Currency exchange comparison

Our team looked at the cost of exchanging currencies with 5 popular high street banks in GB (HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, and Nationwide) between 28 July 2026 and 30 July 2026.

We found that using Revolut to exchange money is up to 10 times cheaper on average — and sometimes even more. We tested this with a sample exchange of GBP 1,000 to 5 other currencies.

The data for the research was collected between 28 July 2026 and 30 July 2026, using various data sources including the currency exchange rates available publicly on the websites of the banks listed, and currency exchange calculators (also provided via those banks' websites).

We calculated the 'cost to exchange' GBP 1,000 to EUR, USD, AUD, PLN, and AED, comparing to the mentioned 5 popular high street banks in GB. The 'cost to exchange' includes any taxes, fees, or commissions applied by the listed banks, in addition to what we'll call their 'currency exchange markup'.

The 'currency exchange markup' is the amount added to the mid-market rate by each bank when completing an exchange.

A buyer would most likely want to exchange money at the mid-market rate, which is the midpoint between the buy and sell prices of any 2 currencies. This is because banks usually have different buy and sell prices, and the further they are from the mid-market rate, the less money the buyer gets from the exchange.

This data was collected on weekdays. During this period, no additional fees apply to our exchanges as long as customers are within their plan’s fair usage limit. On weekends a fee of up to 1% fee applies, depending on a customer’s plan. T&Cs apply.

On average, Revolut was 24 times cheaper than the 5 banks when exchanging GBP 1,000 to EUR, USD, AUD, PLN, and AED on weekdays.