The Peer to Peer model, made famous by Zopa and Betfair, is coming to the foreign exchange market with a new service called CurrencyFair.
The benefits are , of course, a much keener rate than the banks offer-close to or at interbank- and the ability to post a rate and see if is matched. The service is based on the simple truth that everyone in FX is both a seller and a buyer .The (anonimized) exchange set up by CurrencyFair matches up buyers and sellers. Could be the start of something big in FX once people have got used to the idea.FX is a dirty little secret of the banks-they gouge the average punter with commission and the spread between what they buy at and sell at. Just check your next currency exchange against CurrencyFair to prove the point
Declaration of interest: CurrencyFair is a Joined Up Company client.We have had fun developing the service- hope you like it Launch team as follows:
CurrencyFair: Jonathan Potter and Chris Porter
The Joined Up Company: Brand Strategy,Website Development and Communications Strategy- Julian Saunders, Janet Grimes and Patrick Collister.
Joff Buels: PR, Press relations and PR launch
London Interaction:Social media research and social media engagement strategy-Sarah Ward and Tomas Gonsorcik