Should I use my High Street business bank for receiving Euros?

molan

It is possible that the bulk of my income for the next year may be paid in Euros.
I have a business account with Barclays that appear to offer an exchange service for free so long is comes to me electronically.
However, I'd assume their exchange rate isn't very favourable.
I wondered if I should just stick with them for ease of use or try and work out something with an intermediary to exchange from € to £?
Potential income is in the €75,000 - €100,000 range so it's a fairly significant amount of money.

Barry_Bear

I would consider opening an account with https://transferwise.com/. The rates are generally better than high street banks, and their service is quite easy to use.

CKhalvashi

I'd go with a Transferwise borderless account too. You'll get your own bank details to give clients and they're tech-backed, so unlikely to go bust. I believe the FSCS protection is with Barclays, but I'm not 100% sure.

penners324

Get a Starling business account and then a Starling business Euro account. Get all money paid into the Euro account.

pennyalb

Agree with the suggestions here - I've been using Starling and Transferwise too, and they are great. Don't transfer from one currency to another with a high-street bank, they'll charge many times more for no extra benefit. 

JayD2020

Do you intend on holding Euros? Or exchanging to GBP as soon as you receive it? Can you not request payment in GBP and have the sender deal with the exchange rates and fees? 

CKhalvashi

JayD2020 said:

Do you intend on holding Euros? Or exchanging to GBP as soon as you receive it? Can you not request payment in GBP and have the sender deal with the exchange rates and fees? 

Many foreign clients won't deal on this basis, as they want payment certainty.

I deal with European/CIS clients mainly in Euro, UK clients in Sterling, Polish clients in Zloty, and Romanian clients in Lei (the latter two are big enough for us to bother with the hassle of accommodating). Very often, the currency we receive isn't the same as the currency as our expenses. That's the nature of doing business internationally.

IMO, GBP isn't an important enough currency to insist all international clients use. If it were Euro, then with the exception of the US this is likely acceptable.