Moneycorp, the currency and international payments business, continued to challenge the dominance of traditional high street players last year with an impressive set of financial results for the year ending 31st December 2015, cementing its position as one of the fastest-growing international currency businesses in the UK.
The company’s solid financial performance follows record investment in its online capabilities and a focus on innovation and technology, to deliver a best-in-class trading experience. Moneycorp handled more than seven million transactions overall. 728,000 of these were facilitated outside its retail bureaux - with 581,000 (80%) of these enabled via its online platform. The company traded more than £22bn of currency between January and December 2015, retaining its position as the largest provider of currency services outside the high street banks. It is the only online money exchange service to offer a portfolio of 40 currencies to its online customers from the point of sign up.
Mark Horgan, CEO of moneycorp said:
“Moneycorp is a leading technology-driven business with an unwavering focus on customer relationships. This combination of integrated technology with a specialist, relationship-based rapid service, makes us different from the rest of the market, and as a result we’re seeing high demand from corporate and private clients in the UK and internationally.”
Earlier this week, (Sunday 3rd April) moneycorp announced it has successfully completed its application to acquire a bank licence. The new licence from Gibraltar will allow moneycorp to continue its expansion into European markets - a key element of its international growth strategy. Once fully operational in May 2016, Gibraltar-based Moneycorp Bank will hold deposits in multiple currencies and service the payment needs of corporate and private clients in Gibraltar. The Bank will operate as a separate legal entity to moneycorp’s main operating company which is headquartered in the UK. Moneycorp Bank will be regulated in Gibraltar by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.
Last year saw moneycorp accelerate its far-reaching international expansion strategy. In August it announced its acquisition of a minority stake in Brazilian payments business, Novo Mundo Corretora de Câmbio. Confirmation of its largest ever commercial partnership with CNN International Commercial, providing international payments for US customers via CNN Money Transfers, followed. Full US expansion has since taken place and moneycorp launched its Private International Payments business in the US last month. With more than 750 staff now based across Europe and the United States, moneycorp’s ambitious international strategy will continue to see it gain significant market share in the months ahead.
Back in the UK, as the largest provider of corporate international payments services outside the banking sector, moneycorp’s Corporate International Payments business posted a record revenue growth up 26% year on year. This was generated by 10% growth in its customer base, while the average value of transactions (ATV) initiated by this customer group grew by 18%.
Within moneycorp’s Private International Payments business, with its core focus on facilitating overseas property purchase and financial transactions on behalf of expat clients, revenue was up 19% on 2014. The business experienced a 13% growth of its customer base.
Mark Horgan added: “Our impressive financial performance and growth across our business units is testament to our position as an innovator of new technologies and products, which offer something wholly unique and truly specialised in the market. Our clients require increasingly sophisticated systems, and their international profile, combined with our own international footprint, requires us to innovate and engineer increasingly complex exchange and payment systems that can be accessed anywhere in the world, quickly and efficiently.”