Frequently asked questions
General World Account questions
What is the difference between a receiving account and a currency account?
Receiving accounts allow your business to receive payments from marketplaces and businesses globally. This means you’ll be able to receive funds into your World Account via bank transfer.
Your currency account is the pooled balance of all your receiving accounts. For example, if you receive 100 GBP into one receiving account and 100 GBP into another, your total GBP currency account balance will be 200 GBP.
Why have I been given account details in my own name?
If you were previously given WorldFirst account details to settle your FX trades, we’ve now given you your own unique account details enabling you to settle trades as well as hold and covert balances.
What is the difference between a 'Payer' and a 'Payee'?
Payee (beneficiary): the individual or party receiving the payment.
Payer: the individual or party making the payment.
Can I view historical statements on my new World Account platform?
Yes, all of the historical information will be available in the new portal. Please take a look at our user guide for more support.
If you held a Corporate Account on our old platform, you’ll find your historical statements on the new World Account portal. You’ll also be able to see your trade history and payment history, these are available to download.
If you held a World Account on the old platform, you’ll be able to see your payment history, which can also be downloaded.
Has there been a change in the currencies I'm able to transact in?
We currently support the world’s major currencies:
GBP, USD, EUR, AUD, JPY, NZD, SGD, HKD, CNH, CAD, PLN, CZK, THB, DKK, MXN, AED, SAR, CHF, SEK, NOK, ZAR, RON, ILS, BGN, IDR, PKR, VND, MYR, PHP, HUF, BHD, BWP, KES, LKR, MAD, MUR, and TRY.
You can open currency accounts and collect funds in the following currencies:
GBP, USD, EUR, AUD, JPY, NZD, SGD, HKD, CNH, CAD, PLN, AED and CHF. Our PLN, AED, SEK and CHF currency accounts are non-domiciled.
Please note: that due to current sanctions, you are not able to access RUB.
What is the Authy App?
Authy is an authentication app that adds a layer of protection to your World Account beyond a password. It offers two-factor authentication to reduce the risk of fraudulent activity taking place on your account should your login details become compromised. Find out more.
Can I still use the Authy App to log in to my World Account?
Yes, you can continue to use the Authy app to help you sign in to your new World Account.
Please note: when using the Authy app, you must now use the ‘World Account’ tab to generate a code rather than the ‘WorldFirst’ tab you would have used previously.
Why might my World Account be suspended?
There are a number of reasons why we might need to close your WorldFirst account. Whilst we can’t disclose the specific reasons for regulatory reasons, please note that the following factors could have any impact:
When applying for your account, we may require you to provide us with additional information and documents from time to time to provide information that allows us to:
- verify the source of the funds, including but not limited to invoices for services delivered for which you are being paid
- verify payment confirmation from the entity sending the funds
Failure to provide such requested information may result in us denying your use of the World Account. All information you provide us must be accurate and complete. If we cannot verify that this information is accurate, we may deny your use of the World Account, or terminate your use of the World Account.
- If you don’t use your World Account for a period of 12 months or more, we may suspend or close your account
- We may also require you to provide additional documentation and information that we may reasonably request to assist us in meeting our Compliance Obligations and you may need to re-apply to open a World Account
- There are transactions on your account that we can’t complete
Please note: no account is closed until you receive email confirmation back from us. We reserve the right to close accounts that have not been used for an extended period.
Questions about payments
Can I still make mass payments?
Yes, but the steps you need to undertake are slightly different. Please take a look at our in-portal guide for support.
Why do I not see all my payees when I select 'Pay' on the portal?
You might not see all your payees available to pay when you select ‘Pay’ because your payees have now been separated between:
- Third-party payees
- Own account payees
Your own account payees will be available to you to pay by clicking ‘Withdraw’.
Any third-party payees will be available to you to pay by clicking ‘Pay’.
What is the difference between selecting 'Pay' and 'Withdraw' on the portal?
You would only select ‘Withdraw’ when you want to release funds from your World Account to an external bank account held in your name/your company name.
You would only select ‘Pay’ in order to pay any of your third-party payees.
What is an automatic transfer?
Automatic transfers are rules that you can set on your World Account portal in order to schedule payments. For instance, you can set up an automatic transfer to pay a specific payee every month, or you could set up a rule to withdraw funds from your World Account to your external bank account when your World Account balance exceeds a certain threshold.
What happens to my Automated Regular Transfers?
If you had any scheduled automated transfers set up, you’ll now need to set these up again on your new World Account portal.
For further support, please take a look at our dedicated user guides:
Managing FX deals
What is the difference between 'Scheduled' and 'Fixed' FX?
Selecting ‘Scheduled FX’ when booking a payment means that the FX rate used to convert your funds into payment currency won’t be confirmed until you have sufficient funds in your World Account on your desired payment date.
The FX rate confirmed for ‘Scheduled FX’ will be the live rate as of the time of confirmation.
Selecting ‘Fixed FX’ means that you lock in a rate at the time of booking your payment. At this point, you’re contractually obliged to fund and complete your payment. The FX rate for ‘Fixed FX’ will be the live rate at the time you created the payment.
What does 'Book an FX trade' mean on the portal?
You can use ‘Book an FX trade’ to lock in your rate at the point of booking and settling funds at a later stage.
When you book an FX trade, you’ll be contractually obliged to settle this trade, so you’ll need time to ensure you hold a sufficient balance on your World Account on your desired settlement date. This is to avoid any cancellations and subsequent fees.
What does 'Convert' mean on the portal?
You can select ‘Convert’ to instantly change (convert) any existing balances held in one currency on your World Account to another.
Are my open trades still available?
Yes, if you had any existing trades which had a value date beyond the date you were moved over to the new World Account portal, they will still be available to you.
You’ll be able to view, manage and utilise your open trades by navigating to ‘Transaction Management’ under ‘Payments’ on the dashboard.
How do I make a drawdown from a forward contract?
To make a drawdown from an existing forward contract, navigate to ‘Transaction Management’ under ‘Payments’ and find the forward you wish to drawdown from.
Select ‘Add payment’ on the right-hand side of the screen.
For more support, take a look at our user guide:
Multi-user accounts
If I previously held an International Collections or International Payments Account with WorldFirst, do I need to recreate my multi-user/sub-user roles and permissions in my new World Account?
No, your existing users, roles, and permissions will still be available on your new World Account.
Xero
What actions do I need to take if my account was previously connected to Xero and I have since moved over to the new World Account portal?
You’ll need to reconnect your World Account to Xero following the two steps below:
- Connect your WorldFirst user account to your Xero user account (this requires your Xero username and password – please continue reading for further details)
- Connect your WorldFirst currency accounts to your Xero bank accounts
You won’t lose any transaction data. All transactions completed on the new World Account will be automatically shared to Xero
Please note that accounts switched from our old to new World Account portal will see two migration transactions under WorldFirst statements and Xero:
- A ‘subtract account balance‘ transaction applied to your new World Account. This will be automatically shared to Xero.
- An ‘add account balance’ transaction applied to your new World Account. This will only be automatically added when you manually complete re-connection steps 1 and 2 outlined above.
The two migration transactions allow us to move your account balance from the old World Account platform to the new one. This means that once you’ve reconnected your account, they will cancel each other out to maintain your balance within Xero.
