Is Kantox Safe?

Company size:  

Established in 2011, Kantox is still a relative newcomer to the currency transfer market (whereas dedicated currency brokers like moneycorp have been around since 1979 and other brokerages like Currencies Direct and XE have been around since the 1990’s).

Its offering is diverse, technologically-lead and genuinely unique, which, in our view, gives it an interesting spot in the industry. Similar to business-facing competitors AirWallex, Kantox is a product oriented company with a lot more going on behind the curtains than with moderately-sized competitors.

Kantox first announced $1bn in currency trading volumes at the end of 2014, it then passed the $2bn mark in 2015 and, as of 2023, has now traded $15bn since inception. The company boasts 6,500+ clients and helps SMEs of all sizes move and repatriate money from overseas, all with varying degrees of currency hedging complexity. Transfer volumes are relatively modest and fintechs like Wise transfer more in a three-month period than Kantox’s has accumulated over its 12 years of tradingi. Even if you compare userss and trading volumes to companies that specifically focus on online sellers and businesses like WorldFirst, Kantox falls way behind.

Kantox positions itself from competitors using three elements:

1. complete and utter technological focus offering a diverse payment and collection system for businesses.
2. dynamic online hedging option which is not something other currency hedging providers offer.
3. it offers a “dynamic pricing” component which will enable business owners to manage their foreign currency pricing better and in real time.

Kantox is regularly featured in  fintech magazines and, on occasion, even in the mainstream media. Back in 2015, the Guardian reported on the fact Kantox managed to secure $11m in its series B round. Whilst other publications to cover the company include Business Insider UK, forex transfer and industry authority site Finance Magnets.

In late 2022, Kantox was acquired by BNP Paribas for €120m. The move came after the two organisations were technological partners for three years, demonstrating the belief that the ninth largest banking group in the world has in Kantox’s technology platform.

In addition to its positive media attention, Kantox has also won several prestigious awards for innovation (listed below).

Regulated By: 

• United Kingdom – Financial Conduct Authority
• Bank of Spain
• European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories.

Awards: 

• Deloitte 2014 Award for Innovation
• Deloitte Technology UK Fast 50 2016
• Deloitte Technology UK Fast 50 2017
• Deloitte Technology UK Fast 50 2018
• European FinTech of the Year at the European ICT Spring Awards 2015
• tmi Awards 2018: Best Risk Management Solution
• e-FX Awards 2019: Best e-FX Platform for Corporates
• tmi Awards 2019: Best Solution Innovation – FX Risk
• tmi Awards 2020: Best Risk Management Solution
• tmi Awards 2021: Best Risk Management Solution

Conclusion: 

Kantox seems to be an actual payment technology startup which focuses on FX, as opposed to a traditional currency broker which is a more straightforward position. It has gained a lot of recognition for its technological efforts but has yet to get a substantial market share, and hence – has much fewer customer reviews online. The acquisition by BNP Paribas indicates the firm is definitely safe and takes all the required precautions around handling client money.

Kantox Client Reviews

Research:

As of March 2023, there are 702 customer reviews on a website named featuredcustomers.com, which we were not familiar with prior to our recent update of this Kantox review.

Admittedly, we aren’t aware of every single customer review website there is but we can’t put our faith in sites which aren’t recognisable in this industry, especially as all of Kantox’s competitors have opted to use TrustPilot or Feefo which are two very respected review platforms.

There are currently 702 Kantox reviews, which is significantly more than the 14 reviews that had been left for the company in 2021. And with a 4.8 / 5 client rating, things have definitely moved forward positively for Kantox over the last couple of years. However, the number of reviews is still eclipsed by the some of the largest brands in the industry like Currencies Direct and moneycorp, and the fact remains that Kantox is the only money transfer company to utilise featuredcustomers.com.

Conclusion:

The number of Kantox reviews has jumped from just 14 in 2021 to over 700 in 2023. And with a 4.8/5 score, this would definitely be a sufficient sample size to give us an indication of the quality of service that Kantox provides. However, the only Kantox client reviews that can be found online are on the website featuredcustomers.com. A review platform that no other money transfer company utilises. To be able to read comments on this review site, you’re required to upgrade your account. We’ve tried to do this on two occasions and registration has frozen both times.

Kantox Exchange Rate & Fees

Research:

In 2018, Kantox’ website stated that:

Fees: If a company is transferring over €9,000 annually, there’ll be no fixed fees per transfer. Below that, each transaction will incur €25 in fees (translated into local currency).

Exchange Rates: Kantox deserves all the props for having the most transparent and easiest to understand the fee structure. To make a long story short – most businesses will pay 0.29% of each transfer, which is a tight margin (representing saving of 35% against already cheap rivals such as Transferwise, Azimo and Currencyfair).

Limits: The minimum transfer amount is £500 (or half of that for regular payments). The online system is able to handle transactions up to £250,000, and phone transfers are unlimited.  For travel money or currency cards, there’s no minimum, though travel money delivery is only free above the £750 mark.

However, as of 2023, Kantox’s website does not state any of the above and reveals little information with regards to their fees.

Conclusion:

Kantox are no longer transparent about this aspect of their business. If they do indeed still maintain the same fee structure then small businesses are getting a good deal but we recommend any and all new clients to ask Kantox to clearly outline the costs involved with making a currency transfer before using the platform. Both in terms of fixed payment fees and the exchange rate margin taken. Now that Kantox has been acquired by BNP Paribas it is especially important to understand your fees as they could have increased.

Kantox Offices & Global Reach

Research:

• Dedicated Dealer: Yes.
• Offices: UK, Spain
• Ways to Trade: Online
• Translations: Spanish, German, Italian and French
• Accepts clients: UK + EU
• Currencies Handled: 124.
• Client reviews: 702 reviews on an unknown platform.

Conclusion:

Kantox is not the most international company. The firm has two international offices (Spain + UK) and it’s clear that European businesses are the target market. Kantox is fully localised in Europe, with multiple translations of the website and a dynamic team from over 30 countries.

Additional Functionalities

Services offered by Kantox:

• Forward Contracts
• Rate Watch
• International Currency Accounts
• Dynamic Pricing Tool for Businesses
• Real-time FX data feed including API
• Dynamic Hedging for multiple small-value transactions
• Automated mass payment solution
• Automated pricing solution and so forth
• Regular Transfers

The simple functionalities of forex hedging are all available through Kantox platform under “static hedging”.

Rather than simply facilitating payments, the firm is being more strategic with its understanding of all the challenges a business might face when trading internationally. The offering is particularly suitable for business clients who have a high volume of lower value payments to manage. The overseas account solution is targeting a bold number of available currencies (29) but it appears for now that the accounts can only be used for collection purposes, and not all of these currencies are available for now.

The end goal is also to facilitate businesses to make payments from the accounts too, something WorldFirst offers through their World Account product, or other multi-currency accounts available on the market today.

Both solutions aim to reduce the need of working with multiple banking partners around the globe and avoids the tricky onboarding process which is often required to register with new banks, such as the requirement to have a local address in the country the bank operates.

Conclusion:

The Kantox online platform is one of the most sophisticated online platforms in the industry, and one of the only ones that allows full hedging functionality. The fact you can also bolt-on additional products which are constantly in development shows the ambition of Kantox to become the go-to provider for SMEs trading internationally.