The euro is down 8% against the pound this year alone. That’s made a good many people – anyone thinking they might go on holiday in Europe, or perhaps buy a house in Europe soon-ish, for example – feel like they would like to hold some euros.
But if you aren’t planning on spending the euros immediately, what’s the best way to hold them? Mattresses aren’t a long term solution, and currency cards can’t take very large amounts of money. Foreign currency accounts have long been a pretty clunky option in the UK – exchange rates are generally pretty bad; the accounts don’t come cheap (think monthly fees); and the range of currencies can be limited (Barclays offers only euro, sterling and dollar accounts, for example).
I’m pleased then to set that Caxton FX has now launched its own currency account. This is a simple online bank account inside which you can hold 24 different currencies for as long as you like.
You go online (24/7), open an account, choose your currency, buy it (Caxton’s rates aren’t the absolute best in the market, but they are good and they are certainly better than those from the big banks) and that’s it. Job done.
You won’t get interest, but these days that’s no big deal: you aren’t going to get much anywhere else either. You also won’t get charged for the account itself – only for any transfers you might make from it.
So if you want euros, it might be a good place to start looking.
Me, I’m thinking of Danish kroners. I’m going to Denmark in the summer, and I’m not 100% sure that the Danish central bank can hang on to its peg with the euro until then. It might be a long standing and politically important peg – but it is forcing Denmark into something of a monetary corner at the moment. If it breaks, the kroner will soar. Good reason for me to lock in the price of my holiday money right now.