OFX is an Australian online foreign exchange and payments company with headquarters in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. OFX service small and medium businesses, ecommerce retailers, and high-value consumers. The company also provides money transfer services to the clients of
Macquarie Group
Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia' ...
, Link Market Services,
WiseTech Global, Storfund and Avask, and has been approved by the Australian Tax Office as a provider for people remitting monies back to the ATO from offshore accounts.
OzForex was founded by Matthew Gilmour in 1998.
It expanded to operate a number of different territory-specific brands including OzForex, UKForex, CanadianForex, NZForex, USForex as well as ClearFX and Tranzfers before the brands were consolidated to OFX in 2015.
History
Since OzForex was founded by Matthew Gilmour in 1998,
it has grown from being an Australian-based
foreign exchange
The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...
information website to a specialist international payments service provider with a strong presence in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and countries in Europe and the Asia Pacific.
In 2007,
Macquarie Bank
Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's ...
purchased 51% of OFX and Neil Helm became CEO of OFX.
In 2009, OFX began offering a platform for international money transfers through
ING Direct
The ING Group ( nl, ING Groep) is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale bankin ...
. In June 2011, ING Group announced the sale of its ING Direct division to Capital One for $9 billion in cash and stock. Capital One received permission to merge ING into its business in October 2012, and rebranded ING Direct as Capital One 360 in November 2012.
In 2010, the group received minority growth investment from
Accel Partners
Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is an American venture capital firm. Accel works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional ...
and the
Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and pri ...
.
Representatives from both Accel Partners and Carlyle serve on the OFX Board of Directors.
The company's founders and Macquarie Private Wealth, which is part of Macquarie Group, together retained significant ownership of OFX, with Neil Helm continuing as CEO.
In 2012, OxForex launched a travel card.
The OzForex Pre-paid Travel Card was withdrawn by OFX and Macquarie Bank on 30 November 2015.
On 11 October 2013 OFX, under the trading name OzForex Group Limited, became publicly listed on the
Australian Securities Exchange
Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...
under the code "OFX". In the same year, OFX signed a partnership with global money transfer service MoneyGram in the UK, providing an account-to-account service through a white label arrangement.
In 2015, investors were informed of the appointment of former
ANZ Banking Group
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fourth-largest bank by ma ...
executive Richard Kimber as CEO and Managing Director of OFX, replacing Neil Helm who led the company to its $480 million initial public offering in 2013.
In August 2015, OFX and ofx.com were unveiled in the first step towards consolidating the group's seven regional brands into a single global brand.
In November 2015, OFX received an unsolicited "non-binding indicative proposal" from Western Union to acquire 100% of OFX however in February 2016 discussions were discontinued.
In December 2015, OFX unveiled the new brand and OFX.com in Australia. "This was the first step in a program that will see the Group's seven regional brands consolidated into a single global brand".
In February 2017, citing "Delivery against the strategy has not consistently met the board or shareholders' expectations", OFX's chairman announced that John Alexander "Skander" Malcolm will replace Richard Kimber as CEO.
OFX launched its Singapore business in April 2018.
In September 2019, OFX announced an exclusive strategic partnership with Link Market Services.
The partnership saw OFX become Link's preferred partner in Australia for international payments on Link's Investor Centre platform.
In March 2020 OFX confirmed that it had received a further unsolicited approach, and the company entered into discussions about potential M&A activity, the details of which remain confidential. However, the discussions were discontinued due to uncertainty in equity markets.
In November 2020, OFX announced a strategic alliance with WiseTech to integrate OFX's payment solution into WiseTech's CargoWise logistics execution platform.
In February 2021, OFX was approved as a participant in Amazon's Payment Service Provider Program.
In May 2021, OFX announced a partnership with the Reserve Bank of Australia, allowing Australians to pay their tax from an overseas bank account using OFX.
In June 2021, OFX announced a partnership with Storfund, an ecommerce funder, to integrate OFX's payments and FX services with Storfund's platform, allowing ecommerce retailers to receive revenue and make payments in multiple currencies.
In October 2021, OFX announced a partnership with AVASK, to provide its clients with multi-currency accounts, international transfers and currency exchange services.
OFX acquisitions and investments
TreasurUp July 2021
In July 2021, OFX announced a $6.1 million investment in European treasury management cloud software company TreasurUp, the company's largest strategic investment to date.
Firma December 2021
In December 2021, OFX announced an agreement to acquire Canadian global foreign exchange service provider Firma. The acquisition was completed in May 2022.
OFX entities
OzForex
Founder Matthew Gilmour launched OzForex in 1998 in Sydney, Australia.
Gilmour ran the website part-time until 2000 when he left his investment banking job to commit to the company full-time.
In 2001, the company launched its first online money transfer facility.
In 2003, the company obtained an
Australian Financial Services License.
In 2004, Gilmour sold part of OzForex to Gary Lord an ex BT colleague and in 2005 sold again so that both were equal shareholders and they became Joint MDs.http://52.64.146.33/upload/ozforex-spokesperson-bios.pdf
Since December 2015, OzForex is now OFX
after a global rebranding announced in August 2015.
[Drummond, Shaun. "Name change for OzForex, as new chief sets big target". The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 August 2015]
/ref> Since rebranding, customers who visit the OzForex website are now redirected to the primary OFX website.
NZForex
In 2001, the company launched a New Zealand specific brand called NZForex.
Since November 2017, NZForex is now OFX as part of a global rebranding announced in August 2015. Since rebranding, visitors to the NZForex website are now redirected to the primary OFX website.
Tranzfers
In 2003, the company launched a general brand called Tranzfers.
In December 2015, Tranzfers rebranded to OFX. Since rebranding, Tranzfers users are now redirected to the primary OFX website.
UKForex
In 2005, the company launched UKForex in London. In 2012, the company also established an international payment solution with Travelex
Travelex is a foreign exchange company founded by Lloyd Dorfman and headquartered in Peterborough. Its main businesses are foreign currency exchange, issuing prepaid credit cards for use by travellers, supplying central banks with foreign currenc ...
in the UK.
In February 2017, UKForex became OFX as part of a global rebranding. Since rebranding, customers who visit the UKForex website will now be redirected to the primary OFX website.
CanadianForex
In 2007, the company launched a Canadian brand called CanadianForex in Toronto, Canada.
In November 2017, CanadianForex became OFX under a global rebranding of the company. All CanadianForex website visitors will now be redirected to the primary OFX website.
ClearFX
In 2011, the company launched the brand ClearFX (HKForex) for customers in Hong Kong.
In November 2017, ClearFX became OFX as part of a company-wide rebranding. Visitors of the ClearFX website will now be redirected to the primary OFX website.
USForex
In 2012, the company expanded into the US market in San Francisco as USForex.
As of December 2016, USForex is now OFX as part of a company-wide rebranding. Customers who visit the USForex website will now be redirected to the primary OFX website.
OFX Payments Ireland Limited
In 2022, the company opened a European headquarters in Ireland.
Regulations
Australia
OzForex Limited (ABN 65 092-375-703), a wholly owned subsidiary of OzForex Group Limited (ABN 12 165-602-273) has an Australian Financial Services Licence
Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) is a legal licence provided by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) enabling the operation and activities of Australian financial services businesses. It is a legal requirement f ...
(AFSL) and is regulated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...
(ASIC) to deal and give advice in foreign exchange and derivatives.
United States
USForex, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of OzForex Limited, is registered as a Money Services Business A money services business (MSB) is a legal term used by financial regulators to describe businesses that transmit or convert money. The definition was created to encompass more than just banks which normally provide these services to include non-ba ...
at a federal level with Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions in order to combat domestic and international money laundering, terr ...
("FinCEN"), a bureau of the United States Department of Treasury. In addition, USForex is licensed in a number of U.S. States by the relevant State Banking Department(s) as a Money Transmitter
In the legal code of the United States, a money transmitter or money transfer service is a business entity that provides money transfer services or payment instruments. Money transmitters in the US are part of a larger group of entities called mo ...
. USForex is licensed as a Money Transmitter by the Banking Dept. of the State of NY.
United Kingdom
UKForex Limited (registered in England and Wales under company number 04631395) is a wholly owned subsidiary of OzForex Limited. UKForex is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an e-money Institution and by HM Revenue & Customs
HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...
under the Money Laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
Regulations 2003 as a Money Service Businesses.
New Zealand
NZForex Limited (CN: 2514293) is a wholly owned subsidiary of OzForex Limited and is registered as a financial service provider under the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008.
Canada
CanadianForex Limited (CN: 674939-9) is a wholly owned subsidiary of OzForex Limited. CanadianForex is a Money Services Business as defined in the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLATF Act) and as such is regulated by FINTRAC
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC; french: Centre d'analyse des opérations et déclarations financières du Canada) is the national financial intelligence agency of Canada. FINTRAC was established in 2000 ...
.[MSB registratio]
View page
/ref>
Hong Kong
ClearFX is provided by OzForex (HK) Limited (OzForex (HK)) and is a wholly owned subsidiary of OzForex Limited. ClearFX is licensed as a Money Service Operator with the Customs and Excise Department Hong Kong.
Singapore
OFX Singapore Pte. Limited (UEN: 201317103N) is registered as a Major Payment Institution (Licence no. PS20200277) and is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Ireland
OFX Payments Ireland Limited, trading as OFX (Company No. 642716) is registered as an E-Money Institution (ref no. C190174) and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:OFX
Online remittance providers
Foreign exchange companies
Financial services companies based in Sydney
Financial services companies established in 1998
1998 establishments in Australia