The FCA has published on its website an email that it has sent to all firms carrying our currency transfer services. In its email the FCA explains that it is concerned with how some firms are using the interbank rate in currency converter tools, on their websites, and in other promotional and marketing material. It also mentions that some firms may be using the interbank rate in a misleading way. For example, the FCA is concerned that currency converter tools may give consumers the impression that the rates shown (based on the interbank rate) are available to them, rather than the materially inferior rate which they may actually receive.

The FCA’s email briefly covers the relevant legal and regulatory provisions, in particular the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and the Price Indications (Bureaux de Change) No.2) Regulations 1992.

The FCA also states that in addition to misleading use of the interbank rate, it has seen firms claiming that consumers can make specified savings and achieve better rates by using their services, rather than those of their competitors. The FCA states that firms should only make such claims if they are not misleading for the purposes of the CPRs and its financial promotion rules (as applicable).

View FCA sends communication regarding potentially misleading marketing to all firms carrying out currency transfer services, 26 May 2016