Currency exchange experts, TransferMate have today claimed that the prices banks are charging Irish SMEs on currency exchange are “over the top” and that is having the knock-on effect of hundreds of millions being taken out of the Irish economy each year.

Experts at the Irish FinTech say over €75 billion in foreign currency is exchanged every year by corporate SMEs in Ireland – whether it is collecting payments or sending payments.

TransferMate say banks are charging “exorbitant fees” to change this into foreign currency and they estimate that in excess of €200million is lost to the economy every year in bank fees and charges.

Transfermate have warned that banks are still using legacy systems to manage foreign exchange and are simply not in a position to provide SMEs with a competitive proposition.

They claim many of the traditional banks charge fees of up to €30 for same day payments and apply a foreign exchange margin of up to 3%.

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