Why the confirmation matters
When you book a currency trade by phone or on a platform, the deal is binding at the moment you accept the rate. The confirmation follows. It sets out in writing the terms both sides agreed, and it becomes the reference document for settlement, accounting, audit and any dispute.
If the confirmation does not match what you agreed, the time to say so is the day you receive it. Every hour that passes makes a correction harder, because funds start to move, payments are queued and your accounts team posts the trade into the ledger. Most providers ask clients to raise discrepancies promptly, and some set a short window in their terms.
Think of the confirmation as a receipt and a contract summary in one. You would not file a large supplier invoice without checking it. A trade confirmation deserves the same care, and usually involves larger sums.
The parties
The top of the confirmation identifies who has traded with whom. You should see the provider's full legal name and the client's full legal name, together with a client or account number.
Check the client entity carefully if your group has more than one company onboarded. A trade booked for the Hong Kong subsidiary should not appear under the Canadian parent. The entity on the confirmation is the entity that must fund the trade, and paying from a different group company can delay settlement while the mismatch is investigated. It also creates an intercompany balance that someone will have to unwind.
Some confirmations name the individual who placed the trade. That is useful for your own controls: check that the person was authorised to deal. If a name appears that you do not recognise, or someone who left the company months ago, treat it as urgent. Either the provider's list of authorised dealers is out of date or someone is using credentials they should not have. Both need fixing the same day.
Check the spelling of the legal name as well. Small differences, such as a missing "Limited" or an old trading name, rarely affect the trade itself, but they cause friction later when an auditor or a bank tries to match the confirmation to your company records. Ask for the record to be corrected rather than living with the mismatch.
Reference, trade date and value date
Each trade has a unique reference number. It links the confirmation to the funding payment, the outgoing payment and the provider's records. Quote it on your incoming wire and in any correspondence.
The trade date is the day the deal was agreed. Many confirmations also show the trade time, often with a time zone. The time is what you need if you later want to compare the rate with a mid-market benchmark.
The value date is the day the currencies are due to be exchanged. For most spot trades it is two business days after the trade date, and for USD/CAD it is one. Check that it is the date you asked for, and that it gives your own bank enough time to send funds. If the value date has been moved by a holiday you were not expecting, it is better to learn that now than when your supplier calls.
Direction and amounts
The confirmation states what you bought and what you sold. Read these lines from your own point of view, and make sure the confirmation does too. Some formats are written from the provider's side, so "we sell EUR" means you buy euros. If the wording is unclear, ask the provider to explain its format once, then keep a note.
You will see two amounts: the amount of the currency bought and the amount of the currency sold. One of them is the amount you fixed when you asked for the quote. That figure should match your instruction exactly, to the cent. The other is calculated from the rate.
Look for rounding. Calculated amounts are rounded to the smallest unit of the currency, which is two decimal places for most currencies and zero for some, such as the Japanese yen. A difference of a cent or so between your own calculation and the confirmation is normal rounding. A difference larger than that needs an explanation.
The exchange rate
The confirmation shows the dealt rate and the currency pair it applies to, such as EUR/CAD 1.5000. Check three things.
- It is the rate you accepted. Compare it with your notes, the platform screen or the recording of the call.
- The pair is the right way round. A rate quoted as EUR/CAD and one quoted as CAD/EUR are inverses. Make sure you are comparing like with like.
- The arithmetic works. Multiply the base currency amount by the rate. The result should equal the quote currency amount, give or take rounding.
Rates are usually shown to four or five decimal places for most pairs, and to two or three for yen pairs. If your accounting system stores fewer decimal places than the confirmation shows, recalculated amounts will drift slightly. Store the rate exactly as confirmed.
Settlement instructions
This part of the confirmation tells you how the money moves. It normally has two halves.
The funding instructions show where you must send the currency you sold: the receiving account name, the bank, the account number or IBAN, the bank identifier and the reference to quote. Check that the currency of the receiving account matches the currency you are sending. If the provider's bank details look different from the ones you have used before, verify them by calling a known contact on a number you already hold. Never rely on new details received only by email.
The delivery instructions show where the currency you bought will go. That may be your own account or one or more third-party beneficiaries. Check the beneficiary name, account details and amount for each payment. If the trade is split across several payees, the amounts should add up to the total bought.
Fees and other lines
Some confirmations show payment fees separately from the exchange rate. Check them against what you were told before you booked. A fee that appears for the first time on a confirmation is a matter to raise immediately.
Confirmations also carry standard wording: a statement that the trade is subject to the provider's terms, a request to report discrepancies promptly, and sometimes regulatory information such as the provider's registration. These lines are not decoration. They tell you which terms govern the trade and how long you have to raise a problem.
If you receive confirmations by email, make sure they go to a shared mailbox that more than one person reads, as well as to the dealer. A confirmation that sits unread in the inbox of someone on holiday has not been checked. Where a platform also holds the confirmation, the platform copy is a useful second source if an email is lost or delayed.
A checklist for the day it arrives
| Field | What to check |
|---|---|
| Client entity | The correct group company, matching the account you will fund from |
| Trade reference | Present, and copied into your payment instruction |
| Trade date and time | Matches when you booked |
| Value date | The date you asked for, allowing for holidays and your bank's timing |
| Bought and sold | Direction correct from your point of view |
| Fixed amount | Exactly as instructed |
| Rate | As accepted, correct orientation, arithmetic works |
| Funding account | Correct currency, details verified, unchanged or independently confirmed |
| Beneficiaries | Names, account details and amounts correct |
| Fees | As disclosed before booking |
When something is wrong
If you find an error, contact the provider straight away, by phone if the trade is close to settlement, and follow up in writing. Quote the trade reference and state exactly which field is wrong and what you believe it should be. Hold any funding payment until the point is resolved, unless the provider confirms the error is cosmetic and settlement can proceed.
Errors fall into two groups. Clerical errors, such as a misspelt beneficiary name, are corrected by reissuing the confirmation. Errors in the economic terms, such as the wrong amount or the wrong direction, are more serious. They are usually resolved by reference to the recorded call or platform log, which is one reason good providers keep both.
What to keep for auditors
Auditors testing foreign currency transactions want to trace each trade from instruction to bank statement. Make that easy by keeping, for each trade:
- The confirmation itself, in the form you received it.
- Evidence of internal approval, such as the platform approval log or a signed request.
- Your outgoing funding payment advice and the bank statement line showing it left your account.
- The provider's payment advice for the outgoing leg, with the network reference.
- The underlying commercial document, such as the supplier invoice or payroll schedule.
- Any correspondence about corrections.
File them by trade reference and month. Tax authorities and auditors set retention periods that often run to several years, so check the period that applies to your business with your accountant. A platform that keeps an audit trail and lets you export confirmations helps, but keep your own copies as well.
General information
This article is general information about FX trade confirmations. It is not investment advice or legal advice. Formats differ between providers, so read your provider's terms alongside this guide. CCYFX confirms every spot trade in writing, and CCYFX Online keeps an audit trail of quotes, approvals and payments. See the platform page for details.
