Below are many of the questions asked by clients over the years, and the answers to them. If your question isn’t answered below, please contact us directly.
- Professional, personal service. Ours can’t be matched. Along with the safety of your funds, this should be your number one priority.
- Trusted, safe and respected in the market. So much so, that banks themselves use us.
- Best exchange rates. We will not be beaten on price.
- Because we transact large amounts annually, we can buy and sell at the interbank rate
- Our retail rates have a far smaller profit margin in them, than our competitors
- Individuals. Migrating, selling or buying an asset overseas, or working abroad and sending money home regularly.
- Businesses. From small businesses to large multi nationals, trading internationally.
- Banks. The major retail and investment banks in Australasia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
- Privately owned by Direct FX’s management.
- One hundred percent New Zealand owned.
- In New Zealand since 2001.
- In Australia since 2006.
- We add a small profit margin to the rates we provide to retail clients
- We charge banks brokerage
Collectively our 6 advisors have over 150 years’ experience arranging currency exchanges. This allows our retail clients direct access to advisors with a level of experiences that many bank treasury trading teams don’t even have. You can read more about each of our retail advisors here.
Yes. Legislation sets out how we must hold and use your money. This ensures it is segregated from company funds, and held safely on behalf of clients. To read a full simple explanation of how our Client Fund accounts have been established, and the safety therefore provided, please read further here.
Yes. The law in Australia and New Zealand requires us to be a member of an independent disputes resolution scheme. We are members of the:
- Financial Ombudsman Service in Australia (membership # 14614).
- Financial Services Complaints Limited in New Zealand (membership # 849)
No we don’t, but an intermediary bank in general will, if we send you a currency other than NZD or AUD. The exchange rates we provide already have our profit margin included.
- Not when we send you AUD or NZD
- If we send any other currency on your behalf, it is possible the beneficiary bank may charge a fee
- If you are concerned about a beneficiary bank fee, please check with that bank first
When we send currencies other than AUD or NZD, dependent on who the beneficiary bank is, an “intermediary bank” may charge a small fee. An intermediary bank is a third bank, who may be needed to complete delivery of the payment. If you are concerned, please tell us who your beneficiary bank is. We will then check and advise whether or not an intermediary fee can be expected, and the approximate amount.
- Simply fill out our online application form
- Two minutes to complete our online application form
- Identification documents will be requested by email
- For organised clients, we can complete this process within the hour
- Five minutes to complete our online application form
- We will then email you our agreement for sign off
- Identification documents will be requested
- For organised clients, we can in general complete this process within several hours
- We must clearly identify and risk assess all clients, to comply with current regulatory requirements.
- First complete the application process, then:
- Simply call or email us with your instructions
- Either lock in the current “at market” rate we quote, by agreeing to transact, or;
- Leave a “limit order”, to target a specific rate or exchange
Yes just tell us what level this is, and we will call you if this level is reached. This is termed leaving a “call level”. Be aware though that rates constantly fluctuate. Although we endeavor to call clients immediately, often the rate will have moved by the time we call.
Yes you can, as long as we are able to cancel it, prior to it being completed.
No, as soon as you agree a rate, we buy the currency you need. We can however reverse a transaction in certain circumstances, if your needs change. Be aware that this will involve undertaking the opposite transaction. Because exchange rate markets are volatile, this may result in a profit or loss to you. You must be 100% sure you wish to proceed, before locking a rate in.
In general NZD 5,000, or the foreign currency equivalent. However we make exceptions to this rule, especially if transfers involve both NZD and AUD. Explain your requirements to us, and we will always try to help.
Yes. Clients are only required to send us their sold funds, once an exchange rate is locked in. However many clients like to send us their money in advance. Whilst this isn’t necessary, it does speed up the settlement process, and in most instances then allows us to pay them the currency they have bought, the same day a rate is locked in.
You can buy or sell, in either directions, any of the currencies listed below. For example, you can sell GBP and buy AUD, and you can also sell AUD, and buy GBP.
- Australian dollars (AUD)
- US dollars (USD)
- New Zealand dollars (NZD)
- Euros (EUR)
- Pound Sterling (GBP)
- Canadian dollars (CAD)
- Japanese yen (JPY)
- Swiss francs (CHF)
- Hong Kong dollars (HKD)
- Singapore dollars (SGD)
- South African Rand (ZAR)
- Thai Baht (THB)
- Swedish krona (SEK)
- Norwegian krone (NOK)
- Danish krone (DKK)
- United Arab Emirates dirham (AED)
No we don’t provide an online dealing service. We believe clients get better results transacting directly with us, and its one less logon and password for them to remember.
Yes. We email you our PDF trade confirmation as soon as we lock in a rate for you. Our trade confirmation sets out the full trade details, including the Direct FX Client Funds account, where your sold currency then needs to be sent.
This is entirely up to you. Most transactions are settled on the second business day, after a rate is locked in. However we can settle trades a lot quicker, for organized clients. Please talk to us about your time frame requirements.
Yes. As soon as we receive money you have sent us, we will email confirming this. We reconcile our client fund accounts each morning, so you would expect to hear from us by 10:00 AM (AEST), if we have received a payment from you.
On the “settlement date”, that has been pre agree with you. In general, the settlement date is one business days after a rate is locked in.
Yes. As soon as we have paid you or your beneficiary the currency you have bought, we will email you confirmation of this. This email will include a PDF payment advice copy of your records.
Yes. We are able to hold your bought currency, until you are ready to receive it, or have it sent to a third party.
We don’t claim to be able to predict currency movements, no one can. What we will do is give you as much information as you need, to allow you to make you own informed decision, that suits your particular requirements. Be very wary of any company that claim to be able to provide more than this, as it is simply not possible.
- Advice on what is driving exchange rates, and the current market expectations
- General risk reduction strategies and the transacting methods you have
- The same level of advice that we are authorised to provide to bank treasury traders
Yes. We provide the following report types, in plain English. To subscribe to our reports, please email us:
Specific currency reports:
- A review on the past week, includes charts, and future expectations
- Available in AUDUSD, AUDNZD, AUDGBP, AUDEUR, AUDCAD, AUDJPY, NZDUSD, NZDGBP, NZDEUR, NZDCAD, NZDJPY.
- Sent at the end of each week, and take two minutes to read.
- An excellent way of keeping closely in touch, without the need to read daily reports
Weekly FX update:
- An overview of the current global economic events driving the FX markets
- Specific comments on the performance of the currency pairs most traded by our clients
- Sent on a Monday and takes 5 minutes to read
- A very good report to keep in touch with the economic fundamentals globally driving FX rates.
Intermittent FX reports:
- Predominantly covering economic releases in Australia and New Zealand
- Sent shortly after announcements are made
- Of use to those wanting to be kept very closely in touch with market events
- No, we do not deal in cash.
- No we don’t.
- No we don’t.
- Most countries are fine with a few exceptions like Cuba, Iran and Iraq. Contact us if you wish to confirm we can make payment to the country you require.
- Most countries are fine with a few exceptions like Cuba, Iran and Iraq. Contact us if you wish to confirm we can receive payment from the country you require.
- Yes you can.
- All payments to third parties are first checked, for compliance with anti money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws.