Atlantic Money launches its cheap foreign exchange service across Europe

Fintech startup Atlantic Money is rolling out its international money transfer service to more markets and more platforms. The company originally started in the U.K. with GBP as the base currency and nine different currencies on the recipient's side.

Since then, the company has expanded and is now live across 29 European countries. Users can convert EUR through Atlantic Money and send money to a foreign bank account.

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What makes Atlantic Money stand out from the competition is that it focuses on a flat fee. The company usually doesn't add any markup on the exchange rate and charges GBP3 or EUR3 per transfer, whether you are sending EUR100, EUR5,000 or EUR500,000.

In addition to the new corridors, Atlantic Money is also launching its mobile app on Android. Users can now also initiate transfers from a web browser. The startup previously raised money from Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, 20VC, Amplo and Elefund and is regulated as a payment institution in Belgium and the U.K.

Of course, there are some limitations when you compare the product from well-known players like Wise. For instance, you have to manually transfer money to Atlantic Money's payment account. You can't use a debit card, or even Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Adding a new recipient to your bank account isn't as frictionless, but it also reduces the number of intermediaries. But that's why, in many cases, Atlantic Money will be cheaper than Revolut, Wise, MoneyGram, Western Union and your existing bank account.

But you may pay for a premium Revolut subscription already to unlock financial products and waive some fees. In that case, you may want to stick with Revolut for your international transfers. Similarly, you may rely on Wise to receive payments in a foreign country with Wise's local account details. So it will depend on your specific situation.

It's also worth noting that Atlantic Money charges additional fees for express transfers (0.1% of the transfer amount). On the weekend, customers can use Friday evening's exchange rate with a 0.1% markup fee or let Atlantic Money determine the exchange rate on the next business day.

For smaller transfers, services with variable fees like Wise and Revolut will be cheaper than Atlantic Money. But as soon as you want to send more than EUR1,000, Atlantic Money becomes an interesting choice. Now let's see whether the startup can stick with such a low transaction fee over the long run.