World First

World First is the UK’s leading foreign exchange broker headquartered in London, with further offices in Australia and New Zealand. World First are a privately owned company with no debts or liabilities, an A1 Credit rating and are regulated by the FCA and HMRC.

World First offers a more bespoke and tailored approach to foreign exchange.

World First gives each client their own dedicated expert advisor who is always at hand to give free market information when you need it, and work closely with you to come up with a solution that gives you the best possible service and exchange rate at any given time.

Forward contracts enable you to fix an exchange rate in advance of actually needing to make an overseas payment.

For example it allows you to know and fix the sterling cost of a property purchase (private client) or shipment of overseas goods (corporate client) up to 1 year in advance of the payment date. It also protects you against adverse currency fluctuations.

If you believe the rate is going to improve over the period of your transfers, you can elect to receive the prevailing exchange rate on the day that your funds reach us each month. For example, if converting from sterling to euros, your payment in August may be converted at 1.46, whereas your payment in September may be at 1.47.

Advantages: You benefit if the rate improves. WorldFirst doesn't require a deposit.
Disadvantages: You lose out if the rate deteriorates. The amount of currency that reaches you will vary each month, which may not be appropriate if you are paying a mortgage.

Fluctuating exchange rates mean that the amount of euros, dollars or other foreign currency that ends up in your overseas bank account will vary from month to month. Over the course of 2006, the sterling dollar rate moved between 1.7150 and 1.9850. This represents a 13.6% swing in one year: On a £1,000 monthly transfer into dollars, the amount that reaches your overseas account would have varied by over $270.

With this option, World First will give you one fixed exchange rate for all your transfers up to 2 years ahead. If you're transferring £1,000 per month and fix your year's payments with us at 1.90, you will always get $1,900 whether the rate goes up to 2.0 or down to 1.6. World First will require you to pay a deposit equivalent to 1 month's transfer to reserve your fixed rate. This means that in the last fixed-rate payment month, you do not need to send World First any money.

Advantages: You have one fixed amount per month and don't need to worry about the rate worsening.
Disadvantages: If the rate improves you do not benefit. World First requires 1 month's deposit.

You need to register to open an account with World First. This can usually be done within minutes of receiving your details. It's free and there is no obligation to transact with WorldFirst.

If you are not on the UK electoral roll or if you live outside the UK, please contact World First to confirm whether you will be required to send certified documents, signed by a witness. The witness should be a teacher, lawyer, doctor, solicitor, accountant, civil servant or employer and should certify the photocopies of your documentation with the wording, "I certify that this is a true and fair likeness of the original document which I have seen." The witness should supply their name, address, occupation, place of work and a landline telephone number. World First will confirm your registration by informing you of your client reference number by email, fax or telephone and your dedicated currency expert will contact you to discuss your requirements further.

Security is always of the highest importance when transferring large sums of money. Your money is completely safe with World First.

Accounts and Collateral: All funds sent to World First are held in segregated client accounts that are only used for client transactions and are totally independent of World First's business accounts.

World First maintains approx $3,000,000 collateral with World First's banks as security against transactions which they have a lien over. When you enter into a transaction with us, we do an irrevocable covering deal with our bank. It is this transaction that turns your sold currency into your bought currency and from which the outward payment is made.

If you prefer you can send your funds within your own bank - we hold client accounts with Barclays, HSBC, Bank of Ireland, Royal Bank of Scotland, Commerz Bank (Germany) and ANZ (New Zealand). World First also has correspondent banking accounts in virtually every country in the world.

World First is regulated by HM Revenue & Customs as a Money Services Business (Reg no. 12164508).

World First Markets Ltd is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Services Authority. Registration No: 477561