Is Fiscal FX Safe?

Company size:

Fiscal FX describes itself as a broker service with the knowledge and performance systems to manage foreign exchange and risk. It offers services for both personal users and businesses including international payments, hedging strategies, forward contracts and mass payments. Like other currency brokers powered by Currencycloud, Fiscal FX offers the option to open dedicated multi-currency accounts to help facilitate easier payments for businesses with customers outside their native country. Other services mentioned online are currency cards and FX options, however, when clicked, these links direct users to a business page which makes no further reference to products.

Founded in 2019 by current Director Archie Scarborough, Fiscal FX seemingly started out as a small 2 person operation but has since been growing its team, to 9 employees at the end of 2021 and Fiscal FX currently list 15 employees on LinkedIn (as of October 2022). Their recruitment drive over the last 18 months included adding a Head of Global Partnerships, Billy Downer, to focus on expanding Fiscal FX into Europe. Currently, Fiscal FX is a UK based company, with their sole office located in London. Billy is the third member of Fiscal FX’s public leadership team, who despite all being in their early thirties, each have 5-10 years experience in the financial industry with specific FX knowledge and experience working for companies such as OFX.

In order to expand their reach and offer customers a more comprehensive service, Fiscal FX partners with a total of 5 money service businesses, authorised payment institutions and electronic money institutions, to facilitate payments in a wider range of geographies and currencies. Some of these partners are very well known in the fintech space and carry an esteemed reputation, including international payment technology provider Currencycloud, and Ebury Partners UK, who appear to be Fiscal FX’s main partner, listed as their programme manager. It’s fairly common for smaller currency brokers to partner with the likes of Currencycloud, as it allows firms like Fiscal FX to leverage the trading platform and onboarding process of a major B2B technology provider to offer a more efficient service to its clients, whilst simultaneously boosting customer confidence by piggybacking on their partner’s brand reputation.

However, working with so many partners definitely causes some confusion and has the potential to complicate the process for Fiscal FX customers, who may be required to use different partners for different international payments, potentially without ever speaking to the end company that provides the licences to actually complete the payments. Other potential friction points include Fiscal FX customers potentially having to sign up to several different terms & conditions, or the possibility of a power of attorney being required for Fiscal FX portfolio managers to be able to book trades over the phone on behalf of the client. Currently, the Fiscal FX registration process is solely associated with Ebury Partners and it’s their T&C’s the user has to agree to, so it’s currently unclear whether this process will have to be repeated several times depending on which partner’s services Fiscal FX are leveraging for a particular transaction. These are all consideration points that would need to be clearly explained by Fiscal FX. Despite mentioning FX options on the site, we can’t see that Fiscal FX or any of its partners have the relevant regulation to offer this.

Further confusion arises around other inconsistencies across the Fiscal FX website, where information is scarce or seemingly out of date regarding their partnerships. They state that they’re Introduction Brokers to 4 tier 1 Fintechs, then list 5. Fiscal FX’s terms and conditions only list 2 of these 5 partners, however their T&Cs still also list their old head office and registered address, suggesting these are out of date. This is one of many errors we spotted during our research for this Fiscal FX review, which included missing and/or old contact information on several pages, broken registration links (leading to google.com) and several spelling errors across their site.

Regulated By:

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

✓  FCA, via Ebury Partners UK Limited (FRN: 900797) – UK

✓  FCA, via Global Currency Exchange Network Ltd (FRN: 504346) – UK

✓  FCA, via Sciopay Ltd (FRN: 927951) – UK

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

Conclusion:

Fiscal FX is a small but growing broker, offering a range of business and personal services. It’s not clear from their website the full extent of services that they offer, so we feel their proposition could definitely be improved to be made clearer for potential customers without having to engage in a direct dialogue with Fiscal FX. For example, during the pandemic Fiscal FX were advertising via their social channels as a physical card provider, powered by mastercard, whereas at the time of writing, there is no mention of a physical card service across the Fiscal FX website or within their terms and conditions. We’ve not been able to conclude if this is a service they still offer but don’t clearly advertise, or whether it’s a service that they have since terminated for reasons unknown.

There is also other information on the site that we believe is confusing and even has the potential to be misleading. On the security page of their website, Fiscal FX has a section titled ‘Our Numbers’, where the listed clients, global offices and total value of transactions are clearly those that belong to their payment partners. For example the listed value of transactions for 2021 is £23 Billion, where in fact Fiscal FX’s 2021 transactions were just over £150 Million, a significant difference.

It’s important to consider that Fiscal FX themselves do not directly provide the Know Your Customer on-boarding and compliance services themselves. With confusion regarding Fiscal FX’s several payment partners, without a clear outline of how and when each of these partners is engaged in a transfer, we’d strongly recommend all users seek clarity on this from Fiscal FX. Despite some confusion, being associated with well revered brands like Ebury and Currencycloud is certainly beneficial for Fiscal FX’s reputation.

In summary, some customers may be attracted to Fiscal FX, in hopes of receiving a personable ‘small business’ like service, whilst benefiting from the technology and reliability that Fiscal FX’s more credible partners offer. Some will see the company size as advantageous, whereas others may exercise caution, seeking access to more established or reputable competition such as Currencies Direct. Ultimately, we feel a combination of either missing, unclear or incorrect information on their website is something Fiscal FX needs to address asap to avoid losing out on potential business.

Fiscal FX Customer Reviews

Research:

Given the company was founded in 2019, there are a limited number of Fiscal FX reviews  across all online platforms. As they do not have a mobile application, the only verifiable source of reviews is TrustPilot, where Fiscal FX have received 38 total reviews, all of which awarded Fiscal FX with 5 stars out of 5. Their TrustPilot rating is 4.8, which takes into consideration both the recency and total number of reviews, which will be the contributing factors that are slightly lowering their score from a flawless 5 / 5, as their most recent review was more than 6 months ago. Whilst there is just one Fiscal FX review on Google, this is also a perfect 5 stars which will help customer confidence when users are searching for the company online via the search engine and see another 5 star rating.

Conclusion:

Although Fiscal FX only have a limited number of reviews, their online reputation is currently untarnished which can only be seen as a positive. As such, Fiscal FX have opted to use TrustPilot’s premium service which gives the firm a widget to publicly advertise its TrustPilot Score on its website. With that said, for a company in their 4th year of operation, we would like to have seen a higher number of Fiscal FX reviews, which would also likely increase their TrustPilot score to a perfect 5 / 5 stars, providing they continue their current trend of flawless reviews.

Fiscal FX could also likely boost their score by selecting the free option through TrustPilot to request reviews from customers. This would also provide more customers the opportunity to call out other members of the team, as currently all mentions of helpful staff have exclusively been about Archie and Ellis from their leadership team. However, this in addition to the clear trend of Fiscal FX providing a personal service, shows that many customers are benefitting from the more personable service offered by a smaller firm.

Despite Fiscal FX only having positive reviews, given there’s such a low amount we would still consider it too soon for us to rate Fiscal FX’s credibility with confidence. Especially as they’ve been in business for close to 4 years. Potential customers looking for similar services from a more established company, might consider major players TorFX, who have more than 5,500 TrustPilot reviews with an impressive 4.9 rating.

Fiscal FX Exchange Rate & Fees

Fees:

There are very few specific details provided on the Fiscal FX website regarding its fees for personal or business users. Fiscal FX simply states in its terms and conditions that they do charge fees and that these are related to payments and administration costs.

Exchange Rates:

Much like the fees that Fiscal FX charge, regarding exchange rates, there is no standard or universal mark-up on their exchanges. There are, however, a few clues and general comments across its website and terms & conditions that provide a bit of insight into what Fiscal FX might and might not charge for, albeit speculative.

For example, Fiscal FX includes a streamlined savings calculator, where users enter both the sending and receiving currency, as well as the total amount they wish to send. The calculator reveals how much you could potentially save by choosing Fiscal FX over a traditional bank for your transfer. This is less transparent than many of Fiscal FX’s competitors, who include a live calculator on their site that states the live offered exchange rate and any fees, in addition to the total amount the recipient would receive. The calculator is seemingly a representative example only, as regardless of which sending or receiving currency you enter, the amount you save is based on the user’s current provider charging 2.9% and Fiscal FX charging a spread of 0.4%. We’ve included the below example of transferring 10,000 British Pounds to Euros.

Having checked the calculations, this saving is solely the difference in a 2.9% versus a 0.4% spread and does not take into account any fees. The 2.9% spread is about right for banks as this is what we found in our international bank transfer fee analysis. Whilst a 0.4% spread would be a competitive rate, it’s highly possible that this is not the average spread Fiscal FX charge, as they’d likely want to advertise the maximum possible savings to their potential customers, therefore, there isn’t too much to take away from this representative example to conclude how competitive Fiscal FX’s currency exchange rates are.

Limits:

Upon concluding our research for this Fiscal FX review, we weren’t able to find any information regarding transfer limits. With the absence of a Frequently Asked Questions section on their website, we also analysed their blogs and terms and conditions but disappointingly we were not able to find any information, either on upper limits, to assess suitability for customers wishing to transfers larger sums, nor can we confirm a minimum transfer limit, which the majority of currency brokers do have as part of their terms. In theory, because of the providers they use, there should be no maximum limit.

Conclusion:

It’s fair to say Fiscal FX keeps its cards close to its chess when it comes to exchange rates, fees and limits. Even for the limited amount of information we were able to find, much of this is tucked away in their terms and conditions, which is written more like a FAQ’s section in places, just far more difficult for the user to navigate to.

We’ve seen many other payment providers publicly display their rates and fees, despite not being the cheapest, so we would like to have seen more transparency from Fiscal FX in this regard. This leaves potential customers with limited information unless they reach out for a quote, which may be off putting for some and result in Fiscal FX being removed from their consideration set when looking for a service provider.

The absence of information on transfer limits means we can’t say for sure the volumes they can transact to. Given the FX partners they use, we’d imagine it is unlimited but users who’d like a provider with guaranteed experience in handling much larger transfers should see moneycorp.

Fiscal FX Offices & Global Reach

Research:

• Dedicated Dealer: Yes
• Offices: London, UK
• Ways to approach: Email, phone – 09.00-18.00, Mon-Fri
• Translations: Unknown
• Accepts clients: UK + 19 other countries (not specified)
• Currencies Handled: Pay out in 140 currencies, collect in 30
• Client reviews: Limited reviews, all positive

Conclusion:

There is ambiguity around the true extent of Fiscal FX’s reach. They are a UK based firm, whose partnerships with several other high tier fintechs allows them to operate on behalf of their clients, offering a fully regulated service in 20 countries. These countries are not listed on Fiscal FX’s website, so users would need to reach out directly to Fiscal FX to understand if their offering is available in the user’s desired region.

Another point of note is around Fiscal FX’s multi-currency account solution. Because these virtual accounts are run from London, the service will differ slightly from an alternative provider that offers local, in-country accounts. For example, a customer who has a virtual SGD account with Fiscal FX that wants to send a payment in this currency from Singapore, would still have to pay higher international transfer fees, the only saving being that no currency exchange would occur.

Little is known about Fiscal FX’s plans to expand, other than their publicly stated intention of expanding throughout Europe, spearheaded by their Head of Global Partnerships. At one point, Fiscal FX advertised the opening of an office in Spain, however at the time of writing, there is no mention of this office on their website, so it’s unclear if this is still a strategy for the firm.

One benefit to Fiscal FX still being a relatively small firm is it appears from reviews that the majority of their clientele are receiving service from the most senior members of the Fiscal FX team. However, Fiscal FX only having one office and the same two staff members being mentioned in the majority of reviews, will provide potential customers with a sense of scale between a micro currency broker like Fiscal FX, versus a truly international broker such as Global Reach, who have 6 dedicated international offices across 4 continents.

Additional Functionalities

Hedging:

Yes – Fiscal FX offer forward contracts to fix rates upto 5 years in the future.

For Business:

Yes – Fiscal FX provide a range of business solutions including; transfers, currency exchange, multiple currency accounts, mass payment, and dedicated IBAN.

App:

No – Whilst Fiscal FX do offer an online portal which allows users to make their own transfers, at the time of writing they do not have an app. Customers who consider it essential to have a mobile application, can choose from one of our best international money transfer apps.