FairFX has its name changed to Equals Group plc

E-banking and payments group FairFX has announced that, pursuant to a resolution of the board of directors passed on 26 June 2019, it has changed its name to Equals Group plc.

Trading in the Company’s shares under the new name and TIDM, “EQLS”, will commence at 8.00 am today. The Company’s current ISIN and SEDOL will remain the same.

The company explains the decision to change its name with the evolution of both its operations and product offering, which have diversified in recent years beyond the heritage foreign exchange businesses of international payments and travel money, and further into integrated money management solutions for consumers and businesses, covering banking and payments.

Since 2017, the Group has almost tripled in size in terms of turnover and its operations have broadened into three significant businesses – FairFX, CardOneMoney and City Forex. The unification of these businesses under a new, distinctive brand aims to provide further benefits for the Group in terms of supply chain management and efficiency. Whereas FX expertise and revenues continue to be integral to the Group, the increasing importance of non-FX related activities necessitated a change to a new umbrella brand identity, under which all the services of the Group can be represented. The Group believes this approach will also optimise customer acquisition, retention and engagement.

A key part of the Company’s strategy is to focus on providing solutions to the Corporate SME market, building upon the success of its Expense Management platform, which gives customers better control of employee expenses and business spending. Execution of this strategy began with gaining an e-money licence in early 2017, followed by the acquisition of CardOneMoney, the digital banking services provider, in the same year. Thereafter, the Group has been investing in its Banking platform in 2018 and 2019. As a result, the Company, through its subsidiary Spectrum Payment Services, was granted Bank of England settlement accounts and direct access to the Faster Payments scheme. Further, the Group recently announced it had been granted a Credit Broker Licence which is another part of the Group’s roadmap.

The Equals brand will be rolled out across the various products according to a detailed plan across the rest of 2019, such that by year end all Group products will have a unified look and feel, which will in turn optimise cross-selling of products – a key focus for the Group.

The Company’s new website with its AIM Rule 26 requirements is now live: www.equalsplc.com. Shareholders will be unaffected by the change of name and existing share certificates should be retained as they will remain valid for all purposes. Any new share certificates issued from June 27, 2018 will bear the name Equals Group plc.