Wise vs Xe: How the Two Compare?

Wise (formerly TransferWise) vs XE pits two of the biggest brands in the FX industry against each other. While XE initially gained popularity for its foreign exchange data services, its money transfer capabilities came into the spotlight later. Moreover, the advantages of using XE have been significantly influenced by their merger with HiFX, rather than its prowess in providing foreign exchange data.

It’s also worth noting that many of XE’s unique selling points are only accessible to corporate clients.The ability to trade options and receive dedicated dealer guidance through XE is not available to private clients. XE’s offerings for private individuals lean more towards a digital approach. For those inclined towards a digital solution, Wise might be the preferable choice. Its user-friendly interface and competitive pricing make it an excellent choice for spot transfers, which are payments initiated at the time of booking.

As a private client, it is possible to speak with a customer service rep through both firms but expect long hold times. Wise prefers to steer customers to the online chat in the first instance, whilst locating the email and telephone contact channels through XE proves difficult. For businesses or individuals keen on managing  balances in multiple currencies, the Wise borderless account deserves mention. This multi-currency digital bank account enables users to send and receive payments through a digital bank account held in their name. XE has no similar competing product. Thus, the question of TransferWise vs XE really depends on what the clients’ requirements are.

Is XE Money Transfer Safe?

Company Story:  

XE.com, established in 1993 in Ontario, Canada, is one of the internet’s first currency exchange rate providers. Nowadays, there are hundreds of websites offering up-to-date information (we also have our own foreign currency rates section), but back when XE was established, there were none.

Between 1993 and 2002, together with the popularization of the internet, XE.com became a synonym for everything currency related. It created a variety of tools, graphs, and APIs that many companies were happy to pay a monthly subscription fee in order to gain access.

In 2002 XE launched XE Trade, an online international money transfer service that operated as a white label of a well known foreign exchange company. Xe continues to sell currency data packages to companies, but money transfers have supposedly become the company’s main revenue stream.

In July 2015 XE.com was bought by Euronet, the owners of HiFX and Ria Money Transfer (among others). The company employed 20-30 staff in Canada prior to the purchase and is now estimated to have around 350 employees in 2023. Last year the Euronet group processed over $125 billion in transfer volumes (up on the $113 billion processed in 2021). It’s not clear exactly how much XE transferred itself.

In 2022, XE launched the added feature of Cash Pick Up for recipients. Cash pickup allows Xe users to send money to a recipient quickly and in physical form. As a sender, simply pick the amount of money to send and once the transaction is paid for, XE will generate a PIN number. The recipient can then go to a selected destination and pick up the money using the PIN number.

The cash pick up network will have already been established by Ria Money Transfer. It is not surprising to see Euronet leveraging the capabilities it has within the group to offer its existing capabilities under a new brand. This is exactly what the group did with HiFX and we’re sure it will only serve to boost Xe and group revenue.

There has been little by way of product development for the firm in 2023 but current statistics about XE’s parent company, EuroNet Worldwide, are available through their 2022 Annual Report:

• More than 8,000 employees.
• More than 50,000 operated ATMs.
• More than 613,000 Point of Sale Terminals.
• More than 8160,000 ePay Point of Sale Terminals.
• Revenue of $3.4bn USD with an EBITDA of $594.7m.
• Money transfers accounted for 43% of group revenue – $1.46bn
• 13% increase in US-outbound money transfers

A Closer Look at Xe’s Business Model and Ownership:

Euronet Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: EEFT) is a large money transfer company worth US$4 billion by market capitalisation and handling over $125 billion in cash per year across 155 countries. Euronet acquired XE.com in a cash and shares deal worth around $100 million. Once Euronet owned both HiFX and XE.com it made the decision to remove Western Union as XE’s money transfer provider and utilise the in-group capabilities of HiFX.

Established in 1998, HiFX was one of the first non-bank currency brokers to be established and was a well-known global provider of foreign exchange for many years. The Euronet takeover allowed XE.com’s online brand to be matched with HiFX’s reputation and market position. The improvement in customer feedback since XE has been run by HiFX indicates it was the right decision by Euronet to merge the two brands.

XE earns revenue from two services tied to currency exchange rates: currency data and international payments. XE earns subscription-based fees for delivering global currency exchange rate data through its proprietary currency data API. XE then earns transaction-based revenue from XE Money Transfers, its online international payments service made available to businesses and consumers through the HiFX team who have now rebranded to XE Money Transfers too.

XE’s Announcement on Moving to HiFX in 2016:

XE Money update as of January 2019:

Regulated By: 

XE Money Transfer, now provided by HiFX, is regulated in the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Adding to XE’s existing licenses in the US.

Following the loss of EU financial passporting rights for the UK, XE Money Transfer for individuals in the European Union is now provided by Xe Europe B.V. which is supervised by the Netherlands Central Bank for the provision of payment services.

In its younger years and prior to using HiFX as their payment provider (as part of the acquisition by Euronet Worldwide), XE worked with Western Union. Which is also, of course, fully regulated, being the largest non-bank money transmitter in the world.

Conclusion: 

xe.com a is a well-established player on the foreign exchange scene and is a trustworthy choice considering how long it has been operating. It is extremely well-known as the world’s currency authority (its motto is “The World’s Trusted Currency Authority”) and since 2016, Xe Money Transfer has been delivered by HiFX, who are regulated by the FCA in the UK and all relevant regulators in the jurisdictions it operates.

Xe Money Transfers is owned by publicly listed EuroNet which is one of the world’s largest payment giants, and is absolutely safe to use.

This is preferable to the previous set up where customers of XE would be reliant on XE.com choosing the right outsourced FX partner to provide a white-labelled service for their money transfer service. However, even despite the move, XE is still not listed as one of the best money transfer companies to provide the service.

XE Customer Reviews

Research:

As of 2023, there are over 62,000 TrustPilot reviews which are 91% positive (down on the 94% which were positive in 2022 and even further down on the 96% positive in 2021). 3% rate the service as average and 6% rate the service as bad. Overall, XE is rated as 4.3/5 on the platform which is pretty good.

With the strong XE brand, usage of the service and indeed the number of reviews appear much higher than before. Within the last year alone, the company has amassed an additional 9,000 reviews. In 2022, the firm received 8,000.

For the sake of comparison, a company like TorFX has around 7,000 verified reviews in total on TrustPilot but achieves a higher review score of 4.9 / 5.

Conclusion:

Just over 6% of the Xe reviews we have discovered online are negative, detailing a number of reasons for their poor rating: non-responsive staff, poor rates, and a tricky online platform. This means there are around 3,500 bad Xe reviews, which is certainly a significant amount and means XE has more bad reviews than the majority of other money transfer companies on the market.

On the flip side, we also have to consider that with over 55,000 positive reviews, XE has more positive reviews than virtually any other money transfer company. The 4.3/5 Trustpilot rating is below that of currency brokers who are known to focus heavily on client service, like Currencies Direct and Key Currency, who both enjoy a 4.9/5 rating on the same platform.. The positive reviewers are extremely satisfied with the service they have received, the rates, and every other aspect. The positive XE reviews really like the speed and ease in which transfers are made.

It’s worth noting that there are additional reviews in the comments section of our very own XE review. These are non-verified clients but it has to be said the vast majority of them are negative, most of the comments are reporting significant delays with their transfers.

Xe Exchange Rates & Fees

Fees: For large transfers, there are generally no payment fees. For smaller transfers, there appears to be a 1.99 GBP fee from the UK and a similar currency equivalent from other jurisdictions.

Source: help.xe.com

The fees are quite reasonable, especially considering they only apply when a small sum is sent. They are far better than the payment fees charged by banks but companies like Currencies Direct have a flat, no-fee structure for transfers of any size.

Fees do apply when using Xe’s cash pick up service.

XE Exchange rates: Xe generates most of its revenue from the FX spread it charges clients. The exchange rates which Xe uses are not visible on the website. You have to register and access the online system, or speak to a phone representative, to get the current rates. These rates depend on the currencies and the volume of trading.

If we were to look into the 100+ Xe reviews that were collated on our website, we can see mixed opinions about the exchange rates used by XE. One user comment mentions a 1% margin “below the bank rate” (we suppose that’s the interbank rate that the reader is referring to). This is somewhat average for the industry, although it really depends on the volumes sent and currencies involved. Another user comment from 2022 is much more positive and says “the exchange rate was incredible”.

Limits: Xe implements an individual transaction limit for online payments which differs depending on the currency sent. As of 2023, the limits are as follows:

Customers who send at least $50,000 USD a year will have access to a dedicated dealing team and can place trades with no limit over the phone.

Conclusion: 

There are generally no payment fees when making a bank-to-bank international transfer with Xe. The only exception to this is when very small payments are sent and a small payment fee applies. Some brokers counteract their ‘no-fee’ policy by implementing a minimum transfer of $1,000+ so we don’t see it as a particularly bad thing that Xe chooses to allow customers to make smaller payments but offsets this with a small fee. The online limits are unlikely to put off too many prospective customers as people generally prefer to speak to somebody over the phone before parting with hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Judging by the client reviews we could find online, the FX spread applied by Xe seems to be about the norm for an online money transfer website or currency broker.

XE Money Transfer Offices & Global Presence

Research:

• Dedicated Dealer: Yes (HiFX dealer when sending $50,000 or more – high hurdle compared to others).
• Offices: UK, Spain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
• Ways to Approach: Telephone, online and via email.
• Translations: No.
• Accepts Clients: Worldwide.
• Currencies Handled: 98+.
• Client Reviews: Majority are positive post HiFX rebrand

Conclusion:

Now that XE is beginning to use the payment capabilities of another Euronet company, Ria Money Transfer, they’ve been able to drastically improve their remittance offering, i.e. private client transfers to low and middle income countries. Throughout 2020 and 2021, XE announced a number of new payment channels through their partner Ria. New payment destinations include:

• Bhutan
• Chile
• Columbia
• Costa Rica
• Dominican Republic
• The Gambia
• Guatemala
• India
• Mozambique
• Nepal
• Paraguay
• Philippines
• Rwanda
• Sri Lanka
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Uruguay
• Vietnam

Updates to the Xe product offering have gone very quiet in 2022 and 2023.

The Xe Money Transfer service accepts clients internationally with no real limitations. Their main focus is on clients from North America, Australia-NZ, the EU, and the UK. There are different pages on the money transfer section on Xe.com devoted to people from these different locales but the content is highly similar between each location. The primary difference is the end-user agreement depending on which region the client is based in.

Since HiFX came under the XE name it means XE is in the UK, Spain, Australia and New Zealand in addition to their original office in Canada.  This is a marked improvement from before when it was just Canada in which it held an office, and is a fairly consistent map of coverage that’s in line with the biggest providers in the market today. For the sake of comparison, its highly-rated competitor Currencies Direct boasts offices in 4 continents, with 7 functioning offices in total.

By adding Ria money transfer payment capabilities, Xe combines the benefits a traditional currency brokerage such as HiFX can provide, with the extensive payment network across the globe that a large remittance company such as Ria can provide. The result should be quite exciting for customers, leaving them confident that Xe is no longer just for payments between the major currency corridors.

Additional Functionalities

Xe.com operates arguably the best online currency exchange calculator and has everything relating to this aspect – historical currency rates, currency charts, rate alerts, currency transfer and exchange apps, API’s, and more. All of the aforementioned services are great but fall outside the realm of making an international money transfer.

Specifically within international money transfers, XE offers the following: option contracts, forward contracts, regular payments, mass payments, an online trading system and of course, spot transactions. Like most FX transfer companies who offer options, these are only available to corporate clients. Xe is also one of the few brokers that can offer credit lines to corporate customers. In fact it can grant credit facilities for up to 5 years, meaning clients may not have to provide a deposit for every forward or options contract they book. Corporate FX customers can also process mass payments via API.

Conclusion:

For private clients, the Xe Trade online system is similar in function to Wise and Currencyfair. You can use the online system to move money from point A to point B with no trouble.

The suite of products available to corporate clients is comprehensive and clearly showcases the value that HiFX has brought to XE. Specialist market intelligence and a dedicated team that can discuss bespoke FX risk management strategies is just what we expect from a large money transfer brand. Much like the corporate services provided by Moneycorp and Corpay.