Foreign exchange (FX) management issues are always part of any international travel plans. So far this year my travels have taken me to eight countries (nine if you include Scotland, which for peace at home purposes, I most definitely do!). I am always on the lookout for the latest ways to: 1) reduce FX fees; 2) Keep things digital; and 3) most importantly, make FX convenient. Money needs to grease the wheels of any travel experience whether it’s for business or pleasure, not be a worry or a hassle.
In constantly scanning for the latest in FinTech to help with this I stumbled across a great App for your smartphone that I highly recommend you sign up to in order to manage your FX requirements – it’s called REVOLUT. Digital Sign Up is simple if you have a bank account. You can even do the identification check online by sending through an in-App photo of your driving license or passport.
I was impressed by how much this small London-based technology start-up is an upgrade on what’s currently on the pre-paid FX card market. In short, the App is linked to a pre-paid MasterCard. It lets you load money from your domestic bank account and then spend in over 90 currencies around the world at the spot rate, the best exchange rate available with no fees. To be able to do this for secondary currencies other than USD, Euro and sterling is fantastic. I can attest it works too, when I exchanged sterling for Croatian Kuna's on a recent visit.
In constantly scanning for the latest in FinTech to help with this I stumbled across a great App for your smartphone that I highly recommend you sign up to in order to manage your FX requirements – it’s called REVOLUT. Digital Sign Up is simple if you have a bank account. You can even do the identification check online by sending through an in-App photo of your driving license or passport.
I was impressed by how much this small London-based technology start-up is an upgrade on what’s currently on the pre-paid FX card market. In short, the App is linked to a pre-paid MasterCard. It lets you load money from your domestic bank account and then spend in over 90 currencies around the world at the spot rate, the best exchange rate available with no fees. To be able to do this for secondary currencies other than USD, Euro and sterling is fantastic. I can attest it works too, when I exchanged sterling for Croatian Kuna's on a recent visit.
 | Money transfer is incredibly fast and if you order a real world Revolut credit card you can manage your FX to the minute and avoid bringing back cash that you have to change back into sterling. Recently on a short visit to Montenegro for example I sat at a coffee shop opposite an ATM machine, realized I was running short of Euros. I exchanged £50 through Revolut on the fly at the Spot Euro rate (that is the real time market rate for the currency pair) at 1235hrs, walked across the street, stuck my Revolut card in the ATM and withdrew €50 at 1236hrs! |
| Even more amazing, was that the transaction immediately appeared in my account and the detail could be viewed on my phone (Revolut supports both Android and iOS). The web tells me that Revolut is raising £10 million and signing up 1,500 new customers a day... I can understand why! It's a step up even on the product offerings of the FinTech in FX pre-paid which have gone before. |  |
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