Equals Money makes Yorkshire businesses 'a big priority' with new presence in region

Dean Whitby, regional senior sales manager for the organisation, recently organised a golf day for local businesspeople as part of the company’s outreach efforts in Yorkshire.

He said that in addition to the company’s existing office in Chester, as well as its headquarters in London, it is keen to build a presence in this region.

"I have been recruited to build our presence in Yorkshire,” he said.

"I was a sales manager for a foreign exchange brokerage in London and I joined Equals Money earlier this year. I have lived in Morley since May – it is fantastic and I have family from up here.

"There is myself up here on the foreign exchange side and we also have someone in Sheffield who deals with some of our other services.”

Mr Whitby added: “We are bucking the trend with relationship-led banking.

"Since the pandemic foreign exchange providers tend to operate more on Zoom and not many have offices locally in Yorkshire.

"We want to build local relationships regionally and are opening up hubs and offices around the UK and Yorkshire is a big priority.”

He said the region has many businesses who could potentially benefit from Equals Money’s services.

"From a foreign exchange point of view, if there is someone importing more than £1m of goods from China or Vietnam, I can add value by stopping them losing 10 per cent because of currency moves,” he said.

"It is a one stop shop and you are not going to find a London foreign exchange business working with Yorkshire businesses who you can easily come in and see.

"We have a strategic ambition for the whole of the North and we want to be seen as the provider for the North and supporting the North’s businesses.

"We believe there are a lot of Yorkshire benefits that do good volume and could benefit.

"With foreign exchange, if somebody is buying £1m of product from overseas they know they will win or lose £100,000 because of currency moves. They often see it as a byproduct of importing and sometimes the easiest thing to do is nothing and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

"If you want to manage that you need to keep track of moves to understand which way the market will go.

"The traditional brokerage tends to send out a daily update to clients that is the same thing for everyone. We have a closer relationship with a business so they can have something relevant and make a decision in five minutes.

"The aim is more about not losing money.”

The Equals Money brand includes current accounts, open banking and phone payments businesses, as well as expense management.

But Mr Whitby said the firm’s “major expertise” is in international payments and hedging.

Equals Money recently announced operating profit for the first half of 2023 of £9.8m – more than double the £4.9m recorded at the same point last year.

Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of Equals Group plc, said: "This is an outstanding set of results with record revenues combining with improved gross profit retention to yield enhanced profitability.

"As well as strong financial performance, the Group completed its acquisition of Oonex SA (subsequently renamed Equals Money Europe), a Brussels-based payments services provider regulated by the National Bank of Belgium. This acquisition enables Equals to widen its distribution and addressable markets.”