Interactive Brokers and a specialist currency broker solve different problems. IBKR is built to trade currency — its own UK site warns that “there is a substantial risk of loss in foreign exchange trading” — while a currency broker exists to move it, to a named third party, on a date you have committed to. If you are paying a solicitor, a developer or an overseas supplier, IBKR’s published withdrawal rules are the deciding factor, not its commission.
Who this guide is for
This is for UK residents and businesses weighing up a five- or six-figure currency conversion who already hold, or are considering, an Interactive Brokers account.
Typically that is someone completing on a property abroad, a business paying an overseas supplier, an investor repatriating proceeds, or an expat moving a lump sum. The common thread is that the money has somewhere specific to be, on a specific day, in someone else’s name.
If your objective is instead to take a position on a currency pair and profit from the move, this guide will point you somewhere else — because those are two different activities with two different risk profiles.
What is Interactive Brokers?
Interactive Brokers is a multi-asset brokerage that gives clients direct market access to shares, options, futures, bonds and spot currencies. In the UK it operates as Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under FCA Register Entry Number 208159, from 20 Fenchurch Street in London. You can confirm any firm’s permissions yourself on the FCA Financial Services Register.
It is a brokerage, not a payments business. That distinction runs through everything below.
IBKR’s own product page frames spot currency as a way to “profit from currency fluctuations by buying low and selling high” and to hedge other investments. The same page carries the warning that “while leverage can increase profit potential, it also magnifies losses” and that “your capital is at risk and your losses may exceed the value of your original investment” (Interactive Brokers U.K. Limited).
Those are the words of a trading venue describing a trading product. They are not how a payment route is described.
Interactive Brokers vs a specialist currency broker: the honest comparison
Both routes convert currency. Only one of them is designed to deliver it to somebody else.
| Interactive Brokers | Specialist currency broker | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Investment trading — shares, futures, options, spot FX | Converting and delivering currency for a payment |
| Conversion cost | Published commission of 0.20 basis points of trade value, minimum USD 2.00, on pass-through interbank prices | A margin applied to the interbank rate, quoted before you commit |
| Pay a third party? | Restricted. Permitted only for a defined list of relationships and purposes, each subject to two separate approvals | Yes — paying a named beneficiary is the core function |
| Pay for goods or services? | IBKR states it “will generally not approve” third-party withdrawals for payment for purchases of goods or services | Yes, including suppliers, contractors and professional fees |
| Withdrawal methods to a third party | Wire or cheque only | Standard payment rails to the beneficiary’s account |
| Free withdrawals | Two per calendar month, then £7.00 GBP / €8.00 EUR / $10.00 USD per bank transfer | No per-payment withdrawal cap |
| Fixing a rate ahead | Via tradeable instruments you manage yourself | Forward contract, up to 12 months, arranged with a dealer |
| Risk warning on the product | “Substantial risk of loss”; losses may exceed the original investment | Delivery of an agreed amount on an agreed date |
| Who handles compliance | You respond to checks and approval requests yourself | The broker runs the checks and clears the payment |
Read that table honestly and the conversion cost line favours IBKR. Read the rest of it and the conversion cost line stops being the question.
Can you pay a third party from an Interactive Brokers account?
Only in narrowly defined circumstances. IBKR’s client documentation sets out exactly which third-party withdrawals it will consider, and it is a short list: a spouse, parent, sibling or child of the account holder; a beneficiary of a trust account; home purchases and mortgage payoffs; payment of certain account expenses; tax payments; and IRA qualified charitable distributions.
Everything else sits outside it. IBKR states it “will generally not approve” third-party withdrawals for private investments, loan repayment, withdrawals to businesses owned by the account holder, payment for purchases of goods or services, or transfers to individuals outside that family relationship (IBKR Client Portal documentation).
Where a withdrawal is eligible, it clears two gates rather than one. You submit the third party’s details for approval, and then the withdrawal request itself is separately subject to approval. Only wire or cheque withdrawals are permitted to a third party.
Now map that onto a real transaction. A Spanish notary is not a family member. A Portuguese developer is not a trust beneficiary. An invoice from an Italian kitchen manufacturer is payment for goods. A conveyancing firm’s client account is a business you do not own, being paid for a service.
The “home purchases” category is the one that may apply to a property buyer — but it is an approval you request, not a facility you hold, and you are requesting it against a completion date that will not move to accommodate a review queue. That timing mismatch is the risk, and it is why verifying the beneficiary and the route before you commit matters more on this journey than on most.
What does it actually cost to move money out of an IBKR account?
The conversion itself is inexpensive. IBKR’s published schedule charges 0.20 basis points of trade value with a Tier I minimum of USD 2.00, falling to 0.08 basis points for monthly volumes above USD 5 billion (Interactive Brokers commission schedule).
0.20 basis points is 0.002%. On a £1,000,000 conversion that commission is £20. There is no honest way to describe that as expensive, and this guide is not going to try.
The cost sits further down the chain. IBKR allows two free withdrawal requests per calendar month; after the second, a bank transfer costs £7.00 in sterling, €8.00 in euros or $10.00 by USD wire (IBKR other fees).
More significantly, unless your payment falls inside the third-party list, the euros have to come out to an account in your own name first. That means holding a euro account, receiving into it, then making a second international payment from it — a second set of charges, a second set of checks, and a second point at which something can be queried.
A cheap conversion attached to an expensive, uncertain delivery is not a cheap transfer. You can see the live rate on any pair on our currency converter — the number on the screen is the easy part.
Who carries the compliance burden on a large transfer?
This is the difference that most cost comparisons miss entirely.
Any six-figure payment crossing a border triggers checks — source of funds, purpose of payment, beneficiary verification, sanctions screening. Under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, firms must establish the source of funds where the transaction is unusually large or the relationship is higher risk. That is not optional and it is not negotiable.
The question is who does the work. On a self-service platform, you do. You supply documents into a portal, you wait for a review, and if something is missing you find out when the request is declined rather than when it is submitted.
With a broker running the payment, the checks are handled as part of arranging the trade. Your dealer knows before you book that a Portuguese purchase needs a NIF, that a completion payment to a client account will be scrutinised, and what the receiving bank will want to see. Our guide to proof of funds on large international transfers sets out what is usually required.
On a transfer with a completion date attached, the value of that is not measured in basis points. A payment that is held for a week has a cost, and it is not a fee.
What a specialist currency broker does that a brokerage account does not
Three things, mainly.
It pays a named third party as a matter of course. A beneficiary — a solicitor, a developer, a supplier, a family member — is entered, verified and paid. That is the product, not an exception request.
It fixes a rate for a future date. A forward contract secures today’s rate for a payment up to 12 months away, usually against a deposit, so a completion date six months out is priced now. Alternatively a market order targets a level and executes automatically if the market reaches it.
And it gives you a named person on a phone line. Cambridge Currencies completes every transaction by phone with a dedicated specialist — deliberately, because a six-figure payment with a legal deadline benefits from someone who knows the file. Client funds are safeguarded by our FCA-regulated e-money partners at a credit institution; you can read the detail on our safeguarding page. Cambridge Currencies was founded in 2023 and operates with FCA-authorised partners Currencycloud (FRN 900199) and ScioPay (FRN 927951).
Worked example: a €600,000 completion in Spain
The figures below are illustrative round numbers, used to show the scale of the movement rather than any current rate.
A buyer needs €600,000 for completion in five months. At an illustrative 1.17, that costs £512,821. At an illustrative 1.11, the same €600,000 costs £540,541 — a difference of £27,720 on the identical purchase.
Put the other way round: a 2% move against you on €600,000 is €12,000, or roughly £10,256 at 1.17. That is the number that matters, and it dwarfs any plausible difference in conversion commission between two providers.
A forward contract removes that variable by fixing the rate when the price is agreed rather than when the money moves. A conversion executed on completion day, however cheaply, leaves it fully exposed. Our currency forecast pages track where the major pairs are expected to trade and why, and the GBP to EUR page carries the live rate and recent range.
Transacting and speculating are different decisions
“A transfer and a speculative position get confused because both start with buying a currency. They are not the same decision. If you are moving money to complete on a house, your objective is certainty on a date. If you are taking a view on a rate, your objective is return, and you are accepting the risk of loss that comes with it. Anyone weighing a large sum should be clear which of the two they are doing — and if it is the second, that is a conversation for a regulated financial adviser, not a currency dealer.”
Anthony Bull, CEO of Cambridge Currencies
The practical consequence is that the two objectives pull in opposite directions. Certainty means removing exposure to the rate. Return means keeping it. A tool built for one will feel wrong when used for the other, which is what people are sensing when a cheap conversion still leaves them uneasy.
Common mistakes when using an investment account to move money
- Assuming the euros can be paid onward. They can be withdrawn to an account in your own name. Paying somebody else is a separate, restricted process.
- Leaving the conversion to completion day. The rate on one arbitrary day is the single largest uncontrolled variable in the whole purchase.
- Comparing commission and stopping there. The onward payment, the second set of charges and the approval risk are all part of the true cost.
- Opening a foreign-currency account late. If the funds must land in your own name first, that account needs to exist and be verified well before the money moves.
- Treating a leveraged position as a hedge. IBKR’s own warning is explicit that losses may exceed the original investment.
Frequently asked questions
Is Interactive Brokers cheaper than a currency broker?
On the conversion line alone, IBKR’s published commission of 0.20 basis points with a USD 2.00 minimum is very low. The relevant comparison for a payment is the whole journey — conversion, withdrawal, the onward transfer to the beneficiary if the funds must pass through an account in your own name, and the risk of a delayed or declined third-party approval.
Can I use Interactive Brokers to buy a property abroad?
Home purchases appear on IBKR’s list of permitted third-party withdrawal purposes, so it may be possible. It requires approval of the third party and separate approval of the withdrawal, and only wire or cheque withdrawals are permitted. Against a fixed completion date, that approval timeline is the risk to weigh.
Can my business pay an overseas supplier through Interactive Brokers?
IBKR states it will generally not approve third-party withdrawals for payment for purchases of goods or services, or to businesses owned by the account holder. Supplier payments are a payments function rather than a brokerage one.
Is Interactive Brokers regulated in the UK?
Yes. Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under FCA Register Entry Number 208159. Regulation confirms the firm is permitted to do what it does; it does not make a trading account a payment route.
What if I already hold currency in an IBKR account?
Currency already converted can be withdrawn to an account in your own name and then paid onward. If you are repatriating the proceeds of sold holdings, our guide to repatriating foreign stock and ETF proceeds to the UK covers the sequence, and foreign investment transfers covers the currency side for investors.
Can I fix an exchange rate for a future date with a brokerage account?
Not in the way a forward contract does. A forward is a contractual commitment to exchange an agreed amount at an agreed rate on an agreed date, arranged for a payment you have to make. Managing an equivalent position through tradeable instruments puts the execution, the margin and the risk on you.
How do I check a currency broker is legitimate?
Check the firm or its named payment partners on the FCA Financial Services Register, confirm how client funds are safeguarded, and confirm the beneficiary details by phone on a number you have sourced yourself. Our guide on how to check a currency broker is legitimate sets out the checks in order.
Talk to a specialist about your transfer
If you have a completion date, an invoice or a settlement to fund, the useful conversation is about the deadline and the amount, not the platform. Speak to a Cambridge Currencies specialist about fixing the rate on your overseas purchase — every transaction is completed by phone with a dedicated dealer who handles the compliance alongside the trade. Get in touch or read more about exchanging large amounts of currency.
