your transaction details via email to our dealing room at deal.room@ijmcapco.za.
• Account Manager – Your dedicated Account Manager can also assist if you prefer.

We’re here to make booking transactions as easy as possible for you.

• Step 1 – Register and provide us with your details.
• Step 2 – We’ll compile and complete all the onboarding forms and send them to you to digitally sign.
• Step 3 – Start sending and receiving funds.

It typically takes about 2 - 6 business days for your bank account to be created after submission.

IJM Capital  assists with offering a more streamlined and simplified platform for Forex transactions. We have solved all the complexities of international transactions, so you don’t have to.

Our expert compliance team assists with regulatory requirements such as Advanced Payment Notifications (APNs), Approved International Transfers (AITs) and applications and approvals, while keeping up to date with the latest changes in regulations so that you are always compliant.

For same-day processing, please note the following deadlines:

• Ensure your account is funded before booking.
• The exchange rate needs to be booked before 10:00 am.
• All necessary supporting documents must be submitted by 10:30 am. Note that the document submission deadline is 11 am. We will endeavour to meet this deadline for documents submitted between 10:30 am and 11 am.

If any cut-off times are missed, the transaction will be processed on the day when all the deadlines are met.

We facilitate payments to and from these currencies:

• USD – United States Dollar
• EUR – Euro
• GBP – British Pound Sterling
• AUD – Australian Dollar
• CNY – Chinese Yuan
• JPY – Japanese Yen
• CAD – Canadian Dollar
• CHF – Swiss Franc
• NZD – New Zealand Dollar
• HKD – Hong Kong Dollar
• DKK – Danish Krone
• BWP – Botswanan Pula
• SGD – Singapore Dollar
• NOK – Norwegian Krone
• SEK – Swedish Krona
• MUR – Mauritian Rupee
• LSL – Lesotho Loti
• NAD – Namibian Dollar
• SZL – Swazi Lilangeni

The following countries are sanctioned (blacklisted) countries.

• Iran
• North Korea
• Afghanistan
• Russia

Yes, you can hedge your currency risk through a forward exchange contract, commonly known as a FEC or forward cover. This is a contract whereby an exchange rate is fixed for delivery at a future date (up to a maximum of 12 months).

We offer the following FEC types:

• Fixed – For delivery on a fixed date.
• Semi Optional – For delivery anytime between two dates following the booking date.
• Fully Optional – For delivery anytime from the booking date until a future date.

 We can set up a CFC (Customer Foreign Currency) account should you wish to hold foreign currency. Please note that there are certain limitations on this due to South African Exchange Control regulations:

Businesses:

• Foreign currency purchased from the spot market can be held for a duration of 30 days.
• If your business receives foreign currency, you have the flexibility to hold it indefinitely in your CFC account.
• 
  

Individuals:

• Individuals can enjoy the freedom of holding foreign currency indefinitely in a CFC Account.

We assist with regulatory approvals, applications, and 24/7 VIP support as a complimentary service. 

 South Africa has exchange controls that allow the Reserve Bank to keep track of capital outflows and inflows. Every calendar year, each South African resident over the age of 18 is granted a R1 million SDA (Single Discretionary Allowance) and R10 million AIT (Approved International Transfer) to send funds offshore. These two allowances combined form your Foreign Exchange Allowance, which, in total, enables you to send up to R11 million abroad in a calendar year. These allowances are reset on 1 January each year, irrespective of how much was utilised in the previous year.

• SDA (Single Discretionary Allowance): Your R1 million SDA can be readily used without any additional paperwork.
• AIT (Approved International Transfer): Current Exchange Control Regulations require individuals to apply via SARS to access their R10 million AIT. Our Compliance Team can apply for your AIT as a complimentary service.

If you need to send funds above R11 million abroad, a SARB application is required. We also assist with SARB applications as a complimentary service.

An APN is an application made by an importer to give notice of the intention to make an Advance Import Payment, above R50 000, to a supplier in respect of imported goods. 

This is submitted via SARS E-filing. An Advance Import Payment is any foreign exchange payment made for the import of goods before the supplier ships the goods. This relates to Balance of Payment (BOP) category 101 (Advance Payments).

Upon an importer’s application for an APN, SARS immediately issues an APN reference number. This reference number needs to be supplied to the facilitating bank to finalise an Advance Import Payment.

As a complimentary service, Future Forex can apply for clients directly or provide guidance if they prefer to apply for themselves.

 South African resident individuals (not companies) can invest up to R10 million per calendar year in offshore property using an AIT (see “What is an AIT and SDA?”). For property purchases exceeding R 10 million, an application to SARB is necessary.

IJM Capital assists with AIT and SARB applications as a complementary service.

All cross-border transactions must be reported to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) in accordance with SARB regulations. BoP category codes categorise the type or purpose of the cross-border transaction. i.e. goods, services, imports, etc., enabling the SARB to monitor capital inflows and outflows. 

IJM Capital will only contact you via the following channels:

• Emails from “…@ijmcap.com” 
• A call or WhatsApp from your dedicated Account Manager. You can verify your Account Manager’s contact details by logging onto your IJM account.
• A call from our general office numbers (########## or ##########).

If you get approached by someone purporting to be a IJM Capital representative, you can verify this either by emailing info@ijmcap.com, or by contacting your Account Manager via the contact details provided in your IJM Portal.

NB: Do not provide any personal information, login credentials or send funds to someone claiming to be a Future Forex representative until you have verified this.

Verifying your recipient’s payment details is crucial to ensure your funds are not stolen. Scammers may try get you to send funds to them by impersonating a recipient. Some of the ways scammers can impersonate a recipient is by:

• Trying to make an email look like it came from a recipient
• Sending an email from a compromised recipient’s email account
• Intercepting mails between you and a recipient

We strongly recommend verifying a recipient’s payment details when adding a new recipient or updating an existing one.

The best way to verify a recipient’s details is simply to give them a call, or drop them a WhatsApp. It’s typically far more difficult for scammers to impersonate someone via phone call or WhatsApp, so using a secondary method like this will help keep your funds safe.

 Arbitrage is possible when an asset has a price mismatch between two different markets. One can take advantage of an arbitrage opportunity by buying the asset at the cheaper price and selling it at the higher price on the other market. 

 This price difference allows us to buy crypto assets abroad and sell them in South Africa at a profit. We facilitate the process from start to finish, so that our clients can effortlessly share in this high-yield opportunity. 

 Under current market conditions, clients can expect to earn a maximum of ~R250,000 per calendar year. Your profit is largely dependent on a couple of factors, namely: the amount invested per cycle and the amount of annual Foreign Exchange Allowance utilised.

 It’s important to understand that due to the cyclical nature of the arbitrage process, clients can trade multiple times per calendar year until they use up their Foreign Exchange Allowance (maximum of R11 million per calendar year). 

Our minimum investment is R200,000, however the more you invest the better your returns will be. This is due to fixed costs and our performance share decreasing as a percentage of the total amount invested. To find out more about how the investment amount affects returns, see How much can I expect to make?

Note that your investment amount can be increased or decreased at any stage of the investment.

Only South African residents over the age of 18 can invest in Crypto Arbitrage. In short, you’ll need to either be considered ordinarily resident in terms of South African common law or meet the “physical presence test”.

Additionally, we require a minimum investment of R200,000. This is a result of various fixed costs involved in the process (primarily the bank charges associated with sending funds abroad) which significantly reduce profits on smaller investment amounts making them less feasible.

 Ideally, the invested funds should be your own. You can however loan funds from a bank or use donated funds from a spouse to invest in Crypto Arbitrage.

Most importantly, you cannot loan funds from friends or family if they are sharing in the risk and profits as they are then effectively making use of your Single Discretionary or Foreign Capital Allowance. This contravenes exchange control regulations and is therefore considered an illegal activity. You can find out more on the SARBs FAQ under the Crypto assets header.

We take a conservative approach and do not allow clients to invest funds borrowed from friends or family (except spouses) with us, regardless of whether the lender is sharing in the risk and profits.

 We make investing in Crypto Arbitrage hassle-free. The entire process is as follows:

• The first step is to register an account with us.
• From this point on, you’ll have a dedicated Relationship Manager who will guide you throughout the process to ensure you maximise your returns and to streamline the experience.
• Next, you’ll provide us with your FICA documents (ID, Proof of Address and Source of Funds) which will be used to open a Foreign Exchange account with Capitec Business bank (a division of Capitec).
• Once your account has been opened, you’ll EFT your investment to your Foreign Exchange account so that we can get started with your first trading cycle.

Once these steps are done, we’ll begin trading your funds. At the end of each trading cycle you’ll receive a statement detailing your returns and investment history so that you can keep track of your investment’s progress.

After you’ve completed your first few trading cycles your Relationship Manager will provide guidance on how to maximise your investment by making the most of your Foreign Exchange Allowance (see “What is a Foreign Exchange Allowance” FAQ). If you wish to withdraw or increase your investment while trading, you can do so at any point without any notice period.

At present we primarily trade Bitcoin and USDC (a crypto asset pegged to the US Dollar) as these offer the highest returns with the lowest risk when compared to other crypto arbitrage opportunities. The primary reason for this is that other, less popular, crypto assets are traded at much smaller volumes. This results in them trading at a lower average premium, while also being less liquid and thus more difficult to trade at large volumes.

We do however continuously monitor other crypto assets and arbitrage these when they offer a higher return and sufficient volume.

Arbitrage is a well known low-risk trading strategy. Unlike a typical investment, arbitrage does not predict the price movement of an asset but rather capitalises on the price differences of an asset between different markets. Typically there are market risks associated with holding the asset for a period of time between buying and selling it, however, IJM CAPITAL uses a fully hedged trading system which ensures clients are not exposed to these market risks.

This fully hedged system is achieved by locking in the sell rate of the crypto asset at the same instant that it is bought. This allows IJM CAPITAL to reliably predict a client’s return on their trade at the instant it is being executed. As a result of this feature, clients are able to set a minimum targeted return, and IJM CAPITAL will only initiate a trade if this target will be met or exceeded.

Typically there are market risks associated with Crypto Arbitrage due to funds being exposed to both forex and crypto asset price fluctuations. These risks can be substantial on a per trade basis, which is why Future Forex has developed and implemented a fully hedged trading system. This trading system ensures clients are never exposed to these market risks and can generate consistent returns.

Several third-parties will have custody of your funds at different stages of the process. In the unlikely event that a third party experiences a security breach, your funds may be at risk. This risk is mitigated by using hand-picked third-parties who have a proven track record of reliability and excellence.

Nonetheless, we have taken a prudent approach in that we limit exposure where possible by tranching the transfer of funds so that only a portion are in the custody of certain third-parties at a time. Furthermore, each trading cycle is typically completed within 24 hours, as we aim to minimize the time your funds are in the custody of third-parties.

To date, not a single client has made a net loss by investing through IJM. Clients set a minimum targeted return for trading, and Future Forex will only initiate a trade if this return can be delivered. As a result, we will never initiate a trade when the expected return is a loss. 

While your funds are in your Foreign Exchange account, you can withdraw them at any time. If your funds are being traded, you will be able to withdraw them as soon as they return to your Foreign Exchange account (each trade typically takes 24 hours).

Although your funds are always accessible, we recommend keeping them in your account to maximise your returns and reduce the fees charged on your investment

Our all-inclusive fee works on a performance fee model rather than a flat management fee. This means that our fee is directly proportional to how well your investment performs. In short, our fee structure ensures that our interests are completely aligned with yours in aiming to maximise your returns.

We offer a tiered fee structure where lower fees are charged for larger investment amounts.

 Notes:

• We do not charge any hidden or additional fees and there is no cost to register with us.
• Our AIT application service is complimentary and is facilitated by our highly skilled and experienced partner tax practitioners.
• The current minimum investment amount for new clients is R200,000.

Our performance fee structure is all inclusive. IJM will not charge additional fees for anything throughout the process. This means that there are no management, registration or FIA application fees.

As part of the trading process we make use of various third parties who charge their own processing fees. These fees are deducted before your profits are calculated, and we therefore share in these transaction costs. As a result, we have set out to minimise these costs while also ensuring our third-parties are reliable and secure.

Every calendar year, each South African resident is granted a R1 million SDA (Single Discretionary Allowance) and R10 million AIT (Approved International Transfer) to send funds offshore. These two allowances combined form your Foreign Exchange Allowance which, in total, enables you to send up to R11 million abroad in a calendar year. These allowances are reset on 1 January each year, irrespective of how much was utilised in the previous year.

When investing in Crypto Arbitrage, a portion of your Foreign Exchange Allowance is used each time your funds are sent abroad to purchase crypto assets overseas. This caps the total value that each individual can invest in Crypto Arbitrage each year, effectively limiting the profit that can be made annually (~R250,000 profit). While this is not ideal, the Foreign Exchange Allowance is the very reason this arbitrage opportunity exists in the first place.

Your R1 million SDA can be readily used without any additional paperwork. In addition to utilising your SDA, our tax practitioners are able to (at no extra cost) assist with unlocking your R10 million AIT. This requires an application to SARS which your Relationship Manager and our tax practitioners will facilitate so that your entire experience is hassle-free. 

Earnings from Crypto Arbitrage trading fall under Income Tax. These earnings should therefore be disclosed in your annual income tax returns and filed as part of your provisional tax returns. We’ll provide you with an investment summary statement for this very purpose.

Should you need assistance with filing provisional tax returns, our tax team will be happy to assist.

 Yes, we have the following licenses/approvals:

• Financial Services Provider (FSP) and Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) – authorised by the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSP 52081)
• Foreign Exchange intermediary – approved by the South African Reserve Bank
• Primary accountable institution – regulated by the Financial Intelligence Centre

IJM Capital will only contact you via the following channels:

• Emails from “…@ijmcap.com” 
• A call or WhatsApp from your dedicated Account Manager. You can verify your Account Manager’s contact details by logging onto your IJM account.
• A call from our general office numbers (########## or ##########).

If you get approached by someone purporting to be a IJM Capital representative, you can verify this either by emailing info@ijmcap.com, or by contacting your Account Manager via the contact details provided in your IJM Portal.

NB: Do not provide any personal information, login credentials or send funds to someone claiming to be a Future Forex representative until you have verified this.