Fintech startup Atlantic money is rolling out its international money transfer service to more markets and more platforms. The company originally started in the UK with GBP as the base currency and nine different currencies on the receiver side.
Since then, the company has expanded and is now live in 29 European countries. Users can exchange EUR via Atlantic Money and send money to a foreign bank account.
What sets Atlantic Money apart from the competition is that it focuses on a fixed amount. The company usually doesn’t add a markup to the exchange rate and charges £3 or €3 per transfer, whether you’re sending €100, €5,000 or €500,000.
In addition to the new corridors, Atlantic Money is also launching its mobile app on Android. The company also plans to launch a web app in the future. The startup previously raised funds from Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, 20VC, Amplo and Elefund and is regulated as a payment institution in Belgium and the UK
Of course, there are some limitations when you compare the product from well-known players such as Wise. For example, you need to manually transfer money to the Atlantic Money checking account. You can’t use a debit card, not even Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Adding a new recipient to your bank account is not that easy, but it also reduces the number of intermediaries. But that’s why Atlantic Money will in many cases be cheaper than Revolut, Wise, MoneyGram, Western Union and your existing bank account.
But you may already be paying for a premium Revolut subscription to unlock financial products and waive certain fees. In that case, you may want to stick with Revolut for your international transfers. Likewise, you can rely on Wise to receive payments abroad using Wise’s local account details. So it will depend on your specific situation.
It’s also worth noting that Atlantic Money charges an additional fee for quick transfers (0.1% of the transfer amount). On weekends, customers can use Friday night’s exchange rate with a 0.1% surcharge or let Atlantic Money determine the exchange rate on the next business day.
For smaller transfers, variable-cost services like Wise and Revolut are cheaper than Atlantic Money. But as soon as you want to transfer more than €1,000, Atlantic Money becomes an interesting choice. Now let’s see if the startup can maintain such a low transaction fee in the long run.