Foreign Currency Direct Rebrands to Lumon Pay: Here’s What You Need to Know
Foreign Currency Direct (FCD) has been a fixture of the FX market for well over a decade. Now, in a move that marks a major strategic shift for FCD, the venerable foreign exchange and payments company is relaunching as Lumon.
Lumon brings together the best of FCD’s strengths in FX, global remittances, CFD, metals, equities, and indices to create a global FX and alternative investment powerhouse. At the same time, the launch of Lumon and Lumon Pay has brought together several previous FCD acquisitions (including Infinity International and Earthport FX) under a single brand.
With its global footprint and established foreign exchange infrastructure, it’s clear that Lumon is positioning itself as a disruptive force in the international payments space.
What is Lumon Pay?
Servicing both individual and business customers, Lumon Pay is the rebranded company’s first foray into the exchange and remittances space. The company’s goal is to provide a simple, low-cost, and transparent way for individuals and businesses to send money to partners, customers, friends, and families overseas.
Featuring 35 currencies and no fixed transfer fees, Lumon Pay is designed around a revamped business philosophy of transparency and sophistication. To this end, Shamus Hodgson, the Chief Executive Officer at Lumon, has made a public commitment to fee transparency for customers and inclusive access to Lumon products, including Lumon Pay analytics and hedging services
“For too long businesses and individuals have been left in the dark; there’s been a lack of transparency from the overseas payments sector about the solutions available and the costs involved,” said Mr. Hodgson. “Lumon is our challenge to the market.”
Mr. Hodgson considers the launch of Lumon — and subsequent merging of major FCD acquisitions — to be an important milestone in the company’s revamped business model, one that will facilitate a far more sophisticated service to existing and future customers.
“By consolidating our resources and expertise under one brand and one team, our distinctive offering gives our customers sector-leading service that is always tailored to their goals — from purchasing a new property overseas to expanding a business internationally — and is always underpinned by our values,” continued Mr. Hodgson.
“Like our previous brands, Lumon will be unashamedly customer-led…we see value in focusing on tomorrow’s plans, not just daily foreign exchange rates.”
A Disruptive Development?
More than a simple rebranding, Lumon represents the consolidation of the best of FCD’s diverse range of products and services under one brand. With the global economy still wracked by coronavirus-induced supply chain disruptions, rising inflation rates, and growing currency volatility concerns, a reliable platform for global foreign exchange has never been more important.
While Lumon represents a significant upgrade from FCD’s business model, it’s fair to say that the company has been quietly building its FX footprint for years. Over the last decade, currency analysts have been grappling with the downstream effects of major macro events (i.e. Brexit or COVID-19) upon overseas currency markets. Money transfer providers like FCD quickly recognized the potential impact of these long-tail events upon global foreign exchange markets and, in particular, the risk of increasing volatility in traditional currency pairs.
In response to rapidly evolving market conditions, Lumon has made it a priority to build and maintain an FX team that can quickly identify potential market events and provide customers with a range of hedging and risk management solutions. The launch of Lumon Pay represents the culmination of this project.
“The overseas payments industry is rapidly evolving and yet we believe it’s crying out for reinvention,” said Mr. Hodgson. “Through a period of economic market volatility and rapid development of digital first offers, we’ve always had our customers’ end goals in mind.”
To prepare for potential reshuffling in overseas remittance flows and cross-border supply chain spending, Lumon has already invested heavily in more sophisticated modelling and analytics technology, leveraging its FX expertise and industry interoperability to build a platform that can more effectively manage FX risk across multiple currencies.
At a more granular level, Lumon has been able to scale up its service offerings and expand its market position across a range of key sectors. For instance, thanks to the smooth integration of FCD acquisitions like Earthport FX and Infinity International, Lumon has carved out major gains in market position for the delivery of corporate FX services to small and mid-size enterprises.
The Bottom Line
Lumon Pay is the first step in Lumon’s broader ambitions to become a major player in the global foreign exchange and remittance sector. With volatility on the rise, a growing need for FX hedging solutions, and the potential to play a key role within emerging FX markets, FCD’s new brand is positioning itself to deliver on the promise of a truly global FX platform and emerge as a leading provider in foreign exchange services, cross-border payments, and FX risk management.