As the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold, CurrencyFair is offering a rebate of 15% to our new and existing business customers based in Ireland and Australia.*
Currencyfair, through its Asian business, has already seen the impact of coronavirus on its customers' businesses and on its employees.
Hong Kong, which has one of the slowest growth rates in the spread of the virus based on dramatic interventions by the government has seen our employees working at home for seven weeks now, and we have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with our Asian customers in reducing our pricing to support them.
Consequently, we can predict the negative impact COVID-19 is going to have on the profitability of Irish and Australian businesses over the coming months. The offer has been rolled out in a bid to lessen this financial impact the pandemic is having on businesses trading internationally.
For Irish and Australian business customers, CurrencyFair will automatically apply a rebate to their account at the end of every calendar month up until June 30th, 2020 - however this may be extended as the situation unfolds.
New customers who register with CurrencyFair before 30th April 2020 will also be able to avail of this rebate.
"In order to support businesses in the long term we believe we have an obligation, as does everybody else in financial services, to help businesses reduce their costs wherever possible," says Paul Byrne, CEO of CurrencyFair.
"We already offer some of the most competitive rates available but we wanted to go a step further and offer a rebate of 15% to all Irish and Australian businesses on their international and foreign exchange payments, we hope this will help them cope with the potential decline in business as a result of the coronavirus outbreak," he explains.
"Some financial institutions are offering business loans to those struggling during this time, and whilst this may help businesses stay trading for longer, this will ultimately lead to more debt on their balance sheet and much higher costs down the road. It’s important now for people to be able to reduce their costs in an effective way during these turbulent times, and try to keep as many people as possible employed."
"This is our gesture to help our fellow businesses, and take a community-based approach - standing shoulder-to-shoulder with businesses to reduce their costs as we weather this storm. When our customers thrive, we thrive - we’re in this together,” Byrne adds.
With a growing number of cases of COVID-19 sweeping around the world, Byrne warns that the road is already uncertain for businesses everywhere.
"The markets are currently choppy. Europe is headed for a weaker cycle, whereas Asia looks as though it may be starting to recover. Our Chinese employees are going back to the office to work now and Chinese manufacturing is close to 80% of capacity. As the situation continues to unfold, we can expect more uncertainty for those who have obligations and liabilities in terms of foreign exchange. The current climate will particularly impact those who depend on the tourism and hospitality industry to make ends meet. There will be a knock-on effect on those who supply and service these businesses, too."
As a global business with offices in Hong Kong, UK, Singapore, and Australia - as well as our HQ in Dublin - CurrencyFair has put in place a robust strategy to ensure our operations continue as normal.
"We’re fortunate as a global company in that we can move resources around in terms of generating new business but having said that, there may be a sustained period of turbulence on economic activity and there is a potential for a general downturn. In any case, we are prepared."
"We have been servicing businesses for almost 10 years, and we are proud to continue doing so."
At CurrencyFair, we are closely following the advice issued by local authorities in each territory we operate in. Our team in Hong Kong and Singapore have been working from home for the last seven weeks, with our Dublin-based team since last week.
We would like to assure our customers that our team will continue providing excellent service as standard during this time.
"Our best advice for businesses is to share what has worked well for us. Stay connected with your team, keep lines of communication open, not just at a business level but at a human level also," he concludes.
*This offer has now expired.