In the UK, E-Money Institutions (like Currencies Direct) are authorised by the FCA.
Banks are regulated by the FCA and PRA.

The FCA requires banks and EMIs to protect their customer’s money, but in different ways:

Banks protect customers money through the FSCS
(Financial Services Compensation Scheme) which is limited to £85,000 per person.

EMIs protect your money with safeguarding
This covers all the money their customers hold with them – with no upper limit.

As you can imagine, there’s a lot more to it than that. If you’d like to dig deeper into how your money is protected and how banks and EMIs are regulated, please explore the links below.

See also:

Safeguarding – the legal details

If Currencies Direct went out of business, how would I get my money back

fca.org.uk on safeguarding
https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/emi-payment-institutions-safeguarding-requirements

Currencies Direct’s FCA entry
https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000003U0PSEAA3