With a name like Ireland FX are you a service only for people and businesses from Ireland?

Absolutely not, Ireland FX was founded in Bangor, Northern Ireland and in its early conception the idea was to focus on cross-border trade between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Hence the name and since we had an established set of clients the name has stayed – We are proud of our heritage. In addition to serving the Irish markets we have clients and businesses from all over the world. As long as we can vet clients (ie we can identify you, your location, and if relevant the business and business shareholding) during our Onboarding Registration process then we would more than likely welcome you or your company as a client.

As part of FCA regulation we have Passport access to thirty European destinations. This means that firms such as ourselves can be regulated in our home country (ie the United Kingdom) and Passport that regulated status to all other EU / EEA member countries.

How do you make money ?

Ireland FX is a business like most with an agenda to turn a profit. The way that we do this is by having access to interbank rate rates. These are the rates that Central banks trade with each other at. We then offer our clients our own rate. The difference between the two is called the ‘spread’ and that is our revenue covering all our costs and profit.

Are there any other fees ?

For someone who transfers less than GBP 5,000 or its equivalent there is a GBP 10 charge to cover the cost of making the transfer. Any transfers over GBP 5,000 there is NO FEES as we absorb this cost.

Anymore charges ?

None, the only other time you will see a charge is if the deposited funds do not arrive in time before the trade is due to be converted. It really is important to ensure funds will arrive before the settlement date. Since the transfer is a contract we have also taken a contract with our bankers to BUY or SELL that currency too. Therefore, if client deposit funds are not available our contract with our bankers will still occur and the currency being sold will still debit our accounts. If our contract needs to be reversed we have no choice but to buy back at market rates (which usually means a substantial loss). Of course, we have processes in place to avoid this happening. The way to get around this is if we know that client funds have been sent but for some reason the originating bank hasn’t sent it in time and is say a day late, we can ‘Rollover’ the trade. This basically means we can push the settlement date out for another day. This is a manual operation and because of that there is a charge of GBP 25 to cover manual expenses and to cover the cost of forward purchasing currency.

One other circumstance that could occur is that the receiving bank may apply a charge to receive funds. We send out the full funds exactly as is requested. Some years ago we used to know what the receiving charges were and would include this in our rate. However due to Payment Services Regulations 2009 where it was said that each bank should effectively look after their side of the transaction only we can no longer do this. It is beyond our control to know if this might occur and how much. The best suggestion is if you know the destination bank is to ask them if they do take out receiving funds and then add this amount to the original transfer to cover it.

Also, when sending funds to us they must come from an account with the same account name as has been opened with us. For example, a married lady Bethanie Kelly opened an account with us and made a trade. However, the originating funds were sent to us by Bethanie’s father Michael Murphy. We have no way of connecting the arrival of funds from Michael Murphy with Bethanie’s trade. Michael Murphy’s funds were rejected as he was not known to us and as a result of this the original trade had funds arriving late which we then had to manage. Since there was a manual intervention to rectify the situation a charge of GBP 25 unfortunately had to be imposed. It would have been better in this case for Michael Murphy to open an account with us.

Do you make regular transfers ?

Yes but for long schedules you will pay a premium for a forward transfer. It might be better to fix for a few months at a time and then re-assess the situation. We can assist you to come to a sensible approach.

Do you handle cash ?

No, we deal purely account to account electronically. When we last looked at this we felt that the regulatory framework had changed enough to make this a different business altogether. Our conclusion was to stay focused on what we do best which is to offer BEST rates on electronic transactions.

Which Currencies can I exchange with you ?

Click here to have a look at our Currency Guide. Over thirty of the most major currencies that are not restricted by their country we can assist with. A majority of which you can trade from your online platform.