HSBC Business Currency Account Review (UK 2025)

If your company does business overseas, you might find it useful to have some kind of foreign currency account here in the UK. This can help to mitigate against exchange rate fluctuations and reduce the cost of international payments coming in and going out.

There are a few different foreign currency accounts out there, including offers from the UK’s biggest banks.

Here, we’ll be taking a close look at the business currency account from HSBC. We’ll run through everything you need to know, from supported currencies and key features to fees and limits.

Don’t forget though that there are non-bank alternatives available, including Wise Business - a powerful international account for managing company finances in 40+ currencies.

💡 Learn more about Wise Business

HSBC business currency account - quick overview

The HSBC multi-currency account for businesses is an everyday current account, managed online at HSBCnet. It’s available in a choice of currencies, so you can open one or multiple accounts based on the currencies your business deals in.

To open an account, you’ll need to have a Sterling business account with the bank and speak to your Relationship Manager to start the process.

HSBC also offers a foreign currency Instant Access Savings Account and a Fixed Term Deposit Account, as well as the option to open a local account in a foreign country.

An additional service is HSBC Global Wallet, which lets business customers manage and hold multiple currencies all in one place, alongside their main bank accounts. If you’re already an HSBC business customer, you can simply add the Global Wallet service to your account via online banking.

Here are a few key facts about the HSBC business currency account:

Trustpilot score	4.4 from 797 reviews - ‘Excellent’¹
Number of supported currencies	90+²
Account fees	£96 to £180/month depending on account type and business size³
Overdraft	Yes, subject to agreement²
Number of countries to spend with card	Worldwide - anywhere Visa/Mastercard is accepted

HSBC foreign business account - review

To properly assess whether the HSBC business currency account is a good fit for your company, it’s worth looking at a few key criteria:

• Main features - what you can do with the account
• Limits - including spending and payment limits
• Fees
• Customer service.

To start with, it can be useful to know what existing customers think of the account and bank. The good news is that HSBC Business currently has an ‘Excellent’ score of 4.4 over on Trustpilot, from nearly 800 reviews.¹

HSBC business international account - key features

The HSBC business currency account is a pretty straightforward account, offering just a handful of main features:²

• Available in over 90 currencies, including US dollars and euros
• Low and high value electronic payments
• Online banking via HSBCnet
• Overdraft facility (subject to agreement).

HSBC currency account limits

HSBC doesn’t make information about limits available for its business currency account. You’ll need to contact the bank (via your Relationship Manager) for more information.

Otherwise, you’ll be provided with details of limits on spending, withdrawals, payments, overdrafts and more when you open the account.⁴

HSBC currency account fees

Now we come to the fees associated with the HSBC business currency account, an important consideration for anyone looking to open one.

Here are the main fees you need to know about:³

Type	Fee
Monthly fee	- £96 for Small Business Banking customers - £120 for Business Banking customers - £180 for Corporate Banking customers
Receiving payments	- Free for currency payments under £100 - £6 for currency payments of £100+ - £0.20 for SEPA payments
Sending payments	- £17 for online banking payments - £20 to £30 for phone banking payments - £0.24 for SEPA payments
Debit card payments	2.75% for payments involving a currency conversion
ATM withdrawal	2.75% for withdrawals involving a currency conversion + 1.50% withdrawal fee (min. £1.75)

HSBC customer service

The main route to getting support from HSBC for your business currency account is through your Relationship Manager. This is a specialist customer service agent assigned to you when you first open a business current account with HSBC.

Otherwise, you can contact the bank through one of these methods:⁵

• Phone - call 03457 60 60 60, available Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm and Saturday, 8am to 2pm
• Chat - available through HSBC online banking or the mobile banking app.

Over on Trustpilot, many HSBC business banking customers praise the company for its customer service - particularly in relation to the individual efforts of Relationship Managers.

Wise Business, a non-banking alternative

If you need to pay or get paid in foreign currencies, you could be better off with an alternative such as the Wise Business account.

With a Wise Business account, you can hold and exchange 40+ currencies all in one place. You can send payments to 140+ countries and get local account details to get paid in 8+ currencies like a local.

Whenever you need to send, spend or exchange foreign currencies, you’ll benefit from the mid-market exchange rate, with low, transparent fees.

When you open a Wise Business account, you’ll benefit from all of these useful features:

• No monthly fees or minimum balance requirements
• Debit and expense cards for you and your team, which you can use in 150+ countries
• Multi-user access for team members, with ways to control and manage permissions
• Pay up to 1,000 people at once with the Wise Batch Payments feature
• Integrate with your favourite cloud accounting solutions, and use the Wise API for automation and streamlining workflow
• Use the Wise Interest feature to make your money work harder when you’re not using it.

It’s quick and easy to open a Wise Business account, with a fully digital application, verification and on-boarding process. Check out the requirements here.

Get started with Wise Business 🚀

FAQs - Currency business account HSBC

Still have burning questions about the HSBC multi-currency account? Read the answers to some commonly asked questions below.

Can I link my HSBC foreign currency account to my existing accounting software?

You’ll need to check with the bank, but you should be able to link your HSBC foreign currency account with any accounting software that supports Open Banking APIs. This includes the likes of Sage, QuickBooks, Xero and more.

HSBC business accounts can be connected to accounting tools using HSBC Open Banking, and this includes foreign currency accounts.⁶

Once connected, your bank feed will be automatically synced with your software, making it much easier to keep on top of bookkeeping.

How does an HSBC foreign currency account help manage foreign exchange risk?

Once you have an HSBC foreign currency account, it means that currency conversion is no longer necessary when sending and receiving money in that currency.

This means you can avoid losses caused by fluctuations in exchange rates, as well as swerving currency conversion fees and the profit-making margin usually added to exchange rates by banks and some other providers.

For example, if you have an HSBC USD account, you can pay suppliers in the United States in US dollars without the need to convert GBP to USD.

Similarly, with an HSBC UK euro account, it’s easy and cost-effective to receive money from European clients without losing money to currency conversion.

What are the requirements to open an HSBC business foreign currency account?

To open an HSBC business currency account, you’ll need to be an existing HSBC Business customer with an active Sterling account.

Then, you simply need to speak to your Relationship Manager to discuss your needs and start the process of opening an account. If you don’t have a Relationship Manager, you can contact the bank’s business-focused customer services team to open a foreign currency account.

Can I convert funds between currencies within my HSBC business foreign currency account?

You’ll need to double-check with the bank, but it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to convert between different currencies with an HSBC foreign currency account. This is because each is designated to one currency only (i.e. EUR or USD) and is designed for sending and receiving payments in that currency.

So, if you want to convert currency, you’ll need to send money from your foreign currency account to your HSBC Business Sterling account or another of your foreign currency accounts (if you have more than one). This is likely to involve some fees, along with currency conversion costs.

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After reading our helpful HSBC business currency account review, you should have a better idea of what the account has to offer for UK companies. We’ve looked at everything from features, supported currencies and fees to limits, customer service and more.

It’s a useful account to have if your company regularly deals in a particular currency, but the monthly fees could make it too expensive for some businesses. This is why it’s a good idea to compare all options carefully before selecting an account.

About the author:
	Paola is an expert in business finance topics for the Great Britain market, covering everything finance teams need to know to manage business finances across borders. She creates high quality content to help you make the best cross-border decisions. You can read more useful articles on her author profile.

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Sources used:

1. Trustpilot - HSBC UK Business Banking
2. HSBC Business - International Business Accounts
3. HSBC - Business Price List
4. HSBC Business - Business Banking Terms & Conditions
5. HSBC Business - Contact Us
6. HSBC Business - Accounting Software Integration

Sources last checked on date: 16-Jul-2025