Search for a foreign currency business account in the UK and the first page is Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Lloyds. Each one has a clean, reassuring page about holding money in other currencies. None of them tells you what it costs.
That is not an oversight. It is the format. A brand-authority bank page exists to get you to call a relationship manager, not to let you compare a number against a competitor's number. This guide covers what those four pages actually say, what an independent test found when it asked the same banks to disclose their FX margin directly, and where a payment institution like EX FI fits once you know what to check.
What a foreign currency business account actually gives you
A foreign currency business account holds and moves a balance in a currency other than GBP, rather than converting every incoming or outgoing payment to sterling as it passes through. NatWest's own description of its Business Currency Current Account is a useful baseline: it opens with no minimum balance, and a linked sterling current account is set up automatically alongside it, since the currency account is not meant to stand alone.
That single-currency, bank-branded product is the model most of the big four sell. It is not the only model. Multi-currency accounts that hold several currencies under one login, with a dedicated IBAN per currency, are a separate product family covered in what to check before you open a multi-currency business account; this article stays on the bank foreign currency account specifically, because that is what ranks for this search.
What the big four bank pages do not show you
No FX margin disclosed
Barclays' Foreign Currency Account page states no minimum balance, lists 12 named currencies, and gives settlement timing: EUR, USD and CAD same day, other currencies in 2 working days. It does not state a fee or an FX margin anywhere on the page.
HSBC's foreign currency account page is the best structured of the four, splitting into an International Current Account, an International Instant Access Savings account, an International Fixed Term Deposit, and a local overseas account, each with its own feature list and an actual published interest-rate table for USD and EUR balances. It also does not disclose an FX margin, and the International Fixed Term Deposit's $50,000 minimum balance sits several lines down rather than in the headline.
NatWest's page claims "transparent costs" without listing a transaction charge or a margin anywhere on it.
An independent test closes that gap better than any bank page does. Good Money Guide asked providers to state their FX markup directly. Wise quoted the mid-market rate with no markup on EUR and USD. Revolut disclosed 0.17 percent on EUR and 0.20 percent on USD. Airwallex disclosed 0.50 percent on both. Monese disclosed 0.04 percent on EUR and 0.02 percent on USD. PayPal disclosed 4.30 percent on both. HSBC and Barclays declined to specify a number. NatWest and Lloyds do not publish a bank margin at all; they apply the card network's own Mastercard or Visa rate instead.
That list tells you something a comparison table sorted by currency count cannot: whether the provider will even answer the question you are asking.
You often need to already be their customer
Barclays' application route is by phone, and the page's structure, which segments contact details by annual turnover band, only makes sense once you notice it assumes you already hold a Barclays business current account. HSBC's page points toward an existing HSBC Sterling Business Account or a relationship manager rather than a standalone online form. Neither bank states this as plainly as it should; you find it by trying to apply, not by reading the marketing copy.
One page did not even load
Checking Lloyds' Commercial Foreign Currency Account page on 2026-09-09 returned a generic internet-banking error page instead of any product content. That is a snapshot, not a permanent verdict on Lloyds, but it is a real example of the reliability gap a bank-brand page can carry while still ranking on domain authority alone.
The fintech alternative, and where EX FI sits in it
Wise's own comparison of UK business accounts holds and exchanges 40+ currencies, has no minimum balance requirement and no foreign transaction fees, and charges a sending fee from 0.33 percent, all disclosed on the page and available through an online application rather than a phone call.
EX FI sits in the same disclosed-fintech category rather than the bank-brand one. Accounts carry dedicated IBANs across 16 or more currencies, reach SWIFT, SEPA, FPS, BACS and CHAPS, and charge 0.70 percent FX on major currencies and 0.90 percent on minors, with SEPA and UK FPS payments at 0.99 GBP, international SWIFT at 26.40 GBP, internal transfers free, and no monthly fee, opening fee or minimum balance for UK-incorporated entities. Applications are reviewed within 24 to 48 hours online.
Said plainly: on headline FX margin, EX FI is not the cheapest number on this page. Wise's mid-market EUR and USD rate and Monese's disclosed 0.02 to 0.04 percent both undercut it. The point of naming Barclays' and HSBC's silence above is not to set up EX FI as automatically the winner by comparison; it is that the number exists and is published, so you can weigh it against your own volume instead of discovering it after you have opened the account.
Bank account or payment account: the question the comparison misses
Here is the part no comparison table on this SERP raises. In the UK, a firm providing payment services that is not a bank must be authorised or registered by the FCA as one of three things: an authorised payment institution, an electronic money institution, or a small payment institution. The FCA states plainly that none of these are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme; they safeguard customer funds instead, under a different legal mechanism with a different outcome if the firm fails.
A bank's foreign currency account is typically a deposit, and FSCS protects eligible deposits up to 120,000 GBP per eligible person per authorised firm for firms failing from 1 December 2025, with a limited company counted as its own eligible person. A payment institution's account is not a deposit in that sense, and no FSCS limit applies to it at all.
EX FI's own position, stated exactly rather than implied: EXFI is a trading name of EX Financial Solutions Ltd, which is not itself authorised or regulated by the FCA. The regulated payment services are provided by Gemba Finance Limited, FCA FRN 804853, for UK customers. EXFI accounts are payment accounts, not bank accounts. They are not covered by the FSCS. Funds are safeguarded in segregated accounts under the Payment Services Regulations 2017. For the mechanics of what that authorisation actually requires, see what an authorised payment institution actually is.
None of this makes a bank account better or a payment account worse. It means the two are not interchangeable rows in a comparison table, and a page that treats them that way is skipping the question that matters most if the provider ever fails.
How to actually compare two foreign currency business accounts
- •Ask for the FX margin in writing on your own currency pairs, not the pair used in the provider's marketing.
- •Check whether you can apply without already holding another account at that bank.
- •Look the provider up on the FCA register and note the firm reference number of whoever is actually authorised, since a distributor's own name may not be the authorised entity.
- •Check the minimum balance and monthly fee on the specific account you would open, not the flagship product on the homepage.
- •Confirm the settlement timing for the currencies you actually use; same-day for EUR, USD and CAD does not tell you anything about a currency outside that list.
- •Decide, before you compare a single number, whether you need a dedicated business IBAN in your own company's name or a shared reference inside a pooled account, because that distinction matters more in an insolvency than the FX margin does day to day.
None of these checks take long, and together they separate a provider willing to answer the question from one still hoping you will not ask it.
FAQ
What is a foreign currency business account? An account that holds and moves balances in currencies other than GBP, rather than converting every payment to sterling. Some providers, including NatWest, open a linked sterling account alongside it automatically.
Do UK banks disclose their FX margin on a foreign currency business account? Not consistently. When asked directly, HSBC and Barclays declined to specify their markup, and NatWest and Lloyds apply the card network rate rather than publishing a bank margin of their own.
Can I open a foreign currency business account without already banking with that bank? Often not with the high-street banks. Barclays and HSBC both point toward an existing business current account or a relationship manager rather than a standalone online application.
Is money in a foreign currency business account covered by the FSCS? Only if the provider is a PRA-authorised bank and the product is a genuine deposit. Payment institutions and e-money institutions safeguard funds under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 instead, which is a ring-fence rather than the statutory FSCS guarantee.
Who provides EX FI's payment services? Gemba Finance Limited, FCA FRN 804853, provides the regulated payment services for UK customers. EXFI is a trading name of EX Financial Solutions Ltd, which is not itself FCA authorised and acts as a distributor.