Currencies Direct
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Financial Services |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | City of London, UK |
Key people | Mayank Patel (Founder) |
| Products | Foreign Exchange |
Number of employees | 300[1] |
| Parent | Azibo Group |
| Website | www.currenciesdirect.com |
Currencies Direct Ltd is a UK-based foreign exchange broker and international payment provider. It provides currency exchange services in a number of different countries to individuals and small businesses.
Company history
- Currencies Direct was founded in London in 1996.[2]
- In 1999 Currencies Direct opened its first overseas office in Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca, Spain.
- By 2003 Currencies Direct had forty employees and expanded to Australia when it opened an office in Sydney.[3] However this office was later shut down, and henceforth Australian business was operated from London.
- The following year Currencies Direct was granted an Australian Financial Services License, opened a third Spanish office in Mojacar on the Costa Almeria and an office in Cape Town, South Africa[4][5]
- In 2005 Currencies Direct opened an outsourcing office opened in Mumbai.
- In 2006 Currencies Direct moved its UK headquarters to new premises in central London, and the following year it opened offices in the USA. Currencies Direct also opened a second Australian office in Melbourne; however, the company later closed its Australian offices. In the same year Currencies Direct acquired a majority stake in Universal VAT Services, a company providing tax reclaim services.
- On 11 November 2008 Currencies Direct launched an online payment system - I-PAYFX - for businesses.
- On 13 February 2009 I-PAYFX launched a charity web site, FX4Charity, where for each FX payment with Currencies Direct it would donate funds to a charity.[6]
Operations
Currencies Direct has offices in the UK, Spain, India, South Africa and Portugal.
Currencies Direct offers foreign exchange services to individuals and small businesses; it competes against banks with forward contracts, Telegraphic transfer, Risk Solutions and online payments. Currencies Direct provides its services for foreign home buying, emigration, Imports and Exports, Overseas education and regular transfers.
Currencies Direct also provides tax (VAT) refund services through its subsidiary Universal VAT Services.
I-PAYFX
I-PAYFX combines the foreign exchange and payment elements of a transaction into one online process.[7]
References
- ↑ "Mayank Patel: Making money from currency". Citywealth. 7 December 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ↑ "GB06 Success Stories, Mayank Patel - Currencies Direct". growingbusiness.co.uk. February 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ↑ "Currencies Direct targets Australia". Sydney, Evening Standard (via thisismoney.co.uk). 21 March 2003.
- ↑ "Business Growth and development program - Success story". Cranfield University. 24 April 2006.
- ↑ MacAlister, Terry (28 December 2002). "Man who beat banks at their own game". London: guardian.co.uk.
- ↑ "Recent Social Media Releases for Currencies Direct". fx4charity.com. 16 February 2009.
- ↑ "Online tool cuts costs for SMES trading abroad". FX&MM Magazine. Dec 2008.