Key Currency Money Transfer Review

Company Information and Credibility

Company size:  

KeyCurrency has been in existence for six years now, meaning it is still a relatively new contender in the FX space. The firm was established in 2015, and is privately owned by the company’s directors: Clive Cooke, James Pinkney, Jon Pinkney and Andrew Gibson, all of which have extensive background in finance and foreign exchange. Clive Cooke, the chairman of the firm, was previously the CEO of City Index, one of the better known forex trading firms in the world.

The company has 30 employees at the moment, and boasts “respectable” trading volumes of  around £300 million per year – not bad considering they were only recently established in 2015. Though nothing comparable to the big players in this field like Currencies Direct, Moneycorp (£36bn), HiFX, XE, or \Wise (£4bn per month). If Key Currency continues on their current trajectory, we might start to see them moving billions of pounds per annum, though they’ll likely still fall short of the industries’ largest providers.

The firm holds its head office in Truro, Cornwall, meaning it’s not too far away from one of our top 3 rated money transfer companies – TorFX. Being based in Cornwall, the firm should have lower overheads than competing London-based currency brokers.

What separates Key Currency from its competitors is the fact they boast a straightforward “no minimum” policy, which means no trade is too small for them to handle, and each and every trade enquiry goes directly to the dealer, rather than the on-boarding team (like larger firms do for smaller-value transfers). Much like TorFX, the personnel at KeyCurrency – having a dedicated account manager that clients can speak with on the phone – appears to be one of their major advantages. Rather than trying to push people online, they understand the value a human can bring to the international payment process by explaining how FX markets and international transfers work.

Fully regulated by the FCA, the protection and security of client funds is a top priority for the firm. All money transfers are conducted through safeguarded client accounts, meaning money is ring fenced in a separate bank account and not pooled with company funds. The online payments system is also built on secure technology and integrates with a network of global banking partners to offer fast and reliable international transfers at competitive rates.

For the fourth year in a row (2018 – 2021), Key Currency has recently won the ADVFN International Financial Award for Best Currency Exchange Service. Initially, we were slightly dubious that this was the only award ceremony the firm seemed to enter but we have to say they are joined by some esteemed company as winners of an ADVFN award – alongside the likes of BlackRock, Forbes, Coinbase and Interactive Investor.

Regulated By: 

Financial Conduct Authority (UK)

Awards: 

Key Currency has won more awards than the industry average, as follows:

• Key Currency has won more awards than the industry average, as follows:
• Best Currency Provider at the 2016 Online Personal Wealth Awards
• Best Currency Provider at the 2016 Online Personal Wealth Awards
• Best Currency Exchange Service in 2018 at the ADVFN International Finance Awards
• Best Currency Exchange Service in 2019 at the ADVFN International Finance Awards
• Best Currency Exchange Service in 2020 at the ADVFN International Finance Awards
• Best Currency Exchange Service in 2021 at the ADVFN International Finance Awards

Conclusion: 

All in all, KeyCurrency is a growing company with a limited track record and moderate trading volumes, particularly in comparison to the largest currency brokers on the market., They seem to be doing everything correctly though and have great potential for growth.

The fact they are completely transparent about their ownership and operations towards both clients and towards MoneyTransferComparison.com’s reviewers, makes us wholeheartedly believe they are representing something “else” that this industry might have been missing or seemed to forget – a new, hungry and motivated, service oriented company with a sincere approach to business, led by people who know the ins and outs of foreign exchange trading.

Client Feedback

Research:

There are a lot more Key Currency client reviews online than there were when we first wrote this Key Currency review in 2017. The number of Trustpilot reviews has grown steadily from 50 to over 400 in 2019 and to over 800 reviews in 2021. Outside of TrustPilot we could not locate any online Key Currency reviews of the firm, whether on forums or blogs. The reviews on Trustpilot however have remained highly positive, giving us a very good feel about the company. 800 online reviews is impressive but still hard to compare with bigger companies that have thousands of positive reviews accumulated over a period of 10+ years such as Moneycorp.

Conclusion:

Over 800 reviews from current and past clients tell us Key Currency is a great company to work with. These clients were extremely positive about every facet of the company, notably the communication of the team and the timely execution of transfers. The question mark is on exchange rates – though it’s just a handful of customers who appear unhappy with the rate they achieved it does look like they could have found themselves a better deal elsewhere

Exchange Rate & Fees

Research:

Fees: There are no fees on trades, regardless of the amount of currency sent.

Exchange Rates: Key Currency operates in the same fashion as almost any other company in this industry, with the exception of Transferwise and Currencyfair, which means they do not have fixed margins on their international transfers. The bigger the trade is, and less exotic the currencies involved are, the better the rate a client would receive.

Limits: There are absolutely no minimums.

Conclusion:

A no fee policy is what we like to hear. Banks usually charge excessive payment fees and excessive FX spreads. Currency brokers usually charge no/low payment fees and moderate FX spreads. Key Currency is a very traditional broker in this sense. It is difficult to comment on the expected exchange rates with Key Currency as they are not advertised, but if we were to rely on the client reviews we have discovered online, they generally appear to be competitive most of the time. Proceed with caution though as there are a handful of client reviews which expressed dissatisfaction with the rate achieved.

Global Reach & Service

Research:

• Dedicated Dealer: Yes, for all trades
• Offices: UK, Representatives in Spain, Portugal and Netherlands
• Ways to approach: Email or telephone (UK number).
• Translations: None, but there is a multi-lingual staff for phone support.
• Accepts clients: From UK, EU, Australia.
• Currencies Handled: 39

Conclusion:

Key Currency has only one UK office in Cornwall, as well as three representative offices in Spain, Portugal and Holland. There is no website translation or international phone number that would indicate they really do appeal to international clients. On the other hand, they do have business development managers and dealers who are fluent in Spanish, Swedish and Italian. Spain seems to be of a particular focus – whilst they aren’t set up to acquire these clients online or provide a Spanish version of their online trading platform, it would appear most clients from this region are acquired by their network of staff based in Spain and clients from this region will simply call their personal contact when they want to make a trade. Key Currency has representatives covering a number of Spanish regions, including; Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Murcia, Catalunya and Ibiza.

It’s also worth noting that based on  client reviews, Key Currency seems to be providing excellent service, and appears to have a team with longstanding experience in the foreign exchange industry. Every single director, as well as the head of trading, and the head of corporate FX, appears to have an extensive background in this industry: from a GM of a large import-export company, through wealth management, forex trading, banking and of course – currency payments. We have reasons to believe the type of guidance they provide is top-notch.

Additional Functionalities

• Rate alerts.
• Market updates.
• Limit orders.
• Forward contract.
• Regular transfers.

App:

Key Currency does not offer an app for the time being. For alternatives, please read our list of top international money transfer apps.

Conclusion:

A rather plain vanilla offering on this end – market orders, forward contracts and market analysis is the minimum we would expect from a specialist currency broker. It’s more than purely online money transfer companies such as Wise provide, but less than that offered by some specialist currency brokers such as Global Reach, Currencies Direct & Moneycorp who will provide options contracts too. All the basics are there for Key Currency, but nothing out of the ordinary.