Open Banking Anniversary – new rules have enabled one Fintech to transform how consumers spend abroad

As a finalist in the Nesta OpenUp 2020 challenge, Currensea has been recognised as one of the most promising fintech firms using Open Banking to address some of the long-standing financial issues faced by the UK population.

Latest figures highlight that Brit’s perform over 1.5bn transactions outside the UK each year with debit cards equating to a spend of over £46bn*. Based on the average charges across five major UK high street banks, this equates to a whopping £1.5bn** per year that we are paying out to use our debit cards abroad.

Currensea is a debit card which uses Open Banking to link directly to the major high street bank accounts, saving customers up to 80% of these charges or £1.2bn when spending abroad. Partnering with banks via Open Banking, Currensea eliminates the need to open a new bank account or prepaid card just for travel. It provides a highly competitive exchange rate and removes the bank fees, enabling customers to spend and save anywhere in the world.

Currensea is live in beta with customers already having spent in over a quarter of the countries on the planet.

According to a spending survey by Nationwide, the average British family goes on holidays twice a year, spending more than £6,000, which represents a quarter of the household disposable income. Based on this, a Currensea card could save an average British family almost £200 in bank charges ***.

Commenting on the Open Banking Anniversary, James Lynn, Co-Founder Currensea says:

“Without the Open Banking changes, our business simply wouldn’t exist – a business that saves consumers 80% on existing charges.  Open Banking is not only aiding tech innovation and enterprise but bringing transparency and cost savings to consumers.  As the UK embarks a new period of history, Open Banking is set to prove a great UK success story”

 “We are excited to be the first FX card to use Open Banking, unlocking massive savings for
customers. We’re looking forward to helping UK travellers save millions of pounds. We believe that
everyone has the right to access their high street bank account abroad at a fair rate and without
their bank’s charges”

The team is advised by Robin Terrell, previously UK MD Amazon and Marc O’Brien, previously CEO of Visa UK.

Currensea is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

For more information and to sign up please visit www.currensea.com