FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
MatchPlaceFX offers over 34 currencies in over 190 countries
and covers all the major currency pairs.
Country
Code
Currency
AED
Emirai Dirham
AUD
Australian Dollar
BGN
Bulgarian Lev
BHD
Bahraini Dinars
CAD
Canadian Dollar
CHF
Swiss Frank
CZK
Czech Koruna
DKK
Danish Krone
EUR
Euro
GBP
British Pound
HKD
Hong Kong Dollar
HRK
Croatian Kunas
HUF
Hungarian Forint
ILS
Israeli Shekel
CNY
Chinese Yuan Renminbi
JMD
Jamaican Dollars
JPY
Japanese Yen
Country
Code
Currency
KES
Kenyan Shillings
KWD
Kuwaiti Dinars
MXN
Mexican Peso
NOK
Norwegian Krone
NZD
New Zealand Dollar
OMR
Omani Rials
PLN
Polish Zloty
QAR
Qatari Rials
RON
Romanian New Leu
SAR
Saudi Riyals
SEK
Swedish Krona
SGD
Singapore Dollar
THB
TRY
Turkish Lira
UGX
Ugandan Shillings
USD
United States Dollar
ZAR
South African Rand
SWIFT is acronym for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. It provides the backbone for messaging services between financial institutions.
A SWIFT code uniquely identifies a bank or financial institution. It is usually 8 or 11 characters. It is also known as a SWIFT ID, a Bank Identifier Code (BIC) or an ISO 9362 code.
These codes are usually used when sending and receiving money between financial institutions.
The SWIFT code is coded with the following rules:
- First 4 characters – bank or financial institution code (only letters)
- Next 2 characters – ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code (only letters)
- Next 2 characters – location code (letters and digits)
- Last 3 characters – branch code, optional (letters and digits) (‘XXX’ for primary office)
Check a Swift code online: https://www2.swift.com/bsl/index.faces
The IBAN consists of up to 32 alphanumeric characters, comprising a country code, two check digits and a long and detailed bank account number used in bank wire transfers. The IBAN structure is defined by the international standard under ISO 13616-1:2007 and check digits are performed using MOD 97 (ISO 7064). The individual countries and formatting are described in the official ISO IBAN registry Examples.
Check an IBAN code online
MatchPlace and MatchPlaceFX use best of breed cyber security to authenticate counterparties when payments are set-up and settled.
Anti Hacking process
- Physical security
- Our service operates from multiple high security Tier 4 Data Centers used by banks and other financial institutions.
- Network security
- Our firewalls are managed by dedicated staff and we undergo regular third party penetration tests, to ensure our service is secure.
- Encryption
- All network traffic is encrypted.
- Data security
- We are using certified systems under ISO/IEC 27001:2013, the international best practice standard for information security management.
- Strong access control
- We assign unique IDs to each individual and require two step authentication for all access.
Money can only flow freely when it’s secure, end-to-end. The reason we’re relied on by global businesses is because our security is world-class. Our security is regularly reviewed and approved by regulators and bank partners across the world.
As MatchPlace Ltd operates in regulated markets, we recognise the value that regulation brings to society, our customers, ourselves and our shareholders.
We believe that MatchPlace should apply the following principles in its approach to compliance and regulation:
- Fairness and transparency for our customers
- That all reasonably practical steps should be taken to ensure that we do not process money resulting from the proceeds of crime to prevent money-laundering or the financing of terrorist activities.
The mid-market rate is the real exchange rate. By definition, it is the midpoint between Buy & Sell market rates simply the midpoint between demand and supply for a currency on the global currency markets, and because of that, it changes all the time. At MatchPlaceFX, we show you the mid-market rate sometimes called the interbank rate and spot rate amongst other things.
| GBP/EUR Buy Rate | GBP/EUR Sell Rate |
| 1.1750 | 1.1770 |
| Mid-market rate = 1.1760 | |
In the currency markets, traders define the rates at which they are willing to “buy” or “sell” a specific currency.
The mid-market rate is considered the fairest exchange rate possible and isn’t a secret either. It is the rate you will find on independent available sources such as Google, XE and Yahoo Finance.
MatchPlaceFX provides foreign currency conversion prices based on market rates on the global currency markets. We show the competitive rates on the global currency markets for transparency.
If you know the mid-market rate you can check the difference with the rate given by your bank for the transaction.
Ex: Mid-market rate GBP/EUR: 1.1750, your provider BUY rate: 1.1397
On a 100000£ GBP to EUR conversion, your provider took a hidden commission of 3525 € almost 3% of hidden commission.
Various independent price comparisons show the true cost of making an international business transfer. In addition to an upfront transfer fee, all of the banks usually add a markup to the exchange rate offered.
You only pay a commission fee with us! It is fair and you get a low-cost transfer.
At MatchPlaceFX, we commit to
– show the Mid-market rate on each transaction.
– offer you a small FX margin ‘Spread’ compared to traditional FX providers
– have No hidden fees or charges
– provide an Online platform to check & book currency rates 24/7
– have an onboarding with no set-up fees
Process Times
Please note that the times given below do not take FX timelines into consideration.
Currency (ISO) Priority (SWIFT) Cut off times (GMT+1) Priority / Regular
Australian Dollar (AUD) 1 day 2:00 pm / 12:00 pm
Bahrain Dinar (BHD) 1 day 2:00 pm / –
Bulgarian Lev (BGN) 1 day 2:00 pm / –
Canadian Dollar (CAD) 0 days 2:00 pm / 4:30 pm
Chinese Yuan (CNY) 2 days 4:30 pm
Croatian Kuna (HRK) 1 day 2:00 pm
Czech Koruna (CZK) 1 day 4:30 pm / 4:30 pm
Danish Krone (DKK) 1 day 4:30 pm / 4:30 pm
Euro (EUR) 0 days 2:00 pm / 2:00 pm
HongKong Dollar (HKD) 1 day 2:00 pm / 12:00 pm
Hungarian Forint (HUF) 1 day 4:30 pm
Japanese Yen (JPY) 1 day 2:00 pm
Kenyan Shilling (KES) 1 day 2:00 pm
Kuwait Dinar (KWD) 1 day 2:00 pm
Mexican Peso (MXN) 1 day 2:00 pm / 4:30 pm
Israeli Shekel (ILS) 1 day 2:00 pm
New Zealand Dollar (NZD) 1 day 2:00 pm
Norwegian Krone (NOK) 1 day 4:30 pm / 4:30 pm
Omani Rial (OMR) 1 day 2:00 pm
Polish Zloty (PLN) 0 days 1 day 9:45 am / 4:30 pm
Qatar Rial (QAR) 1 day 2:00 pm
Romanian Leu (RON) 1 day 4:30 pm
Saudi Riyal (SAR) 1 day 2:00 pm
Singapore Dollar (SGD) 1 day 2:00 pm / 12:00 pm
South African Rand (ZAR) 0 days 9:45 am
Swedish Krona (SEK) 0 days 9:45 am / 4:30 pm
Swiss franc (CHF) 0 days 9:45 am
Thai Baht (THB) 2 days 4:30 pm
Turkish Lira (TRY) 1 day 4:30 pm
Ugandan Shilling (UGX) 2 days 4:30 pm
UK Sterling (GBP) 0 days 0 days 2:00 pm / 2:00 pm
United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) 1 day 2:00 pm
US Dollar (USD) 0 days 4:30 pm / 4:30 pm
Financial Terminology
0 days = T+0 (TOD, or same day)
1 day = T+1 (TOM, or next day)
2 days = T+2 (Spot)
3 days = T+3 (Spot + 1)
Regular (Local) = The duration it takes to make a local payment in the same country.
Priority (SWIFT) = The duration it takes to make a payment via SWIFT.
Cut off times = These are the times funds must be received and cleared by MatchPlaceFX in order to honor your instruction.
Currency (ISO) Duration (Conversion Length) Trading cut off times (GMT+1)
Guides
Australian Dollar (AUD) 1 day 1:00 pm
Bahrain Dinar (BHD) 1 day 1:00 pm
Bulgarian Lev (BGN) 1 day 1:00 pm
Canadian Dollar (CAD) 0 days 1:00 pm
Chinese Yuan (CNY) 2 days 3:30 pm
Croatian Kuna (HRK) 1 day 1:00 pm
Czech Koruna (CZK) 1 days 3:30 pm
Danish Krone (DKK) 1 day 3:30 pm
Euro (EUR) 0 days 1:20 pm
HongKong Dollar (HKD) 1 day 1:00 pm
Hungarian Forint (HUF) 1 day 3:30 pm
Japanese Yen (JPY) 1 day 1:00 pm
Kenyan Shilling (KES) 1 day 1:00 pm
Kuwait Dinar (KWD) 1 day 1:00 pm
Mexican Peso (MXN) 1 day 3:30 pm
Israeli Shekel (ILS) 1 day 1:00 pm
New Zealand Dollar (NZD) 1 day 1:00 pm
Norwegian Krone (NOK) 1 day 3:30 pm
Omani Rial (OMR) 1 day 1:00 pm
Polish Zloty (PLN) 1 day 3:30 pm
Qatar Rial (QAR) 1 day 1:00 pm
Romanian Leu (RON) 1 day 3:30 pm
Saudi Riyal (SAR) 1 day 1:00 pm
Singapore Dollar (SGD) 1 day 1:00 pm
South African Rand (ZAR) 0 days 8:45 am
Swedish Krona (SEK) 0 days 8:45 am
Swiss franc (CHF) 0 days 8:45 am
Thai Baht (THB) 2 days 3:30 pm
Turkish Lira (TRY) 1 day 3:30 pm
Ugandan Shilling (UGX) 2 days 3:30 pm
UK Sterling (GBP) 0 days 1:20 pm
United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) 1 day 1:00 pm
US Dollar (USD) 0 days 3:50 pm
Financial Terminology
0 days = T+0 (TOD, or same day)
1 day = T+1 (TOM, or next day)
2 days = T+2 (Spot)
3 days = T+3 (Spot + 1)
Cut off times = These are the times conversions must be completed by in order for Currencycloud to honor your instruction.
FX settlement timeline explanation
Let’s say you want to buy Australian Dollars (AUD) with UK Sterling (GBP). Australian Dollars (AUD) has a settlement time of 1 day, while UK Sterling (GBP) has a settlement time of 0 days.
Your AUD will only be available after the 1 day settlement time frame. Funding must therefore be received before the cut off time, one day prior to the desired delivery date.
A forward contract is a customized contract between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a specified price on a future date.
Forwards cover FX rates locked in today but for a future delivery date beyond a spot trade date.
You think you don’t usually pay a transaction fee with your bank.
Unfortunately, this is what many have been led to believe.
We call it the “Zero Fees”, “0% commission” lies in the industry.
Fee free transfer doesn’t exist. Your nasty surprise is hidden in an unfair exchange rate.
MatchPlaceFX service is fair, transparent and costs far less than high street banks and other currency exchange services.
The currency market is very volatile. It changes every day.
FX rates are very difficult to predict but for every business and transaction the most important is to understand your budget levels.
If you think that you need to purchase USD against GBP at 1.6500 to break even your purchase and the current FX rate is 1.6300, you are buying below your budget rate, hence you will incur a loss.
To mitigate this situation, you could have bought a forward at the rate of your budget level or higher. This would remove the fluctuations in FX rates you would face. You have essentially locked in your rate for your budget.
MatchPlaceFX has restricted the countries that it will service, at both the client level and at the payer level for layered/nested relationships. Refer to the table below for a list of permitted jurisdictions.
Neither our client or our client’s customers (ultimate payer) should be based outside of the below jurisdictions. Any payments with a payer outside of the permitted jurisdiction will be failed automatically by our transaction monitoring system at the point of processing.
Please note that this list will be reviewed and updated periodically.
Australia Guernsey New Zealand
Austria Hong Kong Norway
Belgium Hungary Poland
Bulgaria Iceland Portugal
Canada India Romania
Cayman Islands Ireland Singapore
China Isle of Man Slovakia
Croatia Israel Slovenia
Cyprus Italy South Africa
Czech Republic Japan South Korea
Denmark Jersey Spain
Estonia Latvia Sweden
Finland Liechtenstein Switzerland
France Lithuania Taiwan
Germany Luxembourg United Kingdom
Gibraltar Malta United States
Greece Netherlands
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
Contact our support team for general support
We take our regulatory responsibilities very seriously. In line with our anti-money laundering policy and sanction screening requirements, we cannot receive funds from or send money to the following countries, although this may be subject to change.
If you have any questions about making payments to restricted countries, please contact your relationship manager, or our support team.
Crimea
Cuba
Iran
Libya
North Korea
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
As part of our ongoing commitment to mitigate the risk of money laundering & terrorist financing., MatchPlaceFX has placed a number of restrictions on the type of industries, activities, and countries we are able to support and service.
Failure to comply with these restrictions can result in delayed payments or rejected payments with continuous breaches leading to account closure.
Non-Permitted Industries
Weapons / Military-Grade Security
Multi-Level Marketing
Pawnbrokers
Political Organizations
Precious Metals
Adult Entertainment
Drug paraphernalia
Carbon Credits
Crypto Currencies
Gambling
Ponzi / Pyramid Schemes
Firms involved in the servicing of illegal goods/services including but not limited to: Counterfeit Goods/trademark infringement, Human Trafficking, Child Labor, Prostitution.
Non-Permitted Client Types
Financial Institutions making payments on behalf of other financial institutions, also known as ‘nested relationships’ or ‘Layering.’
Shell Banks
Unregistered Charities
Non-Permitted Activities
Clients are not allowed to use our services to speculate changes in FX
Transactions deriving from Crypto Currencies
Anti-money laundering (AML)
Anti-money laundering (AML) refers to a set of procedures, laws and
regulations governments and financial regulation authorities have
designed to stop the practice of generating income through illegal
actions.
Automated Clearing House (ACH)
A US-based organisation that processes massive amounts of debit and
credit transactions such as direct deposit, payroll and vendor USD
payments in the USA.
Bid Rate
The bid rate is the rate quoted to you when you’re about to buy a currency.
Correspondent bank
Banks are financial institutions that are licensed to provide financial
services, such as deposit taking, lending, currency exchange and payment
services. A correspondent bank is a financial institution that provides
services on behalf of another financial institution.
Cross-border payment
Cross-border payment is a transaction in which a payer in one country
transfers money to a payee operating in a different country via the
foreign exchange market, using a bank or third party payment processor.
Crosses
In foreign exchange, crosses refer to the exchange rate of currencies
being traded in a country that does not utilise either of those
currencies. For example, a trader in the UK dealing in Mexican Pesos and
Euros will trade them at the ‘cross rate’.
Currencies
Currencies are a system of money accepted within a country, for example
the US Dollar in the US, or the Euro across the Eurozone.
Currency pairs
A currency pair is the quotation and pricing structure of the currencies
being traded. The value of a currency is a rate and is determined by
its comparison to another currency.
Delivery Date
The delivery date is the date on which the purchased funds are available for payment.
Exchange rate
An exchange rate is the price of one country’s currency expressed in
another country’s currency. An exchange rate has two components, the
domestic currency and a foreign currency (see currency pairs), and can
be quoted either directly or indirectly.
Faster Payments
The UK’s banking initiative to reduce payment times between different domestic banks’ customer GBP accounts.
Forward Conversion
A forward conversion is a conversion with a settlement date greater than
two days later – this can be anything from three days to one year
hence.
ISO Currency Code
The ISO Currency Code is the three letters also used in exchange rates.
Devised by the International Organization for Standardization it is a
country’s two characters and a letter denoting the country’s currency.
For example, in Hong Kong the currency is Dollars and so the ISO code is
HKD.
Know Your Client (KYC)
Know Your Client (KYC) is a requirement that protects both financial
institutions and their clients. Financial institutions are required to
formally verify the identity of all clients and understand the purpose
of trading, expected volumes and jurisdictions their clients will use.
Local payment schemes
Local payment schemes are payment initiatives set up in a domestic
market to make the payment process between banks more efficient. Schemes
include ACH, Faster Payments and SEPA.
Margin
Margin is financial collateral used to cover credit risk and is set
aside as a good will deposit as collateral to hold a position against
future trades as security to cover any potential losses the provider may
incur as a result of non-settlement of the trade.
Margin call
A margin call means that the exchange rate has moved sufficiently so
that the initial margin held is no longer sufficient to support the
“open” or unsettled trades and additional deposit is required to cover
the risk to the provider.
Measuring rates
Since most currencies are quoted to a maximum of 4 decimal places,
movement in currency rates, no matter how small, will have an impact on
the price you pay. Rates are measured in three factors. These are
spreads, pips and basis points. The spread is the difference between
‘bid’ and ‘offer’ prices.
Mid-market rate
The mid-market rate is the average rate between the bid and offer rates
agreed upon when conducting a foreign exchange transaction.
Offer rate
The offer rate is the rate quoted to you when you’re about to sell currency. Also known as the ask price or sell price.
Payee
A payee is an entity receiving payments through any form of money transfer method. Also known as the beneficiary.
Payer
A payer is an entity, either an individual or organization, that makes a payment to another entity.
Payment networks
A payment network is an electronic system used to settle financial
payments between institutions, individuals or organizations. These are
also known as ‘rails’.
Quote rates
The quote rate is the most recent market price that a currency was
traded on, meaning a buyer and seller agreed to trade at that price.
Regulated entities
Regulated entities are the service providers governed by financial regulation, such as banks, brokers and payments companies.
Sanctions
Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties and
restrictions applied by one or more countries against a targeted
country, group, or individual. Sanctions may include various forms of
trade barriers, tariffs, and restrictions on financial transactions.
Settlement date
The settlement date is the day on which a trade or a contract must be
reconciled. The buyer must make payment of the sold currency before the
conversion is processed and the purchased currency is available for
payment.
Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)
The European’s domestic clearing scheme for simplifying the European
banking transaction network and processing EUR payments within the SEPA
region.
Spot Conversion
A spot conversion is a conversion that will settle in two days (T+2).
SWIFT
SWIFT stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial
Telecommunications. Set up in 1973, it’s a member-owned cooperative that
developed a communication platform to transmit secure financial
transaction information between the financial institutions it
represents.
Third-Party Payments Processor
A third-party payments processor lets businesses handle transactions
from various channels such as credit cards and debit cards, without
having to establish their own banking relationships or set up a merchant
bank account of their own.
TOD Conversion
A TOD conversion is a conversion that will settle today.
TOM Conversion
A TOM conversion is a conversion that will settle tomorrow (T+1). The T stands for Transaction Date.
Wholesale Rate
The wholesale market used by banks, governments, investment funds and
large corporates to buy and sell foreign currency is called the Spot
Market. Spot means “on the spot” prices for soonest delivery possible.
For most currencies, the standard settlement period for spot trades is
two business days.
Wire transfer
Wire transfer is the means of transferring money electronically around
the world. This can be institutions, individuals or organizations. Also
known as a ‘SWIFT payment’ as wires are dependent on SWIFT messaging and
correspondent banking.
Onboarding process
1. Registration
. Simply register online or offline.
· No set-up costs.
· No obligation to transact.
2. Compliance check
We’ll run your details through our security checks to ensure your safety as well as ours.
3. Meet your specialist
Start an ongoing dialogue with your dedicated finance specialist
so we can tailor a solution for you
Registration for a corporate account Choose this option if you’re making a business international transfer.
Registration for a personal account Choose this option if you’re making a personal international transfer.
Do you have any questions? Contact us now!
