Jargon Busters

What does FCA Authorised Payment Institution mean?

The FCA stands for the Financial Conduct Authority. The body regulates financial organisations and financial advisors in order to provide confidence to consumers and businesses. The FCA is responsible for maintaining both the integrity of the UK’s financial markets and the rightful conduct of retail and wholesale financial services firms in the country.

All of our partner foreign exchange companies are registered, regulated and fully authorised by the FCA, or the local equivalent in North America, The Middle East and Asia Pacfic. We also ensure all suppliers operate segregated client accounts that cannot be claimed by creditors in the event of a money transfer specialist going bust. Many of our payment partners transact multi-billions of GBP/USD equivalent of currency on an annual basis, are fully licensed payment service institutions and are subject to rigorous checks by the relevant governing bodies. You can trust them.

Beware of transacting with “small payment institutions” which are typically far less established firms. We do not list any on CurrencyTransfer. Small payment institutions can choose, rather than forced, to operate segregated client accounts which many deem as being risky.

Any UK payment service business that is not regulated by the FCA is committing a criminal act. In short, it’s worth shopping around not only for a cheaper deal, but also a fairer deal on currency.

We take protecting our client funds very seriously. This is why we put ample measures in place to ensure your money is always safe. To find out more about what these measures are, or for reassurance about the safety of your funds, do not hesitate to get in contact. We’ll be more than happy to explain, in detail, how we make sure your money is protected.