Is The Currency Account Safe?

Company size:

Founded in 2011, The Currency Account is a UK based provider of flexible payment and e-banking solutions for businesses and individuals. Their vision is to be the very best independent provider of multi-currency banking and international payment services across multiple jurisdictions.

Since inception, The Currency Account’s values have enabled them to deal professionally with clients, employees and the wider community. Their values have played a key role in The Currency Account’s approach to client service and are an integral part of how they operate. They form the basis on which the company culture and policies rest. The Currency Account’s values are based on; innovation, engagement, personality, commercial awareness, integrity and accessibility.

The Currency Account is a regulated financial service, which seeks to understand its clients and the reason its clients are utilising their payment service. By ensuring these details about their customers and their transfers, they are able to satisfy their regulators and tier-1 bank financial partners, whilst at the same time keeping client money safe and secure.

For companies facing foreign currency challenges, The Currency Account has a solution which allows businesses to open and operate accounts within their ecosystem and optimize their cash management operations. The Currency Account offers a very efficient and cost-effective collection process in 25 currencies. Companies are able to collect, hold and make payments directly from their Currency Accounts. In addition, companies are able to settle spot and forward contracts using funds already in their accounts.

All Client money is held in segregated client ‘safeguarding’ accounts. It means all client funds are held separately from any company money or assets in order to comply with regulations. Client funds are always available, never moved, invested or loaned out. The Currency Account explains that in the unlikely event the company goes bust, client money is safe and will not be impacted. It would be worth establishing this at the onset however as the general rule for ‘e-money’ institutions dictates that funds held in digital bank accounts are segregated from company funds but not ‘safeguarded’, meaning client money could be liable to loss should the firm  bust. We would certainly recommend speaking with a member of The Currency Account prior to registering so this can be established.

Regulated By:

Financial Conduct Authority (UK)

Awards:

None

Conclusion:

With a decade of experience and over 800 customer reviews, we think this attests to the safety and security of The Currency Account. The firm adheres to strict and stringent regulations and has robust internal controls in place to segregate client funds and minimise any risks to the business or client monies. All transactions are initiated using a secure payment system which ensures each payment is approved internally by multiple users and processed by the firm’s Tier 1 banking partners. Just like other currency brokers and money transfer companies, The Currency Account doesn’t speculate on the currency markets. Or invest your money overnight. When you enter into a transaction with us, we enter a matching, binding trade with our counterparty bank.

The Currency Account Customer Reviews

Research:

With 806 reviews, The Currency Account has a decent-enough sample size to verify its 4.3 / 5 (Excellent) TrustScore on TrustPilot. This is significantly less reviews than industry giants like Moneycorp (over 7,000) and Wise (over 100,000) but over 800 reviews is still sufficient to demonstrate The Currency Account’s review score is a true reflection of the great service it provides.

Perhaps most concerning, however, is the lack of recent reviews for The Currency Account. With just four reviews left in 2020 and just one review of The Currency Account in 2021, we have no clear indication from existing clients as to how the firm is currently performing today.

Conclusion:

The majority of The Currency Account reviews are highly positive and praise The Currency Account for a slick and efficient service. Once customers are up and running, it seems making trades online is easy and if issues arise, the customer support is both helpful and professional. Clients also have the option to trade currencies on the phone should they wish.

The negative reviews have two clear themes – a number of users are criticising the FX rate they achieved and another group report difficulty in accessing the online platform. One reviewer found it frustrating having to reset their password each time they wanted to access their account. Given this review was left a number of years ago, we can only assume these bug issues have been fixed. As for the reviewers complaining of expensive FX fees, this could be because they used The Currency Account’s travel money service which incurs a 1.5% FX spread, as opposed to the 0.5% spread applied to bank-to-bank transfers (more on fees and rates later). A transparent and fixed spread of 0.5% is perfectly reasonable and, as far as fixed-rate FX spreads go, is amongst one of the best on the market. For larger transfers, it would be possible to negotiate tighter FX spreads with currency brokers who do not operate a fixed exchange rate margin.

The Currency Account Exchange Rates & Fees

Fees:

The Currency Account has a very straightforward pricing structure for both exchange rates and payment fees.

International payments and domestic payments are charged a flat payment fee of £5 – no matter where the money is going, if it’s an outbound payment (i.e. not moving between your currency accounts on The Currency Account platform) the fee is £5. If clients want a priority payment then an additional £10 fee is incurred (a total £15 charge for urgent payments).

Exchange Rates:

The exchange rate margin with The Currency Account is fixed, no matter the amount sent. This makes the firm particularly appealing for smaller transfers but perhaps less so for larger transfers. The Currency Account margins are as follows:

• A standard 1.5% (Minimum £10) for Travel Money orders (plus an additional £10 fee IF Saturday delivery is requested)
• A small fee of 0.5% (Minimum £5) for External Payments (plus an additional £10 fee IF processing payment as urgent)
• A 2.5% fee if depositing funds using a CREDIT CARD (Debit Card deposits are free of charge)

Limits:

No reference to minimum or maximum transfer limits.

Conclusion:

A nice and simple pricing structure that makes it easy for customers to know exactly how much they’ll be charged and, at 0.5%, the fee for bank-to-bank transfers is amongst one of the best fixed-rate margins on the market. It’s similar to the fees charged by Wise and Currencyfair although both of these companies come in a shade cheaper for major currency routes.For fee-free international transfers try Currencies Direct or TorFX – just be aware margins are not fixed with these brokers, meaning lower spreads can be negotiated for large transfers but they’ll likely be more expensive than The Currency Account for transfers under £10,000.

Transparent pricing is one of the core foundations The Currency Account has been built on and the firm even responds to customer complaints about pricing by clearly detailing its transparent fees and linking to the pricing section on their website. However, the firm removed its pricing page in 2021 and little can be found confirming the pricing arrangement as it is today.

The Currency Account Global Reach & Service

Research:

• Dedicated Dealer: Yes
• Offices: London, UK
• Ways to approach: Online, e-mail, telephone
• Translations: English only
• Accepts clients: UK & Europe
• Currencies Handled: Receive funds in 25 currencies, send in 90 currencies
• Client reviews: 95% positive, 4.3/5 TrustScore per TrustPilot.com (806 reviews)

Conclusion:

The Currency Account is available to both personal and corporate customers to collect, hold and spend balances in 25 currencies. The currency accounts are run out of the UK, meaning transfers to these accounts are likely to be international if your customers are based in other countries (for example a customer sending NZD from New Zealand to a NZD currency account in London). This could still work for UK-based businesses but businesses from Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada etc are likely to be much more hindered by currency accounts based out of London.

The service also allows for making payments with The Currency Account just as you would with a traditional currency provider – by calling or emailing the dealers to execute a trade. In this sense, The Currency Account combines the benefits of both traditional and new-age money transfer companies.

Question marks remain, however, as to the global nature of the service. Now that Great Britain has left the EU, financial services firms based in the UK have lost their ‘financial passporting’ rights in Europe. Firms are now required to meet EU regulatory obligations by opening an office within an EU member state – something it appears The Currency Account has not done. Suggesting the services offered by The Currency Account are now restricted to the UK.

Additional Functionalities

As the name suggests, currency accounts are the bread & butter of The Currency Account! Companies are able to collect, hold and make payments directly from their currency accounts, available in 25 currencies. Currency accounts are not the only offering, however, and the firm offers a suite of hedging solutions too.

FX Hedging

The Currency Account works closely with businesses to decide how to manage their currency exposures. The team will develop FX strategies that help businesses balance the external impacts on currency markets and hopefully provide greater control over the impact exchange rate volatility has on their profit margins. Knowing that every situation is unique, they aim to manage currency in line with each customer’s own commercial objectives and competitive landscape.

Mass Pay

For business customers, The Currency Account offers a global bulk payments solution. The cloud based global payments platform enables clients to make up to 1,000 payments with a single file upload. This simplifies the international payment process and can drastically improve operational efficiency by removing manual processes. Enabling clients to take control when paying recipients in foreign currencies or GBP.

Conclusion:

Though The Currency Account is available to both personal and corporate customers it is primarily a business account specialist. The 25 currency accounts on offer can help businesses optimise their cash management operations and bring all currency accounts under one platform. Meaning businesses don’t have to handle multiple relationships with multiple banks to manage all of their currency accounts. However, all of the currency accounts are based in the UK which could cause issues when receiving money from customers overseas (intermediary bank fees might be charged and customers are required to send a more costly international payment). Companies like WorldFirst, through their multi currency account solution, offer businesses a truly global alternative as the currency accounts are held locally to the country they represent (i.e. the USD account is held in New York).