Product
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4 min read
Leeway now holds 40 currencies
Twelve new currencies, from the Thai baht to the Kenyan shilling, join the account this week. Hold, exchange and spend them at the same rates.
Tomás Ferreira
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Head of Product
When we launched, Leeway held 28 currencies. Starting this week it holds 40. Every new one works the way the first 28 do: its own balance, the mid-market rate on weekdays and no fee on card payments abroad.
What’s new
These twelve were the most requested in the app over the past year. Between them they cover the places our customers are paid from, send money to and travel through most often.
Thai baht, Vietnamese dong and Indonesian rupiah
Kenyan shilling, Moroccan dirham and Ghanaian cedi
Chilean peso, Colombian peso and Peruvian sol
Icelandic króna, Georgian lari and Serbian dinar
You don’t need to switch anything on. To add one, tap Add currency on the home screen, pick it from the list and it appears as a new balance with nothing in it. Add money by exchanging from another balance, or by receiving a payment in that currency.
How they work
Each new currency gets its own balance next to your euros, dollars and pounds. Your total is still shown in the currency you choose and recalculated every 30 seconds, and you can tap any row to see its own history.
Exchange
Weekdays at the mid-market rate, weekends at 0.35%, on every plan. Some of the new currencies trade in thinner markets, so we refresh their rates every 60 seconds instead of every few, but nothing is added on top.
Spending
Pay by card in any of the 40 and there’s no card fee. If you hold a balance in the local currency, we take the payment from it first. If you don’t, we exchange from your main balance at the rate above and show you both amounts in the payment details.
A few limits to know about
Three of the new currencies, the Vietnamese dong, the Ghanaian cedi and the Moroccan dirham, can be held, spent and exchanged but not yet sent to a bank account abroad. We’ll add transfers for them as our partner banks support it, and the app marks any currency where a feature isn’t available yet.
What’s next
We’re working on local account details for more currencies, so you can be paid in them directly instead of exchanging on arrival. The first, for Thai baht and Chilean pesos, arrive early next year. As always, the app tells you before anything changes, and nothing about your plan or your rates changes with this update.
