Moneycorp Review: The Money Transfer Industry’s Veteran

By 
Alon Rajic
Last Edited Oct 27, 2022

Should I Use Moneycorp?

Pros:

  • Operating since 1979
  • More than £38bn in Turnover in 2021
  • New and Improved Online Journey
  • Banking Licence in Gibraltar
  • Highest D&B Rating in Industry
  • Consumer & Business Awards
  • Sophisticated Payment Solutions (Mass Payments, Delayed Payments etc.)
  • Attentive and Responsive to Client Complaints
  • Very Transparent - Shares Annual Report Despite Being a Private Company

Cons:

  • Negative Reviews for Moneycorp Mobile App
  • "Oldschool" Compared to Wise

Services Offered by Moneycorp

Transfer Money Abroad to a Bank Account  + 7

Official Website:

Moneycorp Review: Executive Summary

Moneycorp is one of the most recognisable names in the British international payments industry, considered as a pioneer for offering non-bank business foreign exchange services. Incorporated in 1962 (first foreign exchange in 1979 as a high street currency dealer and commercial foreign exchange in 1999), moneycorp (TTT Moneycorp UK Ltd) is a mature company with a stable corporate structure and effective, customer-focused, service. With more than 880 employees and £43.7 billion traded in 2020, Moneycorp is an industry leader without a doubt. Moneycorp is safe - actually more than just "safe", but rather a rock-solid financial institution with exstensive experience and very high degree of expertise with both corporate and private clients.

Click here to visit moneycorp.

Overall rating93.2%
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Updated on Oct 27, 2022
Aggregated User Votes
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Current Rates?

🏆 17 Industry Awards (1991-2020)

Where is moneycorp Available?

Is moneycorp Safe?

Company Size

Incorporated in 1962 (first foreign exchange in 1979 as a high street currency dealer and commercial foreign exchange in 1999), moneycorp (TTT Moneycorp UK Ltd) is a mature company with a stable corporate structure and effective, focused customer service. With more than 880 employees and £38 billion traded in 2021 (FY2022 volumes yet to be announced), moneycorp is one of the largest money transfer companies in the UK, and indeed globally. It also boasts one of the largest trading departments in the entire industry.

Key developments in the history of moneycorp have included the Royal Bank of Scotland Special Opportunities Fund (of which RBS had a 13.5% direct stake) becoming a significant shareholder in the moneycorp group in December 2006. Prior to selling its stake to Bridgepoint in 2014 for £212 million, who, as of 2021, are still the current majority shareholder of moneycorp.

In 2013 moneycorp acquired Thomas Cook’s corporate foreign exchange business. In August 2015 the company bought a 45% stake in Brazilian currency company Novo Mundo Corretora de Câmbio, of which it now owns a 90% stake following an increase in shareholdings in 2019.

In 2016, moneycorp acquired a Gibraltar banking licence, leading to the establishment of moneycorp bank.

In 2018 moneycorp bought the Canary Wharf-based firm, First Rate FX. Ltd, who had been operating in the foreign exchange industry for 13 years. With First Rate FX having operations in Dubai, it allowed moneycorp to expand their operations in the region. In the same year, moneycorp also acquired US-based corporate international payments business, Commonwealth Foreign Exchange Inc.

Despite the challenges faced by the pandemic, moneycorp announced record growth in its B2B business. Moneycorp B2B markets, which supports corporates and financial institutions, grew 13% YoY in 2020.

The firm is continuously looking at ways to expand its services and innovate its offering. This has resulted in a mammoth global footprint and an impressive suite of advanced payment products. One example of this is Moneycorp’s enhanced API capabilities in the US. Allowing firms to integrate moneycorp’s international payment functionality into their existing accounting software and ERP systems. US Fintech company KyckGlobal is also powered by Moneycorp’s APIs to deepen their cross-border payment solutions for US-based corporates.

More recently, the firm announced the appointment of a new CFO, Velizar Tarashev, in February 2021, who was previously the CFO at Barclays Private Bank. As well as the appointment of a new Vice Chairman in April 2021, David Yates, who was previously a president at Mastercard. Experienced hires, with a background in banking and payments, are typical of moneycorp and just what we would expect from one of the industry’s most respected providers.

In August 2022, moneycorp launched an innovative foreign exchange liquidity management tool for Digital Asset Exchange providers (i.e. cryptocurrency exchanges). The tool, powered by 16 different providers, enables 24/5 access to execute payments efficiently and demonstrates moneycorp’s continued commitment to innovation, despite being one of the oldest companies in the industry.

Though the move is yet to be confirmed, rumours are spreading that Bridgepoint will put moneycorp up for sale in early 2023.

Headquartered in Victoria, London, moneycorp also boasts offices in Ireland, Australia, Portugal, Spain, the United States, Dubai, Romania, Hong Kong, France and Brazil.

Awards

moneycorp’s long history has earned it a multitude of awards throughout the years. Below you can find the most relevant ones we have collected from recent years

The Sunday Times Top Track 250 (2017)

Feefo gold trusted service award (2018 & 2019)

Feefo platinum trusted service award (2020)

Money Transfer Provider of The Year – MoneyAge Awards (2019)

Best Money Transfer Service Provider – The World Banking Awards (2019)

Travel money provider of the year – Moneyfacts Consumer Awards (2015+2016)

moneycorp was also shortlisted for a number of other awards in 2020, including MoneyAge 2020 Money Transfer Provider of the Year, the Payment Awards 2020 Best Cross-Border Payments Service and The Private Equity Service Provider Awards 2020 for Foreign Exchange Services.

Conclusion

moneycorp has been around for over four decades, maintaining an excellent reputation, and earning multiple awards relating to its services. Its senior management team consists of experienced individuals who have a proven track-record in the payments industry. In this sense, Moneycorp can be considered a more traditional currency provider (especially when compared to fintechs such as Wise) but it shows the firm’s commitment to the security of client funds and proper adherence to financial regulations. With over a million transactions last year alone, and an astonishing £38bn transferred annually, we consider moneycorp to be one of, if not the most reliable choice for currency transfers. In addition to this, moneycorp is the only money transfer company in the world to receive a banking licence from Gibraltar, which shows the level of credibility the firm has, as well as a 5A1 rating from D&B which is the highest among all foreign exchange firms in the UK. To shore up its balance sheet, the firm announced a healthy EBITDA of £36.7m in 2021, up 38% from the year before.

Publications like CNN, The Telegraph, The Guardian and CityAM have all opted to use Moneycorp’s services for their white-label money transfer services, which increases the level of trust as well.

99% Credibility Score.

Moneycorp FAQ & Review Overview

About this Review & FAQs

This moneycorp review will explain in detail how the company operates, whether moneycorp is safe, what kind of exchange rates you can achieve, how moneycorp vs Transferwise compares, and whether it’s worth using moneycorp money transfer service as a whole.

Moneycorp Review FAQ

+ Who is Moneycorp?

Moneycorp is one of the earliest commercial money transfer specialists to ever exist, commencing currency trading in the 1970’s. With trading that exceeds £43bn annually, hundreds of thousands of active customers (of which many are small businesses and large corporate clients) and regulation in the UK, EU, Canada, USA, as well as a banking licence in Gibraltar - it's uniquely large and respectable in the money transfer space.

+ Is Moneycorp well regulated?

Yes. Moneycorp is an authorised payment service by the Financial Conduct Authority, FinTRAC and ASIC (as well as multiple additional regulators across the globe).

+ Is moneycorp a bank?

Yes and no. Moneycorp (moneycorp.com) is an FCA-authorised international payments specialist. Moneycorp Bank (moneycorpbank.com), a Gibraltar based entit,y does hold a banking licence (authorised and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission of Gibraltar). So too does Moneycorp Banco de Câmbio in Brazil.

+ How does the process work?

The process is simple and efficient. Sign up quickly online with Moneycorp, receive a quote over the phone or through the online system, approve it - and use a domestic bank account to fund your transfer. Once you’ve funded your moneycorp account, they will initiate the transfer.

+ Can you fund your international transfer through a debit card?

Yes, but fees could be higher in some countries, and hence it's recommended to fund transfers through a domestic bank transfer (in your own currency).

+ How do I book a transfer?

Once your account is fully up and running, you can book a transfer either online or via the moneycorp app. Alternatively, you can book a trade via your dedicated currency dealer, either via email or telephone.

+ Does Moneycorp offer hedging tools such as Forward Contracts?

Yes, in fact Moneycorp is our #1 rated broker for hedging. Moneycorp's Forward Contracts have smaller deposit requirements and longer booking periods than any competitors in this space, and the firm offers a very wide variety of hedging tools for corporate and private clients alike.

+ Are there transfer limits with Moneycorp?

Minimum amount is £50 (or 50 euro, dollar, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, etc.) and there is no upper limit. Large corporations use the service to transfer millions each year.

+ Can I get a free money transfer quote from Moneycorp?

Yes, click here.

Moneycorp’s Offices

We visited moneycorp at its offices in Victoria Street, London. This is definitely one of the most impressive setups in the industry. An ultra-professional dealer team, extra-pleasant meeting rooms, and a friendly atmosphere all round. To us, it seems pretty much like the ideal environment for people who will be handling client money.


moneycorp offices – photos:

file1
Dealing Room
file3
Reception / Waiting Area


*These images are exclusive to MoneyTransferComparison.com. If you wish to incorporate them on your website you may do so with attribution to this page.

Do Clients Like moneycorp? moneycorp Reviews from Across The Web

Research

With a little over 500 moneycorp reviews submitted to Feefo in the last year, and approximately 94% of them being positive (Feefo would only show the rating of the feedback received in the past year which is 4.7/5), we know that customers using the service today are happy with the service provided to them by moneycorp. Feefo is a great platform that is utilised by over 2,000 retailers and service providers. It verifies that all reviews are genuinely submitted by verified clients. In total, moneycorp has amassed over 7,000 customer reviews on feefo since it began using the platform.

There are additional reviews to be found on other platforms such as ReviewCentre and TrustPilot. Despite TrustPilot not being moneycorp’s primary review platform, it has still amassed over 6,100 reviews – indicating just how much business moneycorp transacts, as most competitors are incapable of amassing anywhere near this figure even on their primary review platform. On TrustPilot, as of August 2022, moneycorp’s rating is 4.4 / 5 (Excellent). It’s a different story on The Review Centre which has more complaints than positive reviews (scoring 2.6/5) but it has to be said this is based on just 54 reviews as of August 2022.That makes the ratio of overall positive vs negative reviews to 13,000+ vs a few hundred.

The comments left on our own moneycorp review are virtually all positive, with customers mainly praising the customer service and level of professionalism of the staff. The service is particularly praised by those who prefer to arrange their transactions over the phone as opposed to online.

Advantages +9

Clients show high levels of satisfaction with multiple service aspects from moneycorp, namely:

  • The professionalism and courtesy of traders.
  • The quality of guidance the firm has provided them.
  • The immense savings through Moneycorp exchange rates against banks.
  • The seamlessness of the process, after signing up.
  • The fact that once you have signed up with moneycorp you can use it for money transfers and travel money.
  • The promptness and accuracy of the transfers.
  • Helpful customer support local to a number of countries around the world.
  • Easy-to-use online platform
  • Would happily recommend to friends
Disadvantages -5

We have also discovered several complaints about the company:

  • Issues with travel money delivery. (DISCONTINUED SERVICE)
  • Long sign up process.
  • How long it takes to change personal details on the sign-up form.
  • That some transfers did not go through on the same day as they were booked.
  • A relatively narrow selection of currencies in the past.
Conclusion

Looking at more than 13,000 positive reviews, it is easy to see that people are extremely content with the firm. On the flipside, however, there are also a few hundred negative reviews. Though it should be pointed out that a significant share of these reviews relate to moneycorp’s travel money service, which is much trickier and has actually been brought to a close in recent months. Signalling an end to a 40-year run of moneycorp’s bureau de changes.

Most complaints which relate to moneycorp money transfer discuss how long it takes to sign up and the vast amount of documents that are required in order to use the service, as well as how difficult it is to change details on an existing account. This is a common complaint in this industry, and people who want to use a foreign exchange company should realise the nature of the process is like this because of the stringent regulations, enforced by Anti-Money Laundering regulations. These clients will experience the same difficulties with other companies in this sector but it would be no surprise that an established money transfer provider such as moneycorp is particularly prudent. It is committed to stamping out anti-money laundering and all aspects of financial crime.

Some clients that complained about trades not being executed on the same day don’t necessarily understand how the banking system works. When a certain bank is closed and unable to receive incoming payments, it is impossible to make a payment. Thus, same-day transfers aren’t readily available every hour of the day, and again, this is true, regardless of whether clients use a bank or a payment provider. The rise in blockchain and a move away from the universally adopted SWIFT could see this change in the future, but for now it’s important to understand the operating times of both the remitting and beneficiary bank (and any possible intermediary banks that these banks use to conduct international payments). Some complaints we found to be justified in the past, such as the relatively low selection of currencies to choose from. A very, very small percentage of clients would have been impacted by this as moneycorp did cover all of the major corridors, but in any case they have now expanded their offering from 35 to 120 currencies. It’s great to see a provider listen to its customers and respond accordingly.

93% Client Feedback Score.

moneycorp Exchange Rate & Fees

Research

Fees: If readers use our referral link, they will not have to pay any fixed amount fees per overseas bank to bank transfer with moneycorp.
Exchange Rates:
Moneycorp works in the same way as other currency dealers. The larger the amount transferred, the better the rate a client will receive.

Using the online platform means that rates will be fixed. They should provide significant savings, as compared to banks, and will hover around the same margins offered on other online money transfer platforms. When transferring a large amount (£50,000+) you may be able to negotiate a better rate over the phone.

Limits: The minimum transfer amount is £50, which is much lower than some competitor companies, and thus allows people to test the platform and the company with a very small transfer before they remit the total value of the transfer. It also allows you to send small personal gifts.

There is no upper limit at all. moneycorp works with many small and medium-sized businesses that transfer hundreds of thousands, and even millions, per transfer. This is one of the biggest advantages of choosing such a large company – you can rest assured they have the experience to handle transfers of any size. With c£40bn transferred per annum and relationships with a number of tier-1 banks across the globe, liquidity is also extremely high, meaning they can easily handle multi-million pound transfers.

Banking:  As moneycorp is now licensed as a full banking facility, it is able to hold client funds for any period of time the client chooses and it’s even possible to earn interest – a result of moneycorp’s banking licence and something no other money transfer provider is able to do. In May 2021, Moneycorp was confirmed by moneyfacts to provide the best interest rate on a notice deposit account – 0.65%, eclipsing that of ICICI Bank and Virgin Money. Bespoke solutions for clients who are moving abroad are readily available through moneycorp too.

Conclusion:
When we scan through client reviews of moneycorp, it is obvious that clients are extremely satisfied with the currency exchange rates that are provided to them. If the company did not offer competitive rates, it would not have grown to become such a goliath in the FX payments field.
92% Fees, Exchange Rates.

MoneyCorp vs TransferWise (Wise)

MoneyCorp vs TransferWise (now Wise) is an interesting comparison because even though these international money transfer firms are in the same industry, they really do operate at opposite ends of the spectrum. The tech-focused Wise, founded in 2010, is all about online money transfers – it provides a consistent and slick experience that is the same, no matter whether an individual is moving £100 or a business is looking to transfer £500,000. This simplicity certainly has its appeal and is why TransferWise (now Wise) has become arguably the most successful money transfer company in the UK today, amassing millions of customers.

Moneycorp, however, with its traditional approach, is all about offering a bespoke service to each client it takes on. With a far wider variety in hedging solutions, a dealer will take the time to understand individual requirements and help clients get set up with the most appropriate international money transfer solutions that are relevant to their needs. Regularly paying an overseas mortgage? Moneycorp can assist clients with setting up automated recurring transfers. Wanting to hold out for a better rate? Moneycorp can set clients up with a limit order to auto-execute when the market hits the optimal rate that a client is looking to achieve.

Generally the answer to moneycorp vs Wise would be this; if users moving small sums are happy just to get the best deal on today’s FX rate then opt for Wise. If individuals or businesses need more flexibility, hedging solutions and dedicated guidance from an expert, they should opt for moneycorp.

Global Reach & Service

Research:
Dedicated Dealer: Yes.
Offices: UK USA France Spain Ireland Hong Kong Australia Brazil Gibraltar UAE Romania

Ways to approach: Via website, over the phone, and through the mobile app.

Translations:  None.

Accepts Clients:  Globally.

Currencies Handled: 120.

Client Reviews: 94% positive.

Conclusion:

With more than 880 employees worldwide, there is no doubt in our mind that clients will receive good service from moneycorp, 24/7. Existing clients can attest to that, and there were only a small number of complaints about the promptness and accessibility of service.

The office locations are spread out pretty well, which demonstrates that moneycorp focuses on the UK and European markets, but is heavily expanding into Asia and North America (the firm even bought an FX company in the USA in 2018 and became the inaugural non-bank member of the Federal Reserve’s Foreign Bank International Cash Services). More recently Moneycorp has expanded its operation to South America. It is one of only five companies to hold a foreign exchange licence in Brazil. It also has offices in UAE and does a lot of business transferring money from UAE internationally.

The range of currencies handled by moneycorp is one of the widest in the industry. When we first reviewed the company in 2014, it only handled 35 different currencies, in 2018 it handled 90, and now in 2021 it handles over 120 currencies and can therefore deal with almost any currency pairing. This includes a bunch of exotic currencies launched by the firm in March 2021, including even Mauritanian Ouguiya, Mozambican Metical and Tahitian Franc – what was once a weak point by Moneycorp is now one of its strongest.

Overall, it has one of the largest dedicated dealer teams in the world, who are well-trained and professional, specialised in specific markets, and who provide a top-notch service

The company is set up to enable clients to know precisely how much money a recipient will get, without any hidden fees, and without incurring unnecessary fees.

For instance, if users are buying a property in France, it is extremely important that the seller knows exactly how much money they will receive with each instalment. The unknown part of the equation is how much the seller’s recipient bank will charge for accepting an international wire. The way moneycorp avoids these sometimes hefty fees is through sending it domestically from the French office, as described below:

moneycorp-process

91% Global Reach, Availability, Service Score

Additional Functionalities

Market Orders

Rate Watch

Largest selection of forwards (Vanilla, Participating, Extra, Range) up to 2 years

Receive Funds

Options (for corporates)

Interest-earning accounts

Wholesale banknote supply

More:

Regular Transfers, Repeat Transfers, Pay with Debit Card.

moneycorp, undoubtedly, offers one of the most sophisticated products for businesses who need to hedge their FX exposure. With the assistance of your own personal currency dealer, it is definitely possible to reduce the risk incurred by receiving payments in foreign currencies, or while paying employees and suppliers overseas.

Simon (Business Advisors), 01/08/2016, Verified Review:

“moneycorp was able to provide a substantial facility on competitive terms. My client’s stock purchases are denominated in USD and it needs to hedge around eight months forward. It already had facilities with a couple of other brokers, but needed to increase its overall facility.

Also I was not convinced that we were getting the best prices from the other brokers. To make matters more difficult, the balance sheet is weak. Within three weeks of first contacting moneycorp, a £5m facility was agreed to, on terms either equal to or better than the other two brokers. The securing of this facility has given us sufficient headroom to achieve our growth plans and to be fully hedged pre-Brexit, and the pricing of deals has proved that moneycorp has saved us money”


Another important point is that moneycorp will sometimes help larger businesses book a forward transfer without making a down-payment (standard is 10%). Thus assisting businesses with their cash-flow, and will obviously depend on moneycorp’s risk assessment (because this is a form of credit). Typically, businesses will only have credit lines granted by a bank – moneycorp is bringing the benefits a business can receive with a bank , with all the benefits of using a money transfer provider (such as lower FX spreads, lower payment fees and dedicated account management).

StarCard eligibility: Any client who transfers money via moneycorp and is based in the UK is eligible for a free StarCard, a top-up debit card with 14 currencies, which offers a sizable discount on travel money rates.

For Merchants:

moneycorp offers highly effective solutions for businesses of all sizes, from professional advisory (there are dealers that ONLY deal with the business sector), to one of the most comprehensive array of hedging features in the industry. In addition, moneycorp has a system in place specifically for online sellers which enables them to receive payments through collection accounts abroad and freely exchange them to other currencies through the online system (more on that in our online sellers section). This is a relatively new service by moneycorp and is still very much limited to collection accounts in the EU but we are certain it will expand as time goes by.

Multi-Currency Wallet:

Moneycorp has recently started offering an “all-currency wallet” embedded into its online platform. That means a personal or corporate client can have their funds with Moneycorp in every currency the firm deals with (withheld by the company for any period of time) and can exchange a portion of it, or all of it, into foreign currency simply and with no effort online.

moneycorp Bank (moneycorpbank.com):

Moneycorp has extended its multi-currency account offering to a full-fledged bank account that also enables customers to hold money in their account and incur interest (moneycorp savings account). These functionalities are offered by moneycorp’s Gibraltar-based entity, moneycorp Bank (established 2016).

App:

Moneycorp revamped its app and offers complete trading functionality to users. Clients can buy and sell currency through it, send money, view exchange rates, set up a rate notification, and track trades. The downside is that it is limited to non-US-based users and has pretty poor reviews on the Apple app store and Google play store.

International Payroll Payments:

Moneycorp’s Payment Solutions enable clients to either process mass payments via a bulk payment file on Moneycorp Online or integrate moneycorp’s services into their ERP platform where they have technical ability and appetite to do so. The mode of execution is client led. Moneycorp has an API integration with Cloud Elements which connects clients to Netsuite, Quickbooks and Xero, and plans to continue to add more known accounting software providers. Moneycorp is one of the top best international payroll solutions as per our comparison.

Conclusion:

These additional functionalities are a strong area for moneycorp. It offers 5 types of forward contracts, in addition to all the normal market orders (stop-loss, limit, rate watch, etc.). It offers specialised business accounts that can exchange inbound payments and can even offer hedging solutions in the form of FX options (which provide greater flexibility to clients and require booking through a separately regulated entity through professionally accredited currency traders). The key to all of this is that moneycorp offers professional guidance, from a highly professional team, as to how one can optimally utilise these tools.

In addition to that, the pre-paid Star Card is a great benefit. People who move money abroad are more than likely going to need to travel from time to time, by using this card, rates are lower and buying foreign currency is easier (everything can be done from the same platform, without having to re-register).

moneycorp isn’t a “young” hip company with a cool appearance and a brand value likeWise, but it makes up for that with high levels of professionalism, and an extremely wide hedging offering. This makes perfect sense, since its target audience is businesses and large property transfers, rather than remittances.

92% Added Values Score

Moneycorp Scoreboard
93%
93 of 100 1 review
  • Credibility Score - 99%
    99%
  • Client Feedback Score - 93%
    93%
  • Fees, Exchange Rates Score - 92%
    92%
  • Global Reach, Availability, Service Score - 91%
    91%
  • Added Values Score - 92%
    92%

moneycorp Review Summary

moneycorp, registered officially as TTT Moneycorp Limited, is one of the industry’s veterans, and it definitely shows, particularly in its large staff of highly-trained professional dealers. Great flexibility with transfers ranging from as little as £50, up to business transfers of many millions. The company boasts a large array of branches across the globe, more than 120 currencies, and trading volumes of £40bn annually. Our moneycorp review has determined the company is very safe to use.

Based on moneycorp reviews from across the web, clients are pleased with the services they are provided, and moneycorp exchange rates are highly competitive. Using our referral link, readers are eligible for fee-free international transfers – use our Get Free Quote button and register with one of the most respected international money transfer platforms available today.

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