The Big Black Book
Bank on Currency Matters
Bank on Currency Matters Currency Matters is a specialist financial services provider delivering exceptional levels of pricing and client servicing to customers in 76 countries, with a diverse and varied client base across 56 industrial sectors, extending from sole traders and SMEs, through to banks, and even a national airline! Established in 2002 by husband and wife team Jon and Michelle Anderson, Currency Matters offers a personal and informed foreign currency exchange facility and replaces the traditional role of the bank in the money exchange transaction; Currency Matters save its clients’ money through commission free transactions and super-competitive exchange rates. Currency Matters has invested heavily in developing first class, disruptive financial technologies (FINTECH), that offer bank grade facilities to all types of clients - in particular Currency Matters supports the SME sector offering real value and cost savings by offering bank-beating foreign exchange rates and fast and efficient international payment processing. If you have a need to convert currency and pay overseas, you really should be talking to Currency Matters! Through the desks of Currency Matters Private FX, the company also works with a number of private high net worth clients. For example, overseas property buyers and investors, or through Currency Matters Elite, which caters to the elite sports and entertainments industries. After a hugely successful 2017 – which included the appointment of two hugely influential NEDs
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and a couple of industry awards - Currency Matters has a very exciting development plan for 2018 and 2019. It is currently working on a number of projects that will take the company to a different level in the Money Services Business industry, by offering a more extensive and diversified product range and by launching additional delivery channels resulting in higher levels of service – especially to its rapidly expanding client base in Latin America. Whilst 2018 will undoubtedly be a seminal year for Currency Matters, CEO Jon Anderson recognises the challenges that will affect a number of businesses. Indeed, with increased regulation (notably GDPR) and with the uncertainties of both pre and postBrexit, economic environments are saying “These events and scenarios are a reality, and you must consider your options and plan accordingly. We must embrace these new realities, find the positives and create an advantage – we have invested time and money in detailed examinations of the alternative scenarios and have planned accordingly.” Whilst the technology is a fundamental part of the Currency Matters offering, Jon Anderson says that the success of Currency Matters is largely based on the strength of its people, their knowledge and abilities, and their levels of engagement both internally with their colleagues, and also externally to clients, prospective clients, beneficiaries and strategic partners. To achieve its development plans, the company’s staffing and infrastructure support will need to be able to reflect the demand of an expanded business model, so Currency Matters
plans to employ an additional twenty staff over the next 12 months, from a current staffing level of 24. Attracting and retaining great staff is always a challenge, but HR and Administration Director Michelle Anderson believes that there is a huge talent pool within the north west of England: “When we took that strategic decision to move our business from London to the north west all those years ago, it was with complete confidence that we would be able to bring onboard the right people – and so it proved and continues to prove. The north west has a strong tradition of banking and financial services specialism – the City and the south east does not have that monopoly!” Currency Matters’ primary delivery channel is through its state-of-the-art banking platform, with its white labelled and branded opportunities, and multi-lingual functionality. The company offers bank and non-bank financial institutions the chance to participate in the FINTECH revolution, delivering more efficient pricing and more effective service levels to its clients. Jon Anderson sees huge potential for growth in this area: “Currency Matters is quite unique in its ability to offer its proprietary platform to other financial institutions, as either a White Labelled product, or in a Co-Branded fully serviced format. We offer financial institutions the opportunity to extend their current client offering and generate a new revenue stream quickly and economically – great tech, low cost and quick to market!”.