Are Clear Treasury and Clear Currency Safe?

Company background:

Clear Treasury is the main brand reviewed here. It serves businesses, partners, API users and personal clients. Clear Currency is its dedicated personal transfer brand. The two propositions share the same wider operation, experienced dealing team and payment infrastructure.

A predecessor business, Clear Currency LLP, was incorporated in 2010. The present UK operating company, Clear Treasury (UK Trading) Ltd, was incorporated in 2015 and remains active at Companies House. Clear is a relatively small privately held specialist rather than a global money transfer giant. Its public LinkedIn profile places the company in the 11 to 50 employee range.

The company completed a management buyout in 2020. A second transaction in 2023 funded the exit of the remaining minority shareholder. Current Companies House records trace control to Jordan Tilley, Peter O’Flanagan and Paul Reilly. Each falls within the more than 25% and no more than 50% ownership band. We like this level of management ownership because the people running the service have a direct interest in its long term performance.

CEO and industry experience:

CEO Jordan Tilley has almost 18 years of direct experience in foreign exchange and international payments. This is one of the strongest parts of the joint Clear Treasury and Clear Currency case.

Tilley worked at moneycorp from November 2008 to January 2013, including responsibility for the US business and senior UK accounts. He then became Managing Director and Head of UK and Europe at OFX, which was still widely known as OzForex at the time. He served as Chief Commercial Officer at IFX before joining Clear as Chief Commercial Officer in January 2018. He became CEO in December 2019.

This is more than a long sales career. Tilley has led country and regional operations, managed private and corporate foreign exchange, built commercial teams and worked at both large international brands and a smaller owner managed specialist. In a detailed Good Money Guide interview, he discussed risk appetite, staged forward hedging, client margin calls during the pandemic and the need to understand the whole business rather than sell a single transaction.

For personal clients, that experience should translate into a firm that understands property purchases, emigration, inheritance and recurring pension transfers. For businesses, it supports a more serious conversation about cash flow and currency exposure. The client still needs to understand every contract and compare the price, but the leadership experience is well above average for a broker of this size.

Regulated by:

Clear Treasury (UK Trading) Ltd is an FCA Authorised Payment Institution under reference 708529. The current company has held its authorisation since April 2018.

For UK and most non EEA clients, including customers in Israel, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Clear says the UK company provides the service. EEA customers are supported through Clear Currency Europe Ltd, with payment and electronic money services provided by Currencycloud B.V. US customers follow a separate support and payment partner model.

Payment service money is safeguarded under the applicable payment rules. This is not the same as holding money in a bank account. FSCS deposit protection does not apply. Clear also states in its terms that initial or additional margin provided for a forward contract becomes Clear money rather than safeguarded client money. Anyone using a large forward should ask how much margin can be requested and what happens if the trade is cancelled.

We found some untidy legal copy on the website. Several footers still cite the old Payment Services Regulations 2009 while the main regulatory page correctly cites the 2017 rules. The US provider also differs between parts of the website. These look like maintenance issues rather than evidence against the FCA authorisation, but a payments company should keep this material consistent.

Awards:

Clear Treasury won Best Business FX Provider at the Good Money Guide Awards 2025. This directly supports the main brand’s business proposition and adds credibility to the wider operation behind Clear Currency.

Conclusion:

Clear is properly authorised in the UK, has an operating history that stretches back to 2010 and is run by a management team with substantial direct industry experience. It is much smaller than Currencies Direct, Moneycorp or OFX, and its regional contracting structure needs to be checked carefully. The stale legal copy also costs it a few points. We consider Clear Treasury and Clear Currency safe and credible for suitable business and personal transfers.

Clear Treasury and Clear Currency Reviews by Customers

Research:

As of 24 August 2026, the main Clear Treasury profile had a 4.8 out of 5 Trustpilot rating from 66 reviews. Ninety eight per cent were five star reviews. The Clear Currency personal brand had a 4.9 rating from 355 reviews, with ninety four per cent at five stars and four per cent at four stars.

We have not added the two review totals together. They cover two brands within the same operation and could contain overlapping customers. Treating them as 421 distinct client experiences would give a false level of precision.

Conclusion:

Clear Treasury and Clear Currency have excellent customer feedback, and the comments strongly support the group’s claim of personal, relationship based service. We have reduced the score slightly because the sample is modest, recent review flow is slow and a small number of detailed portal complaints are relevant to the online experience.

Clear Treasury and Clear Currency Exchange Rates and Fees

Fees:

Clear Treasury and Clear Currency currently advertise no payment fees on several parts of their websites. That is useful, but it does not mean the transfer is free.

The Clear Treasury terms explain that the customer rate differs from the wholesale exchange rate and that Clear earns the difference. The terms also reserve the ability to charge fees for executing payments, with those charges set out in a separate schedule. Correspondent and beneficiary banks can make their own deductions.

There is a clear disclosure tension here. The marketing says no payment fees, while the contract allows payment charges. This may mean most ordinary transfers carry no separate Clear fee while particular routes or arrangements can be charged. Clear should say this directly and make the applicable schedule easy to find.

Exchange rates:

Clear does not publish a standard foreign exchange margin. Pricing is quote based and can depend on the currencies, amount, settlement date and wider client relationship.

This is normal for a traditional currency broker, but it prevents us from proving that Clear is consistently cheap. A dedicated specialist can add real value by helping with process, timing and forward planning. That service can still come with a wider margin than an online platform offering a visible fixed charge.

For Israel and Gulf transfers, compare the amount of ILS, AED, QAR or SAR that will reach the beneficiary account after all known charges. A claim of no payment fee is not a substitute for this final figure.

Limits:

Clear positions itself as a specialist in personal transfers of £5,000 and above. We treat this as the service sweet spot rather than a confirmed hard minimum because the current terms do not state a universal minimum.

The website says customers can make same day online transfers up to £50,000 and arrange larger amounts with the team by telephone. An older guide says Clear does not restrict the maximum amount, but any large transfer remains subject to compliance checks, source of funds evidence and route availability.

How to compare a Clear quote:

• Request quotes from two or three providers at the same time.
• Use the same currency pair, amount and settlement date.
• Compare the final amount expected in the beneficiary account.
• Ask whether any intermediary bank deduction is likely.
• For a forward, confirm the initial margin, additional margin triggers and cancellation cost.

Conclusion:

We could not substantiate that Clear Treasury or Clear Currency is consistently cheap or expensive without matched live quotes. Customer comments often praise the rates, but the lack of a published margin and the mismatch between the marketing and contractual fee language limit the score. Clear is strongest when specialist support matters alongside the rate.

Clear Treasury and Clear Currency Middle East Expertise

Research:

• Advertised reach: 35+ currencies sent to 130+ countries.
• Middle East currencies: Israeli shekel, UAE dirham, Qatari riyal and Saudi riyal are on the official traded currency list.
• Current official offices: London and Dublin.
• Ways to trade: Online platform, email and telephone. Business and partner transactions can also be connected through the API.
• Personal support: Dedicated currency specialist.
• Partner model: Clear’s partnership programme works with legal, property, emigration, government and other professional introducers.
• Verified regional relationships: A co-branded eXp Israel campaign and UAE introducer relationships through Holborn Assets.
• Regional regulation: Israel, UAE, Qatar and Saudi customers are generally supported by the FCA authorised UK company, not by four separately regulated local Clear entities.

Why the Middle East focus is credible

Clear has more evidence of Israel and Gulf familiarity than most small UK currency brokers. It supports ILS, AED, QAR and SAR directly, publishes dedicated customer journeys for Israel, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and has built much of its international acquisition through professional partners and introducers. Public evidence is not equal across all four markets. Israel and the UAE have the clearest partner links, Saudi Arabia has a specific corridor, and Qatar currently has currency support rather than a proven local network.

This is a relationship led model. A property lawyer, relocation adviser, emigration specialist, wealth adviser or other local professional can introduce a client who then receives a dedicated Clear Currency specialist. That arrangement is a sensible fit for large personal transfers because the FX payment often sits within a wider property, relocation, inheritance or business transaction.

Clear does not publicly name a current local partner in every Middle Eastern country. We therefore describe the regional proposition as partner-led expertise, not as four staffed and locally licensed country operations.

Israel

Israel is the clearest example of genuine specialisation. Clear has a dedicated Israel transfer page built around GBP and ILS, property, family and business payments. It also developed an Aliyah facing referral channel and has participated in local community content about transferring money to and from Israel.

The page still names a specific Israel partnerships contact with experience across legal, property, emigration and government bodies. The named person appears to have since moved to another company, so the individual contact needs updating. The wider evidence still shows that Clear invested in an Israel desk and partner network rather than merely adding ILS to a currency menu.

Clear has also run a co-branded referral campaign with eXp Israel. The landing page carries older campaign metadata and is not indexed, so it should not be treated as proof of a current exclusive relationship. It is still useful evidence that the Israel proposition has been distributed through a local property network.

For someone making Aliyah, buying Israeli property, transferring a pension or moving money between an Israeli and overseas bank, this background can be useful. Israeli banks can require extensive source of funds documentation, especially for property proceeds, inheritances and investment money. Clear cannot remove those checks, but an experienced relationship manager and local professional introducer can help the client prepare for them.

United Arab Emirates

Clear has a dedicated UAE transfer page for personal and business customers. It supports GBP and AED exchange, assigns a currency specialist and advertises transfers to or from an Emirati bank account in one to two working days, subject to checks and banking cut off times.

Clear Treasury’s LinkedIn profile still lists a Dubai DIFC address. The current Clear website and legal contact pages list only London and Dublin, and we did not locate evidence of a current DFSA authorised branch. We therefore view Dubai as a listed regional presence, not proof of a separately regulated UAE office.

The stronger local-partner evidence comes from Holborn Assets, a Dubai-founded financial advisory group that publicly described Clear Currency as its recommended currency exchange provider. A UAE-based Holborn adviser also described himself in 2026 as an introducer for Clear. This substantiates a UAE referral route, although Holborn’s regulatory permissions belong to Holborn, not Clear Currency.

The practical UAE use cases are strong: moving salary or savings home, buying or selling property, relocating, paying school or business costs and repatriating capital. The combination of AED support, a dedicated dealer and professional partner referrals makes Clear relevant for large UK to UAE or UAE to UK transfers.

Saudi Arabia

Clear publishes a Saudi Arabia transfer route focused on transfers from Saudi Arabia to the UK. It supports GBP and SAR exchange, personal and business registration, access to a currency specialist and rate locking tools. The page advertises one to two working day transfers to or from a Saudi bank account, subject to normal payment checks.

We did not find a named Saudi office or local partner on the public website. The expertise is better described as an established SAR corridor supported through Clear’s UK dealing and partner model.

Qatar

QAR appears on Clear’s official traded currency list. That confirms Clear can handle Qatari riyal payments, but its public Qatar material is thinner than for Israel, the UAE or Saudi Arabia. We found no current Qatar specific page, named local partner or local office.

Qatar based customers may still find Clear useful for property, relocation, salary, investment or business transfers. They should confirm onboarding eligibility, the available payment route and expected delivery time before opening an account. We would not describe Clear as having a full Qatar desk based only on QAR support.

Global presence beyond the Middle East

Clear advertises payments to more than 130 countries. The detailed traded currency page currently names 30 currencies, while other pages say 35+. This is enough for most major personal transfer corridors, but the discrepancy should be tidied up and unusual currency availability should be checked in advance.

Support is available from London and Dublin between 8am and 5pm on weekdays. There is no advertised Clear Currency mobile app and no 24 hour telephone service. Compared with global providers such as Currencies Direct or OFX, Clear has less physical reach and narrower support hours. Its advantage is the depth of the personal relationship and the partner-led approach to specific corridors.

Conclusion:

Clear’s Middle East proposition is a genuine strength when described accurately. Israel has the deepest public evidence and the UAE has the strongest current Gulf introducer evidence. Saudi Arabia has a dedicated corridor, but local partner coverage is not proven. Qatar support is credible at currency level but less developed publicly. The professional partner model can work particularly well for property and relocation transfers, but there are no confirmed local Clear regulatory branches in these markets. That uneven depth prevents a higher score.

Clear Treasury API and Additional Functions

Additional Functionalities

• Spot contracts.
• Forward contracts for up to 12 months.
• Limit and market orders.
• Stop loss orders, subject to client eligibility.
• Regular transfers.
• Online balances, rates, beneficiary payments and transaction history.
• Dedicated dealer and account manager support.
• Business FX strategy and exposure reviews.
• Partner and white label API integration.

Clear Treasury or Clear Currency app?

We did not locate an advertised Clear Treasury or Clear Currency iOS or Android app. Customers can use the browser based online platform from a phone or computer and can trade by email or telephone. For app first alternatives, see our guide to the best international money transfer apps.

Clear Treasury API review

The Clear Treasury API is where the main brand stands apart from many relationship led brokers. Its workflow is unusually usable for a specialist of this size because it covers the main steps in a real customer journey. It is not simply a rate feed or a form that creates a sales lead.

Based on the reader friendly API guide, a partner can:

1. Create a private or corporate client.
2. Track whether the client has passed compliance checks.
3. Request and refresh a live quote.
4. Book the foreign exchange trade.
5. Create and retrieve beneficiaries.
6. Instruct and retrieve payments.

The broader public API reference adds balances, tradable funds, settlement instructions, statements, commissions, invoices, bank holiday calculations, paginated payments, trade events and incremental client and trade synchronisation. Webhook registration is also available, with filters, a secret and custom headers.

This gives a partner most of the building blocks required for an embedded currency and payments journey. The use of a client reference throughout the API is particularly useful for accountants, property networks, relocation groups, family office platforms or other partners serving several customers.

The API does not have to replace the account manager. It removes repeat operational work while keeping a specialist available for strategy, forward contracts, exceptions and large personal transfers. That hybrid is the strongest part of the Clear proposition.

Documentation drawbacks:

The capability is better than the developer presentation. Public material is split between an older, more readable guide and a broader automated reference. The older guide uses dates from 2020 and still prints HTTP examples. A public Swagger interface exists, but it is not well signposted.

The public pages do not clearly set out idempotent retry behaviour, precise rate limits, webhook signing and retry rules, a service level agreement, a status page or a versioning policy. We also found no public SDK or Postman collection. Access is consultative rather than instant, with a technical discussion and sandbox process.

Clear markets high volume payment automation, but the public endpoint list shows individual payment creation rather than a confirmed native batch endpoint. A business should ask about CSV upload, bulk approvals, duplicate payment protection, scheduled payments, maker and checker controls and Confirmation of Payee handling before integration.

Conclusion:

Based on the public documentation, Clear Treasury has one of the broader APIs available from a boutique currency specialist. It covers almost the complete customer and payment lifecycle while preserving access to experienced people. The documentation needs consolidation and an authenticated sandbox test is required before any buying decision, but the API is a serious product advantage.