The Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenach was keen to point out the advantageous results following the Brexit referendum, hailing the UK as the fourth biggest exporters in 2022, overtaking Japan, the Netherlands and France in process. She also stated the value to UK exports equated to £862 billion in the 12 months up to February 2024.

Badenach said: “That builds on progress we have made in growing our exports outside the confines of the EU.”

And went on to say: “Today, we are selling not only more services to EU countries than ever before, but record amounts of services to the rest of the world, too.”

Her statement celebrated the export success of the financial and insurance industry, plus UK manufacturers, but I invite you to read the full statement and responses to it here to get the full picture.

For example, the Alan Brown, SNP MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, came back with claims that: "Volumes of UK goods imports and exports are 7.4% smaller than in 2018 - the biggest five-year decline for which comparative records exist.”

Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham, Hodge Hill, countered with: “The Office for National Statistics figures show that our goods exports have fallen by about £31 billion over a year.”

Of course, the Secretary of State had answers to all negative comments thrown her way, but I wonder how it feels for the import and export businesses at the coalface. Are they enjoying opportunities in the 73 countries that have made trade deals with the UK? As always in business, the bottom line is always the bottom line. Has it been better or worse for your business since Brexit?

Meanwhile, Badenach claimed: “We are tearing down the barriers to trade.”

Sure, the trade deals achieved under the Conservative reign should assist import and export businesses but are there hidden barriers that are holding them back from making more profit?

Considering the trade barrier of foreign exchange services 

It will not surprise you to learn that I think foreign exchange (FX) services are a hidden barrier that is not really spoken about or even really understood by many businesses. It is an element of trade that is seemingly just handed over to the banks, which always elicits an audible groan from an independent service provider like us.

In truth, banks make me cross. The exchange rate will often not be the best and the fee will be inflated, this reduces your all-important potential profit margin. Moreover, the customer service will be virtually non-existent too. 

Treasury management service

All import and export businesses work extremely hard when entering international marketplaces, so we work with you to make sure the hard work you have put in doesn’t go to waste by getting uncompetitive exchange rates and not getting the proper treasury management service you need.

We understand the intricacies of money exchange and operate on a very personal, one-on-one basis to make sure our customers are looked after and given every opportunity to benefit from intelligent buying and selling of foreign funds to save them money.

FX services for import and export businesses

We are very aware that FX services are offered over the phone by over-enthusiastic salesmen and women promising amazing exchange rates, but these promises are very often very short lived when they come to trade, as they realise that making no profit from a trade doesn’t really work.

Instead, we form long-standing relationships that create trust with fair and transparent pricing. We don’t bash the phones looking for every lead possible but work closely with referred clients to make sure they get the services they need for all their currency exchange management.

While the politicians can bandy around the trade numbers at will and parties can interpret them to suit their arguments, I am more interested in the individual businesses that make up those figures. I am interested in making them more money from trading the same way but with better foreign exchange support on board.

We’d be delighted to hear from any import and export business that is looking for a change to their current supplier and wants to tackle the barrier of foreign exchange with our help. We are not going to create a race to the bottom on pricing, as that never works in practice, but we believe we can offer you an overall service that is a lot better than most on the market right now.