Knight Frank is offering its 2,220 UK employees a company branded, money-saving debit card which allows them to make charitable donations and reduce foreign exchange fees when spending abroad. The service is provided by Currensea, which has created an open banking-enabled debit card linked to existing bank accounts.

The Knight Frank branded card has been made available to all UK employees as part of an updated benefits package, coinciding with the appointment of William Beardmore-Gray as new Chairman.

Currensea’s card allows users to access the best foreign exchange (FX) rates at only 0% to 0.5% above the FX base rate. With high street banks typically charging 3-5% per transaction abroad, Currensea offers users savings of at least 85% on every overseas transaction as they avoid the normal fees charged by banks and other card – customers can then opt to donate all or part of these savings to charity. For example, a user spending $1500 while visiting the USA can choose to contribute 50% of their savings – over £20 – while still saving money on foreign exchange

Knight Frank employees will also be able to donate to charity by rounding up spending to the nearest 5p in the UK. All donations will go to Surfers Against Sewage, a marine conservation charity, with Gift Aid added on top.

This is Currensea’s first corporate partnership. Other partnerships include St Martin-in-the-Fields, a charity supporting the work of the iconic central London church including helping women move away from homelessness.

Will Beardmore-Gray, senior partner and group chair, Knight Frank commented:

“We are delighted to introduce Currensea at Knight Frank. The introduction of the scheme supports our ESG ambitions as we become the first corporate partner to offer the charitable giving feature – allowing our people to donate some, or all of their exchange rate savings to a great cause and one close to our hearts, Surfers Against Sewage.”

James Lynn, Co-Founder of Currensea, comments:

“Knight Frank’s new employee benefits package is a great example of how organisations can introduce initiatives that encourage employees to support vital causes close to their hearts, whilst also saving money themselves.”

The Currensea card uses technology called open banking – a secure data-sharing approach between financial institutions – to connect directly to someone’s bank account with their approval, allowing travellers to make overseas transactions directly from funds in their current account, whilst avoiding high bank fees, and allowing UK users to use the round-up function.