How we keep our rates so low

Global By Local (GBL) processing

When sending money overseas with a bank, you’ll often be charged a hefty foreign exchange fee. But that’s not the only part that means you could end up losing money in the transfer.

Banks use something called the ‘interbank’ rate to trade money with each other. The rate fluctuates by the second, and it is the rate that you’ll see if you do a basic Google search like ‘1 AUD to USD’. But that’s not the rate that the banks give you, they usually add up to 5% on the daily exchange rate. So on a $10,000 transfer, you could be paying up to $500 on top of the initial fee. For example, say you wanted to transfer $10,000 from AUD to USD. With your standard bank you would receive $6,758 in return.² With OFX, you’d receive $7,028. That’s a saving of $270!

OFX uses a network of 115 bank accounts worldwide, where we hold currency reserves. When you send a transfer at the rate you’ve locked in with one of our foreign exchange specialists, most of the time your money will go into a local account in your home country and stay there. We then pay your recipient from our reserves in the destination country. That’s why your money arrives so quickly when you use us.

This GBL system has a number of benefits. It protects our business from currency exposure and lets us pass those savings onto you. It also means we can stay open during times of high currency volatility - unlike many of our competitors. We know that timing is critical when you need to move your money, this system often allows us to process same day transfers³ 24/7, 360 days a year - even when the banks are closed.

We’re an online company

Unlike the banks and other money transfer companies, our operations are only online and over the phone. We don’t have retail outlets, so you don’t have to pay for them.

We’ve built many automated processes for money transfers that let us operate with maximum efficiency. Your transfer is automated whenever possible, which reduces the risk of input errors, saves on staffing costs and expedites processing. 

Customers from around the globe can use our easy online service, and brand new app on iOS and Android to send money on your schedule, not the bank’s. This can be done without incurring any fees on transfers over $10,000, and on transfers under $10,000, we charge a flat fee of $15. That’s it, no hidden costs.