Is CurrencyWave Safe?

Company size:

CurrencyWave Global Payments is an independently run, micro currency broker based in Leeds. Similarly to Spartan FX, CurrencyWave is powered by Currency Cloud, a market-leading provider of international payment technology for banks and financial services companies. By utilising a trading platform and onboarding process supplied by tech giant Currency Cloud, it ensures CurrencyWave can provide a slick, secure and professional foreign exchange service.

Founded in 2017, CurrencyWave is one of only a few independent foreign exchange brokers to be based in the North of England, servicing a variety of businesses across the region. Owner Jamie Holmes is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. Prior to founding CurrencyWave, Jamie had a 30 year career in financial services working primarily as an investment adviser and wealth manager at institutions such as Investec and Brewin Dolphin, before founding his own boutique investment fund.

Recognising the North of England as being a region that was under-serviced by banks and having a lack of genuine alternatives, Jamie launched CurrencyWave Global Payments. Firmly in the belief that specialist currency brokers generally have a lot to offer SMEs who are likely being overcharged and under-serviced for foreign exchange services through a bank.

Whilst it may not be unique (see WorldFirst & Wise), CurrencyWave’s transparent FX spreads show the firm is looking to take a no fuss, honest approach to the FX sector which businesses in the north of England will surely appreciate.

A look at Companies House tells us the firm has just two employees, resulting in obvious plus sides and down sides. It seems that pretty much any business interested in working with CurrencyWave will get bespoke currency hedging advice from the owner Jamie himself. Though it could also mean that if things get busy, a small team will prove a hindrance.

Given that CurrencyWave is not registered with the FCA itself, this means all payments have to be processed by Currency Cloud. Client onboarding, transaction monitoring and compliance will all be managed by Currency Cloud – as is evident by customers having to accept Currency Cloud T&C’s, not CurrencyWave. This could cause operational difficulties. For example, it would be unclear for customers who want to trade over the telephone whether they’d have to speak to a member of Currency Cloud or whether a Power of Attorney would be required for Jamie/CurrencyWave to book payments on behalf of the client on the Currency Cloud platform. Not unworkable but tricky.

Regulated by:

✓ FCA, via Currency Cloud Limited (FRN: 900199)

✓ FCA, via Equals Connect Limited (FRN: 671508)

Awards:

None.

Conclusion:

CurrencyWave is a boutique currency broker with a particular focus on businesses in the north of England. With a team of just two staff, businesses will enjoy direct access to the owner to explore the different foreign exchange solutions and currency hedging strategies that might be relevant to their FX exposure. This very small team can bring both significant advantages and disadvantages – it will depend largely on customer appetite whether they prefer a boutique offering or a well-known reputable name like Moneycorp.

The firm is not directly registered with the FCA and holds very little in terms of capital, though this is unlikely to present a significant risk issue to prospective clients as they will be sending funds to Currency Cloud accounts in order to settle FX transfers. Similarly, receiving accounts, allowing international payments to be received and balances held for as long as necessary, will belong to Currency Cloud and their banking provider Barclays.

Whilst Currency Cloud is very much a trusted name in the international payment industry, there is little to be known about CurrencyWave’s other payment provider, Equals Connect Limited. It would certainly be advisable for prospective clients to understand where Equals Connect fits into the picture and what, if any, payments they will be handling.

CurrencyWave Customer Reviews

Research:

Very little in the way of reviews. None that we can trust from an official review site such as Feefo or TrustPilot. We’re surprised CurrencyWave hasn’t opted to join either of these platforms as it leaves just a very small number of unverified reviews on Facebook and Google. It could be down to the fact CurrencyWave is largely targeted at businesses who don’t tend to use review platforms in the same way as personal consumers.

CurrencyWave reviews available on the internet:

• 1 Review on Google – 5 / 5
• 2 Reviews on Facebook – 5 / 5 (though it looks like one review was left in error and meant for another company)

It’s worth mentioning that Jamie Holmes, owner of CurrencyWave, has a number of testimonials on LinkedIn attesting to his and CurrencyWave’s service. There are also a handful of testimonials on the CurrencyWave site.

Conclusion:

Given there are only two CurrencyWave reviews to be found on the internet, there is very little to be taken from such a small sample. What is available attests to a very tailored service from CurrencyWave CEO Jamie that suggests businesses will receive a good level of support in determining a currency strategy that is appropriate for them. All of the testimonials make reference to the fact that despite living in an increasingly digital age, Jamie is always available to meet or chat on the phone.

Whilst it’s certainly reassuring to see testimonials, one has to assume these companies were invited for comment. A review platform where all customers were invited to leave a review would give us a better idea of the service CurrencyWave provides. There’s nothing concerning in what’s available online, in fact it’s all positive, but not enough for us to recommend CurrencyWave. Simply too little for us to determine credibility based on existing customer experience. There are many dedicated FX companies accepting clients from the north of England who can provide tailored account management and have thousands of positive client experiences to report online. Currencies Direct and TorFX report the highest review score on independent review platform TrustPilot.

CurrencyWave Exchange Rates & Fees

Research:

Fees: There are no payment fees for private clients. Fees not specified for business clients but these are likely to be based on payment volume.

Exchange rates: Fixed and transparent spreads are applied to currency exchange. Meaning whether you trade through the online platform or on the phone, rates will be the same. There’s no need to apply custom spreads to the online platform, fixed spreads are set up for all as standard.

For individuals and businesses the rates are as follows:

Transfers over £500,000 are negotiated on an individual basis.

Limits: £1,000 minimum transfer limit.

Conclusion:

CurrencyWave’s pricing page suggests there are no payment fees at all for any type of client. However when we look at the private and business client proposition individually it’s only private clients where no fees are advertised. This is similar to most currency brokers – individuals have no payment fees whereas businesses, who generally have a high volume of payments to process, are charged a small fee which is usually much better than what’s on offer with a bank.

Where CurrencyWave is more unique is by offering fixed and transparent spreads. This is quite rare for a currency broker that offers hedging capabilities. Fixed spreads are usually offered by online money transfer companies that allow for only spot transfers. At 0.5% – 1% the spreads are not bad either, much better than a bank and likely to be better than some currency brokers. Though some currency brokers might be prepared to negotiate a lower spread, depending on volumes. WordFirst is the other payment company that offers hedging capabilities and fixed spreads for business clients. Based on annual volumes rather than individual payments, WorldFirst is perhaps better suited to businesses with high volumes of low value international payments. Ranging from 0.15% – 0.6% they are likely to beat CurrencyWave spreads in any case.

CurrencyWave Global Reach & Service

Research:

• Dedicated Dealer: Yes (via Currency Cloud)
• Offices: UK
• Ways to approach: Email, Telephone
• Translations: No
• Accepts clients: UK, EEA, US
• Currencies Handled: 34
• Client reviews: 2 N/A

Conclusion:

By leveraging Currency Cloud’s regulatory footprint, CurrencyWave is able to onboard clients in the UK, Europe and US. Meaning it’s actually one of the few brokers that can onboard US clients, even though almost all CurrencyWave clients appear to be based in the north of England.

With just one office in the UK and a team of two, it’s evident that overseas clients are not a huge focus for CurrencyWave. In comparison, some of the most international brokers such as OFX  have offices in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Additional Functionalities

• Spot Transfers
• Forward Contracts
• Limit Orders
• Stop Loss Orders

App:

None.

Collection Accounts:

Like other payment providers who run off the Currency Cloud platform, CurrencyWave offers collection accounts in 30+ currencies, allowing businesses to collect overseas payments, hold balances, convert currencies and withdraw funds to their domestic account (collectively: multi-currency accounts). Collection accounts run off just one IBAN (making it easy to invoice) and are based in London.

Conclusion:

CurrencyWave has no app, although with a largely business focus, this is unlikely to deter business customers who usually trade during office hours. Private customers, who are eligible to use CurrencyWave, may be put off by the lack of app and prefer an alternative from our selection of best international money transfer apps.

Business FX tools – spot, forward and limit orders – are just what we would expect from a currency broker. Nothing unique here but has the core functionality required for most small businesses.

Finally, whilst collection accounts are a cool feature, it’s worth pointing out that as the accounts are held in the UK, regardless of the currency, it does mean that customers will have to initiate an international transfer if they are to pay into the account. WorldFirst provides accounts which are held locally to the country they represent and allow for both inbound and outbound payments.