Personal Features

OFX

59

59

OFX offers international money transfer solutions for individuals specialising in international bank transfers.

What OFX offers individuals

  • International money transfers
  • Personal account manager
  • Regular transfers
  • OFX mobile app

What OFX does not offer individuals

  • Digital wallets for individuals
  • FX optimised travel cards
  • Cash pick up or international bill payments

WorldFirst

50

50

WorldFirst offers international money transfer services for individuals. They also offer tools for business clients.

What WorldFirst offers individuals

  • International money transfers
  • Forward contracts
  • Firm orders
  • Rate alerts
  • Personal account managers
  • Mobile apps for Android and Apple
  • Regular transfers

WorldFirst does not offer individuals

  • Access to multi-currency accounts (World Account) to individuals
  • Foreign currency optimised travel debit cards

OFX wins!

OFX scores better in the Personal Features category. 

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Winner

Business Benefits

OFX

89

89

Where OFX really shines is their business solutions and partnerships. Global businesses small and large can take advantage of their variety of solutions to work with global customers and suppliers. Most importantly they help manage currency risk. 

What OFX for business offers

  • Risk management
  • Multi-currency accounts
  • Global payment solutions
  • Business specialists
  • Xero accounting integration

What OFX for business doesn’t do

  • Business debit card optimised for FX

WorldFirst

89

89

WorldFirst has an excellent offering for business and promotes partnerships with businesses operating in a global environment. There are solutions for online sellers, import / export and global human resources payments.

What WorldFirst offers business

  • Multi-currency receiving accounts
  • Forward contracts
  • Firm orders
  • Xero integration
  • Business account management

WorldFirst World Account

Through the WorldFirst World Account you can leverage unique banking details in 10 different currencies and reduce costs on receiving money from customers and paying suppliers. Local banking details are available in GBP, EUR, USD, CAD, CNH, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD and AUD.
 

What WorldFirst doesn’t offer business

  • Business debit card for foreign currency transactions from the WorldFirst World account.

It's a draw!

Both equally compare in the Business Benefits category.

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Draw

Fees & Exchange Rates

OFX

83

83

OFX Fees

Exchange rate margin fee - OFX offered exchange rate includes a fee of 0.5% and 0.7%. This is low and competitive.
 

Are OFX exchange rates negotiable?

By calling an OFX Expert and discussing your money transfer needs, it may be possible to arrange better pricing. In particular for larger sums and large yearly volume trades.
 

Are there additional OFX fees?

Yes. When sending under CA$10,000 or AUD$10,000, there is an additional fee of $15.
 

OFX & iCompareFX offer

OFX offers customers referred by iCompareFX a low exchange rate margin fee of 0.4%. This is an outstanding offer and is sure to lower all your money transfer costs which means more money being transferred.


WorldFirst

79

79

WorldFirst has a super simple fee structure for international money transfers. The WorldFirst fees are additional to the real exchange rate. 

WorldFirst World Account fees also have the same simple fee structure and fees only apply when withdrawing funds from virtual multi-currency accounts.

Annual Transfer Amount£0 - £500K£500K - £5M£5M+
WorldFirst Fees0.60%0.35%0.25%

WorldFirst Australia currency conversion fees for small transfers

WorldFirst Australia has introduced (March 2021) new fees for small currency conversion amounts of less that AUD$10,000. These fees can make it prohibitive for small businesses to conduct day to day business payments. 

WorldFirst Australia fixed fee for FXFee
< $2,000$20
$2,000 - $10,000$10
$10,000 +$0

OFX wins!

OFX scores better in the Fees and Exchange Rates category.

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Winner

Ease of Use

OFX

71

71

What OFX does well

Sign up process - Fast and intuitive.

ID verification - If requested, ID verification is generally your drivers license ID number and a quick phone call to discuss your money transfer requirements.

Transfer speed - 1 - 2 business days upon payment.

Mobile App - To initiate money transfers. Current and historical exchange rates are also available.

Where OFX could improve

Payment options - There are limited payments available other than local bank transfers.

Minimum transfer amount -  The minimum transfer amount is US$1,000, AU$250, CA$250, £100, €250. 


WorldFirst

57

57

WorldFirst account creation and registration is simple and straightforward.  Unfortunately there is room for improvement in some areas:

ID verification - This can be slower outside of the UK taking up to 24 hours. 

Payment options -  Basic by only supporting bank transfer payment options. 

Mobile apps - The World Account uses a different mobile app than their international money transfer app. This can be cumbersome for account management.

Minimum transfer amount - This is quite high for individuals at $2000 / £1000. There is, however, no minimum for business clients.


OFX wins!

OFX scores better in the Ease of Use category.

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Winner

Support & Countries

OFX

81

81

What OFX does well

Supported destination countries - OFX supports over 55 currencies and many more exotic currencies. 

Global presence - OFX has seven global offices in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, United States, Canada and the UK.

Customer support - Customer support is available locally in the global offices, over the phone and via email.
 

Where OFX could improve

Languages - Customer service and their website is in English only.

Customer sign up countries - Currently OFX supports customer registration from USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.


WorldFirst

56

56

  • WorldFirst supports over 130+ currencies. Their website supports five unique languages. Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, English, French and Japanese.
  • WorldFirst World Account supports 10 currencies. That means your business can have a local banking presence in 27 countries. 
  • WorldFirst customer support is global and can be contacted by email and phone. Additionally the UK has an online chat facility.

Unfortunately, USA residents are not eligible to create a WorldFirst account. This is a major let down for WorldFirst supported countries. This point has impacted the WorldFirst supported countries iCompareFX score.


OFX wins!

OFX scores better in the Support and Countries category.

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Winner

Trust & Transparency

OFX

69

69

What OFX does well

  • OFX is fully regulated in multiple countries UK, Australia, USA and Canada.
  • OFX is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and therefore is regularly audited for the compliance and safety of customer funds.
  • OFX has a Trust Pilot score of Excellent. Customer complaints are dealt with on TrustPilot quickly and directly by their customer service team.
  • iCompareFX customers make thousands of transfers through OFX yearly.

Where OFX could improve

Exchange rate margin fee transparency - OFX’s offered exchange rates include margin fees. While the exchange rate margin fee is low, it would be beneficial for current and future customers to clearly understand the fees. This would improve customer satisfaction of their money transfer service.


WorldFirst

94

94

  • WorldFirst is fully regulated by the FCA. 
  • Client accounts are segregated from the business banking accounts.
  • Fees could not be more transparent with their simple fee structure.
  • Many online sellers and SME’s have discovered WorldFirst’s World Account to reduce their costs in the global market.
  • WorldFirst TrustPilot score has an overall rating of Excellent.

WorldFirst wins!

WorldFirst scores better in the Trust and Transparency category.

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Winner

The Result

Winner ribbon iconWinner

 OFX

This is certainly a battle of champions with OFX narrowly nudging out WorldFirst but both receiving very impressive scores.  Except for a draw across the Business Benefits section and WorldFirst's impressive Trust and Transparency score, OFX gets over the line on all the other indicators.