People’s Champion Finalist: Centtrip Card

Start-up name: Centtrip Card
Founder: Brian Jamieson, 48, Daniel Butcher, 41, Tony North, 44
Started in: 2014
Based in: London
Business description: Pre-paid card provider

The Centtrip Card story:

Co-founders Brian Jamieson and Daniel Butcher have careers steeped in the financial industry.

Butcher created HiFX, one of the most successful independent brokers in the UK and Europe, which reached a $17bn annual turnover. Meanwhile, Jamieson was the co-founder of Schneider Foreign Exchange in 2006, which grew to a $15bn turnover before being sold to Banca Monex.

So you could say Centtrip is a FinTech company with some potential. OK, so it’s not a bedroom start-up where the founders have scraped together savings, but these founders have been through the experience of the financial industry doubting their chances of success in a world dominated by the big banks.

And having been scoffed at before, it’s no surprise they’re just as keen this time to launch another game-changer.

So what makes it different? “Centtrip Card offers a whole new dimension to FinTech travel money, banking and payment card experience,” its entry tells us. “Centtrip is the world’s first prepaid MasterCard to offer 14 currencies on a single card at ‘spread-free’ exchange rates.”

Challenging tradition, Centtrip promises a “bespoke product securing fairer more transparent rates, fees and services” for both high net worth individuals and international companies. Its investors include senior executives at Credit Suisse, the former CEO and Chairman of EMI, and the original founder of Hotels4U.

Technology-wise, the currencies are managed via a smartphone app or an online multi-currency travel account.

“For the individual traveller and particularly international property or yacht owners, the account provides peace of mind and substantially reduced costs in managing their assets and travel costs. Centtrip have not reduced the cost of foreign exchange, they have removed it completely by giving their cardholders the very same rate of exchange at which they buy their currency – spread free.”

Why Centtrip Card made our 50:

Putting aside the co-founders’ highly impressive financial backgrounds for a moment, there’s more than enough evidence – financial and otherwise – to show Centtrip’s distinctive business model and technology platform could have a major impact on managing money overseas.

Where to find out more about Centtrip Card:

Website: http://centtrip.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/centtrip
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Centtrip