Opening a multi-currency account is a must if you want to do any trade outside of the UK. Considering the current economic crisis, turning to selling online or other types of international trade are a good business plan. Opening a UK foreign bank account can be a great help with this because it will help increase the profitability of your venture. Most importantly, creating and managing such accounts is rather easy today. However, you should think carefully about where you open it.
How Does a Multi-Currency Account Benefit You?
It’s easy today to send or receive transfers from anywhere in the world. However, these transfers remain quite expensive. At least, they are this way if you go through traditional channels.
Opening a regular UK foreign bank account will allow you to easily manage such payments. However, the costs of transfers might reach over 7%. Moreover, there are various fees and restrictions attached to these bank accounts.
The easier and very popular way to send money abroad is by using PayPal or similar services. However, a PayPal transfer will cost around 5%. For a small online seller these costs will take a big part of revenue coming from international sales.
The main reason why international money transfers are so expensive is that traditional transfer providers use highly unfavorable foreign currency exchange (FX) rates.
The solution to this problem has appeared in the form of online money transfer companies. They are also often referred to as FX brokers. These companies do not only make singular transfers much cheaper. They allow you to open a multi-currency account. This is an account that you can use to receive payments and hold a balance in multiple currencies at once.
The main benefits of this account are:
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- It’s cheap because the FX company offers a great exchange rate, often with a margin less than 1%.
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- As you can hold the balance, you might avoid the need to exchange currency completely because you can make international payments in any currency held in the account.
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- Bookkeeping becomes much easier when you manage all your international money transfers through a single account.
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- You can make many transfers faster.
How to Choose the Best UK Foreign Bank Account
The majority of people in the UK trade mostly with the EU. Therefore, they usually need to get the best Euro business account in UK. This can be a challenge because the majority of online money transfer companies are UK-based. Therefore, the competition in the market is fierce.
However, you need to remember that this industry is not well-regulated. Therefore, you need to be careful when choosing the provider of your Euro bank account.
Always check the company’s certifications and license. Then, consider the rates it offers. A trustworthy FX broker will be transparent with its rates, fees, and terms and conditions. Finally, check the company’s reputation online. Study customer and specialist reviews to see whether other people trust this business.
Once you find a suitable company, you will only need to register and open your multi-currency account following the offered guidelines. Note that these businesses have different requirements for account registration. In some cases, you will need a few days to have the account verified. If you are in a hurry, study the registration terms beforehand.
After you complete the registration process and get approval, you will be able to use a multi-currency account for:
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- Receiving payments in any of the supported currencies.
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- Withdrawing money from the account in your domestic currency.
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- Holding balance in different currencies.
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- Making payments in the currencies in your balance.
Please note that the latter feature isn’t offered by every multi-currency account. However, it can be very useful if you also need to pay suppliers or employees abroad.
Which Euro Bank Account to Use in the UK?
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- WorldFirst.
WorldFirst is a UK money transfer company that is currently owned by Alibaba. Therefore, it’s a great platform for e-commerce. This company offers the best Euro bank account that allows for SEPA payments. The accounts come with an IBAN and are issued by Tier 1 banks. The best thing is the 0.5% spread margin or less, depending on your annual transfer volume. WordlFirst currently offers some of the cheapest rates on the market. However, note that there are transfer limits. The minimum transfer is £1,000.
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- Moneycorp.
Moneycorp is a veteran in the market and offers great terms and even greater service. Its multi-currency account is suitable for marketplace collections and has a 0.75% fixed margin. The company offers assistance from corporate FX specialists.
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- OFX.
An OFX multi-currency account is the one you need if you are running a truly global business. This is the company that has a wide presence worldwide. It supports SEPA payments and has a UK-based support team. You can use Moneycorp to open not only a UK foreign bank account but to also open accounts in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the EU, Hing Kong, and Singapore.
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- TransferWise.
TransferWise is the leader of the industry and definitely ranks as offering one of the best UK foreign bank account. This is a great choice for small payments as TransferWise has no limits and extremely low fees and rates. This payment platform is supported by all leading online marketplaces.
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- SpartanFX.
SpartanFX allows you to have not only a Euro bank account but to receive payments in 32 currencies. This company is new but highly innovative and offering a high level of customer service. It offers the service of a managed bespoke currency brokerage. This will be a good choice for those who need to make large transfers frequently.
In Conclusion: Benefits of Using a Multi-Currency Account for Business
It’s true that UK residents have many ways to send and receive payments from abroad. However, if you truly want to maximize the profitability of your business, you need to find the cheapest solutions. Opening a UK foreign bank account will be expensive if you do it through a regular bank. However, money transfer companies can cut your costs below 1% of the transfer volume.
