About Us - All About World First

We're changing money

We know that moving your money around the world means a lot more than just changing pounds to euros, or dollars to yen.

Every payment has a story. Maybe you're buying that dream property overseas - you know, that one with the gorgeous view that you can't stop thinking about. Maybe you're finally stepping off the treadmill and retiring somewhere nice and warm. Or perhaps you're building an international e-commerce business by selling on global marketplaces and collecting sales revenues in different currencies?

Whatever your story, we want it to have the perfect ending. We'll go out of our way to make that happen, and will make sure every payment has a happily ever after.

Look how far we've come

2004

Way back in April 2004 World First was born. In the basement of a house in Stockwell Jonathan Quin and Nick Robinson decided they were going to change how we change money. We also booked our first trade that month. And made a loss. Jabu Henson joined them 4 months later. He's still here as MD of our Asian offices, but more on that later.

2005

By the end of our first year we'd booked £43 million in trades. And by October that year we hit our first £100 million in transactions. In December the team had expanded to a hefty 8 members. And 7 of the 8 are still here!

2006

In January we outgrew our basement and moved to Crombie Mews in Battersea and used to enjoy meetings on our lovely roof terrace. That year we launched our Corporate desk with Alex Sullivan. Sir David Clementi (former Deputy Head of the Bank of England!) came aboard the good ship World First as our Senior Advisor. A couple of months later Elisabeth Dobson joined as head of our Private desk. They're all still here too! December saw the start of our traditional team competition at our Christmas Party. The theme was "Strictly Come Dancing" with lots of tutus, Riverdancing and all round craziness... Check out the video here!

2007

We started out the year with 22 employees and by the end we'd almost doubled, with 40 World Firsters in the team. Needless to say by the end of the year we were starting to burst at the seams. We also hit £1 billion in transactions and champagne popped! The Christmas Party saw our "YuleTube" challenge, the winners took it out with an Eric Prydz spoof. Definitely not safe for public consumption!

2008

FSA authorisation was approved and we became the first foreign exchange broker in the UK to be able to sell currency options. We officially outgrew our old office and moved into our lovely new home in Regent House overlooking the Thames in Battersea. Nick Robinson also made the long long flight Down Under to open our second office, in Sydney. G'day to you! "FX Factor" was the theme of the Christmas Challenge and Marc Bertrand's team wowed and FX-ed up version of American Pie. Download and have a listen to the MP3 here.

2009

Speedy automated payments? Done. In January we made the first of many SWIFT payments. Fancy some more champagne? Why not, we hit £2 billion in transactions. And a few months later we were awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise. In October our World Firsters turned up decked out in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. The first of many charity days to come. November saw us authorised as Payments Institution as well as our first appearance on Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track - position 53! This year's Christmas Challenge was a Dragon's Den and Apprentice Mash-up. Watch the winning idea here. Why this never took off as a real business will always be a mystery to us...

2010

Things were really starting to take off, in January we were awarded our first star with Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For. We also launched our online platform (over half our transactions go through this system now!). We love an opportunity to dress up, so Sports Relief in March saw some "interesting" ensembles around the office. We also won the Service Business of the Year via the Fast Growth Business Awards and were finalists in the National Business Awards for Customer Focus. In our private client survey 98% say they'd use us again and recommend us! Thanks guys :) In November we launched our new look and appeared for the 2nd year in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track - position 65. The Christmas Challenge winner was a World First take on Alicia Keys' Empire State of Mind - amazing!

2011

We were on a roll - awarded our 2nd star with Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For - happy days! In April we hit £5 billion in transactions and Sir David became our Chairman. In July, 100% of respondents in our corporate client survey said they'd use us again and recommend us!!! We were beyond happy to learn that! Third year in a row on the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track - position 81. And some very questionable talent strutted their stuff at the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Challenge...

2012

Ended our 8th Financial Year with revenues just under £15 million, a big leap from our humble beginnings back in 2004! In June we celebrated our first World First wedding - Emily and Simon met at World First in 2008, awww. In September we took on the US with John Min and John Green opening our first US office in Washington D.C. We were announced winners of the National Business Awards Customer Focus Award in November and we teamed up with Childreach International to help build a school in Tanzania - go team!

2013

Started the year seeing stars - we were awarded 3 stars in the Best Companies Guide! At the end of February we'd made over 120,000 payments, then our Aussie team moved into bigger, brighter office and in September @World_First reached 9,000 followers on Twitter. Phew! Remember Jabu from back when we started? Well in October we opened our Singapore office and he's the MD. We also won The UK Customer Experience Award the same month. And by December the global World First team had cracked 200 employees! Our Christmas Challenge got social this year with each team making 15 second InstaVid #YuleTube.

2014

We turned 10 this year!!! The years have flown by and we now have over 300 employees worldwide. In May we took out the Customer Focus category at the European Business Awards hosted in Athens. Jabu opened up our 2nd Asian office, this time in Hong Kong. Summer time and we bid adieu to Regent House and moved into some fancy new digs in Millbank Tower, across the river from the MI6 (so James Bond!). In September we made our millionth trade!

2015

Another year, more new offices! World First’s story continued with our launch in Singapore, new offices in Hong Kong and Virginia, and a new frontier broken by setting up business in Austin, Texas. The awards just kept rolling in (not that we’re showing off!) with a place on the Real Business Hot 100 and a top 30 placing in The Sunday Times ‘International Track 200’. We visited some of our wonderful clients, and filmed their World First stories. From gin makers to home buyers, we heard some inspiring currency transfer tales (and came face-to-face with the biggest dog you’ve ever seen). And in the UK, the newest Mr. Man character – our very own Mr. First – hit big screens, billboards and adverts in tube stations, train stations and in magazines & newspapers. Have you seen him yet?

This year we have

48,000+

New customers

0

Automated machines to talk to

SGD 137,481

Donated to charity

The team

We're one of the most experienced teams in foreign exchange. Even more importantly, we're a group of people who care and who'll pull out all the stops to make sure you get the most from your currency exchange.

Below you can put a face to the name of the World First management team. And learn a little more about what makes them tick. We've all picked 3 words that really mean something to us. What would your 3 words be?

View our Global executive team
View our Singapore leadership team

Jonathan Quin

Chief Executive Officer

Cars, Design, Cadell

Jonathan Quin

Jonathan co-founded World First in January 2004. His career before this included two years as Head of Business Development within the Financial Markets division of RBS. Prior to that he was at Citibank, initially as a trader before moving to the bank's global corporate sales desk. He then looked after the European sales of Citibank's online FX trading products. Jonathan holds a law and accountancy degree from the University of Edinburgh.

Sir David Clementi

Chairman

Boats, Ballet, Cowes

Sir David Clementi

Sir David joined World First as senior adviser in 2006 and has been the chairman since 2011. He is also currently chairman of Kings Cross Central. His previous roles include chairman of Prudential plc, director of Rio Tinto plc and director of The Royal Opera House. In addition he was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England from 1997 to 2002 and was also chief executive of Kleinwort Benson. He is a graduate of Oxford University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is also the grandson of Sir Cecil Clementi, former governor of Singapore.

Nick Robinson

Vice Chairman

Machrihanish, Scottish Rocks, Grass

Nick Robinson

Nick co-founded World First in January 2004. He joined Citibank on the UK Corporate Foreign Exchange desk and looked after a large client group including many FTSE 100 companies. After this, he joined Credit Agricole Indosuez to launch their UK Corporate foreign exchange and interest rate hedging business. He most recently spent two years setting up our Australian office in Sydney. Nick holds a business and French degree from Reading University.

Alexander Filshie

Chief Financial Officer

Teamwork, Motors, Tuscany

Alexander Filshie

Alexander joined the team at World First in 2016 as the Chief Financial Officer. Alexander has more than twenty years’ experience in the global financial services sector holding leadership positions at Standard Chartered, Barclays, American Express and, most recently, as Group CFO at CLS Group, operators of the world’s largest multicurrency cash settlement service.

Mike Ward

Chief Revenue Officer

Hockey, Watches, Toronto

Mike Ward

Mike joined World First in January 2015 as Chief Executive Officer for North America and also as one of our Joint Chief Commercial Officers sitting on our Global Executive team. Prior to this he had been Chief Executive Officer at OzForex during his three year tenure and before that Business Development Manager at Jameson Bank. He grew up in Toronto, moving to the States to attend University and indulge his passion for playing ice hockey, while studying Finance at Liberty College. When not working he likes to spend his free time with his family or on the golf course.

Martin Talbot

Chief Marketing Officer

Estrela, Reichenbach Falls, Mandarin Oriental

Martin Talbot

Martin joined World First in August 2014 as Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to this he had been Marketing Director and Board member at Wiggle.co.uk and Marketing Director at Play.com. Both on-line retailers known for an entrepreneurial and disruptive approach to established markets, Martin developed the marketing strategy that helped deliver accelerated year on year growth for both businesses. He graduated with an Honours Degree in Business from University in Leicester with his early career being spent at Sony Pictures and Associated Newspapers.

Kelly Jackson

Group HR Director

Sihanoukville, Great British Bake Off, Cocktails

Kelly Jackson

Kelly joined World First as Group HR Director in November 2014. After graduating from UCL with a degree in Psychology, she went travelling around South East Asia and Australasia before starting her HR career at QAS Limited – a subsidiary of Experian Plc. Most recently she headed up the HR team at Stemcor Ltd – a privately owned international steel trading company.

Tim Rudman

Chief Operating Officer

Africa, The Internet, Squash

Tim Rudman

Tim qualified with a bachelors degree in Finance, marketing and international business in South Africa. Following a brief stint working in marketing, Tim moved to London in 2007. In 2008 Tim joined World First as a E-Commerce desk assistant and worked his way through a variety of roles including Head of Operations. Tim is now our Group Chief Operating Officer.

Graham Stanton

Chief Commercial Officer- Private and Corporate

Laphroaig, Gadgets, Kilts

Graham Stanton

Graham joined World First in 2007 in the corporate sales team. He has risen through the ranks from a senior advisor, to Manager of the Corporate Sales team and then Manager of Partnerships and Corporate Sales. Graham is now our Country Manager. Previously Graham worked for a technology based Mergers and Acquisitions firm. He graduated from Nottingham University in 2003.

Millie Richardson

Chief Compliance Officer

Angkor Wat, G&T, Cake craft

Millie Richardson

Millie joined World First in June 2013, having worked as the Head of Governance and Reporting at AXA. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, she joined the Global Financial Services Audit at HSBC. After a spell at the FSA (now FCA) as an insurance supervisor, she went back to HSBC to set up the Enterprise Risk Management Function for their insurance operations, eventually becoming the Global Compliance Officer for HSBC Insurance.

Tim Watson

Head of IT

Science, Technology, Beer

Tim Watson

Tim joined World First in 2009 as a software developer and systems administrator. Before joining the company he ran a successful IT consulting business helping businesses open offices worldwide as well as helping with deploying secure and reliable network infrastructures. Tim graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2001 with an MSci in Chemistry and in 2005 with a PhD in Theoretical/Computational Chemistry.

Jabu Henson

Managing Director, Asia

Diving, 50mm lens, Malbec

Jabu Henson

Jabu is the Managing Director for Asia and is responsible for our Asian offices as part of the Global Leadership team. He joined World First in 2004 and was our 3rd employee. Before setting up the Hong Kong and Singapore offices he was Chief Operating Officer in London for 5 years. He is a fully qualified commercial airline pilot, holds a BSc in Financial Economics from the University of London and holds an MBA from Cass Business School

Nick Aston

Chief Commercial Officer – Group eCommerce

Classic cars, Sailing, Cotopaxi

Nick Aston

Nick is the Chief Commercial Officer responsible for our E-Commerce business globally and part of the Global Leadership team. He joined World First in January 2012 as the Commercial Director for Asia and set-up our offices in Singapore and Hong Kong. He has lived in Asia for the last six years having previously worked for a wealth management firm in Shanghai. He holds a degree in Psychology from the University of Birmingham.

Henry Chen

Head of Sales and Partnerships

New York Yankees, Scorsese, Spain

Henry Chen

Henry joined World First as Head of Sales & Partnership, Asia in August 2015 to lead a team and grow our Asian business. A native New Yorker, after graduating from Pace University with a BBA in Finance, he was a banker with HSBC and later moved to JPMorgan Chase. Henry relocated to Hong Kong in 2012 and worked for American Express as Head of Sales prior to joining World First.

Vivian Chung

Head of Compliance, Asia

Twins, Travel, Prosecco

Vivian Chung

Vivian joined World First in 2015 as Head of Compliance, Asia. She holds a BCom degree from the University of British Columbia and is a member of the HKICPA. She started her first job in audit with Ernst & Young. After that, she began her compliance career in an insurance company and thereafter joined a credit rating agency as Compliance Officer for the Asia-Pacific region.

Monica Chan

HR Manager, Asia

Bobby, Bruce & Bella, Bailey & Bing Bong

Monica Chan

Monica joined World First in 2015 as the Human Resources Manager for Asia. Her first job was a flight attendant with Cathay Pacific Airways. After that, she began her HR career and has since worked for Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) S.A. Monica holds a BArts and a BCom degree from the University of Auckland

Rebecca Snape

Head of Dealing

Disaronno,Brunch, Chai Tea

Rebecca Snape

Rebecca joined World First in 2012 as an online assistant to the Private Desk, and looked after all of our private clients that traded through the online platform. She quickly moved to join the Private Client Dealing Team, before becoming Team Leader of the Private Client Dealing Team in September 2013. Rebecca moved to our Singapore office in September 2015 to become their Head of Dealing, and holds a first class honours degree from the University of Reading.

Giving back

We Are Trinity

IntoUniversity

Amigo's

St Christopher's Hospice

St Peter & St James Cancer Hospice

Wellington Appeal & British Red Cross

MND Association

Anthony Nolan

Help for Heroes

London's Air Ambulance

Rethink

RSPCA

At World First we have one value that we hold above all other: "People First". This applies not only to our clients, but also to our suppliers, partners, employees and the world at large. We take our commitment to our community very seriously and take pride in our efforts to raise money for great causes. And every year each World Firster gets the opportunity to select a charity of their choice and we donate £1,000 in their name. This is a great way for our people to make a difference to a personal cause.