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CurrencyFair
Founded2009
HeadquartersDublin,
Ireland
No. of locationsDublin, Ireland : Newcastle, Australia : Singapore : Hong Kong
Area servedAustralia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand.
Founder(s)Brett Meyers, Jonathan Potter, Sean Barrett and David Christian
ServicesFinancial Services
Employees80+ (Sep 2020)[citation needed]
URLcurrencyfair.com
Launched2009; 15 years ago (2009)

CurrencyFair is an online currency exchange platform that until 2023 offered a peer-to-peer currency exchange service. CurrencyFair is headquartered in Ireland and also has employees in the UK, Australia, Greece, Hong Kong, Poland and Singapore. The company has established working sectors in Newcastle (UK), New South Wales (Australia), Singapore and Hong Kong. CurrencyFair provides international money transfers in 20 global currencies.[1]

With CurrencyFair, customers could match with someone straightaway using an Auto-Transaction or set a desired rate in a currency and wait to partially or fully match with someone in the Exchange Queue who is going in the opposite currency direction.[2] In a 2016 interview with Irish Tech News, co-founder Brett Meyers said "CurrencyFair is a peer to peer currency transfer service that empowers people to send money from their domestic bank account to their own, or a third party’s, foreign bank account up to 90% cheaper than they can using a bank or broker”.[3]

As of January 2024, CurrencyFair was rated 1.7 out of 5 stars in the category of travel money cards and currency exchanges on the Australian Product Review website.[4] Many people have voiced complaints about payments being held and not returned unless thorough justification is given.

History

CurrencyFair was established in April 2009 by co-founders Brett Meyers,[5][6] Jonathan Potter, Sean Barrett and David Christian. It was described by The Guardian as a marketplace where money is never exchanged across borders, rather staying in the country of origin, thereby avoiding bank conversion fees. Customers would have one currency but need funds in another. They would be "matched" with someone with a corresponding need – someone who has that currency but needs the other.[7]

The company was officially "launched" in December 2013 by then Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny.[8] At the time, 30 new jobs were announced.[8]

In early 2014 CurrencyFair became the first platform in the world to break the $1 billion (€916 million) barrier in money-matching transfers and in April 2017 CurrencyFair revamped their platform to enable SMEs to use the service.[9]

CurrencyFair announced at the Web Summit in Lisbon in 2016 that it had raised €8 million in funding.[10] A mobile app was launched in September 2015.[11]

As of August 2017, the company announced it had traded over €5 billion.[12] By July 2018, this had reputedly increased to over €7 billion.[13]

In August 2018, the company announced a €20 million investment plan into the Asian market and the acquisition of Hong Kong-based Convoy Payments.[14][15][16][17][18] Also in August 2018, CEO Paul Byrne spoke on the Newstalk Business Breakfast show about their recent €20m funding and acquisition.[19] In an August 2018 interview with the Independent.ie, Byrne said "Asia is where we think most growth will come from over time and we want to be part of that story".[20]

In October 2019, CurrencyFair announced its sponsorship of the 2019 Asian Gaelic Games, with a launch event in Croke Park.[21]

In December 2019, the company completed a partnership agreement with Chinese online trade network Buy-World to launch its marketplace payment product.[22]

Recognition

In November 2012, CurrencyFair was one of four companies to be named Best of Show at the inaugural FinovateAsia conference in Singapore.[23]

In 2013, CurrencyFair won the IIA Dot IE Net Visionary Awards for Most Insightful and Intriguing Internet Innovation.[24]

In October 2017, CurrencyFair was listed in the Top 20 Fintech Companies in Ireland by Irish Tech News.[25]

In November 2017, CurrencyFair was listed in a list of the "Fintech Startups in Europe to watch in 2018".[26]

In January 2018, CurrencyFair was listed in the Silicon Republic's list of the Top 100 Startups to watch in 2018 [27]

In May 2018, of the 28 international money transfer providers licensed to operate in Australia, CurrencyFair was one of the three providers that made the Mozo.com.au 2018 Mozo Experts Choice Awards winners list.[28]

In November 2018, CurrencyFair COO/CFO Ruth Fletcher won the "CFO of the Year" award at the Women in Finance Awards 2018,[29] and was also recognised at the 2018 "Women in Tech Awards".[30]

Media

In January 2017, Brett Meyers appeared on BBC News to discuss peer-to-peer exchange and Brexit.[31]

In June 2018, CurrencyFair was mentioned in the Money Section of a Sunday Times Article on how Apps can help you track your spending and save money.[32]

In June 2019, CurrencyFair published their Brexit Breakup Survey and appeared in an article on the Irish Times website[33] and the Yahoo Finance website.[34] Later in 2019, CurrencyFair CEO Paul Byrne appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia".[35]

See also

References

  1. ^ Beugge, Charlotte (13 November 2015). "Currency transfer: how to make the most of your money". Telegraph. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  2. ^ "Exchange v AutoTransaction – Which is best for me?". CurrencyFair. 2015-05-05. Archived from the original on 2017-07-08. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  3. ^ "CurrencyFair, an Irish FinTech success story. Insights from Brett Meyers, CEO". Irish Tech News. March 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  4. ^ "Currencyfair reviews". ProductReview.com.au. 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  5. ^ "Entrepreneur Interviews: Brett Meyers, CEO, CurrencyFair". Forbes. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  6. ^ "Currency Fair: the P2P Marketplace to Exchange Currency on your Terms [INTERVIEW]". VisibleBanking.com. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  7. ^ "Don't fancy the currency exchange rate? Tough. Now you can no longer set your own". The Guardian. 2 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  8. ^ a b Roisin Burke – 12 December 2013 (2013-12-12). "Kenny announces 30 new tech jobs at CurrencyFair". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2014-01-26.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Charlie Taylor. "CurrencyFair 'scaling to profitability' as full-year losses mount". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  10. ^ Web Summit: CurrencyFair raises €8m in funding, Irish Times, 9 November 2016, retrieved 22 December 2017
  11. ^ CurrencyFair unveils new peer to peer currency exchange app, Irish Times, 24 September 2015, retrieved 22 December 2017
  12. ^ A CurrencyFair Milestone – 5 Billion Traded, CurrencyFair, 10 August 2017, retrieved 8 November 2017
  13. ^ Another Milestone – 7 Billion Euro Traded, CurrencyFair, 25 July 2018, retrieved 25 July 2018
  14. ^ CurrencyFair secures new backers for €20m growth plan, Independent.ie, 8 August 2018, retrieved 8 August 2018
  15. ^ "Currencyfair buys Chinese operation". thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  16. ^ "CurrencyFair has bought a Hong Kong firm for its master plan to take on Asia". fora.ie. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  17. ^ "CurrencyFair announces Asian expansion as part of €20 investment plan". Business and Finance. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  18. ^ "CurrencyFair announces Asian expansion". Sunday Business Post. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  19. ^ "NewsTalk Business Breakfast". NewsTalk. Archived from the original on 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
  20. ^ "CurrencyFair secures new backers for €20m growth plan". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  21. ^ Sean Moran. "Close season or not, there's no slowing down for Jack McCaffrey". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  22. ^ "China pact hands CurrencyFair Asia boost". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  23. ^ Bruene, Jim (2012-11-06). "FinovateAsia 2012 Best of Show Winners: CurrencyFair, Finantix, SocietyOne and Ubank". Finovate. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  24. ^ "2013 Winners Announced - IIA Dot ie Net Visionary Awards 2013". Netvisionary.ie. Archived from the original on 2014-01-26. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  25. ^ "Irish Tech News Fintech 20 Ireland Top 20 Companies Announced". irishtechnews.ie. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  26. ^ Kennedy, John (2017-11-24). "20 of Europe's hottest fintech start-ups to watch in 2018". siliconrepublic.com. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  27. ^ "The Europe Start-up 100: Who are the ones to watch in 2018?". Facebook. 26 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  28. ^ "Best International Money Transfers 2018". mozo.com.au. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  29. ^ "Women in Finance Awards 2018 Shortlist". womeninfinance.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
  30. ^ "Women in Tech Awards 2018". womenxtech. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
  31. ^ "BBC News: Interview with Brett Meyers". Facebook. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
  32. ^ Dunne, Eithne. "Ditch the abacus and control your cash the App-fab way". thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  33. ^ "British expats in Ireland quickest to blame London for Brexit woe". Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
  34. ^ "The Brexit Breakup: CurrencyFair Survey Reveals 34% of British Expats Are Currently Seeking Citizenship or Permanent Residency in Another Country Due to Brexit". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
  35. ^ "Asia is 'underserved' in fair money transfer services: CurrencyFair". MSN. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
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