When you look on your internet banking you will probably notice some sort of tab for 'international payments'.

Clicking on this will generally take you through to a page where you input the IBAN or BIC (International bank account number and Bank Identification Code, respectively) which tells your bank which country you want to send to and which currency you want your sterling converted to.

When we did this with our own bank (one of our brokers logged in to his internet banking facility to conduct a tester session) we were met with this notice:

The first thing to say is that your bank will not tell you when their system is back up and running, so you just have to keep trying.

Anyway, logging like this and inputting those details should present you with an indicative rate of exchange that tells you what the GBP cost of the currency you want to buy is. Alternatively, if you input a sterling amount, the calculator will tell you what foreign currency amount your bank will send.

The first thing to say is that our online currency 'platform' does exactly the same thing.

So why would I use Prime Cap, might be your first question?

Well, our rate of exchange will be tailored to you and what we know about the exchange you want to conduct.

The rate we present you with will always be a commercial rate of exchange, which means it reflects the rates we can achieve as a professional broker of currencies.

Generally speaking our rates will be up to 5% 'better' than your bank would offer you.

This means you pay 5% fewer pounds for the same foreign currency amount, or, you get 5% more of the foreign currency for the sterling amount you wish to exchange.

5% can be a sizeable saving or yield from a process which is the same as what you might currently do.

Provided you are registered with us you can elect to lock in and 'accept' the rate we quote.

The moment you've clicked the relevant button you will be furnished with an electronic confirmation which details that amount we would like you to send us for completion or 'settlement' of the exchange.

On this confirmation are the details of our segregated client trust account.

Simply by inputting these GBP mainland bank account details in to your standard online banking payment function, you can send us this amount instantly.

On it's arrival we notify you and we then invite you to tell us where you want the foreign currency amount to be sent. You can provide us with that information in advance.

For those who prefer to speak with someone over the telephone to conduct and exchange, your Prime Cap broker will ask you for the details of who you want paid.

You do not need to do anything else other than sit back and wait for us to confirm your sterling has arrived and your foreign currency sum has been sent.

If you are a business, the confirmation we send you is akin to an invoice.

If you are an individual conducting an exchange for personal reasons then the confirmations serves as a receipt.

The process of conducting an exchange is all but identical to the way you would make a payment through your bank, except it comes with the added benefit of a better rate of exchange and the insight and guidance of an experienced broker to talk and take you through the process.

You do not need to wait in line at your local branch.

You do not need to waste precious minutes on hold with your bank to confirm a rate.

We are accessible via a number of channels and every one of our staff are well versed in the minutiae of sending a payment, minutiae that you don't need to worry yourself about because we will anticipate questions and prompts for you.

Registering to use a service like ours take not time at all and can be done online via a simple form.

You can click the 'Register as a Client' tab on our website, or simply follow the link HERE.

This process is completed well before you actually need to exchange funds, but, if you need to conduct an exchange immediately then we can have the whole process completed within a matter of hours.

We will ask you to confirm your current address, why you want to use our services, how often and where you want to send funds.

It is not a drawn out procedure which is one of the main queries or misconceptions people have. Equally, because we will only release money for you once we have receive the currency you wish to convert, we do not need to credit check you.

We simply conduct an electronic verification search of publicly available and verifiable information.