Deborah Benn of The Expat Money Channel talks about the collapse of Crown Currency Exchange. This crash left 13,000 clients £20m out of pocket and has put the spotlight on protection for consumers using currency exchange companies.

With many British expats keen users of such services, ExpatMoneyChannel took a look at some of the major independent currency exchange providers to assess what protection was in place. The exercise made for some interesting, yet potentially confusing, results. All currency exchange companies looked at were authorised by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) under the Payment Institution regulations, apart from two, both of which were in the process of getting authorised by the FSA.

So far so good, but unfortunately in terms of compensation in the event of a collapse, customers of firms operating under these regulations are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, although customers do have the right to refer complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Services and the FSA. Deborah tells us more in the programme and we recommend you play the programme if you are considering transferring money abroad.
To give a fair balance, we have asked several of these FX companies to talk to us and tell us more but, so far have not been successful in getting an interview. Watch out for more programmes on this subject if we are able to make contact.

To make contact with Deborah or find out more about The Expat Money Channel go to; www.expatmoneychannel.com
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