Customers on online foreign exchange market in the light of empirical research

Abstract

The phenomenon of currency exchange first came into being approximately 2500 years ago. The Greeks are known to be the pioneers in currency exchange. General references to this kind of operations can also be traced to the Jesus Christ era and found in the Bible. Over centuries the demand for exchanging currency increased together with the growing number of countries issuing their own currencies. This clearly led to the development of an independent financial market segment and isolation of intermediaries dealing with this kind of services. Technical advances related to the launch of new distribution channels for Internet-based financial services did not circumvent the currency exchange market. In this field new alternative forms of foreign exchange offices were introduced at the beginning of 21th century which provided currency exchange referred to as online foreign exchange (online foreign exchange platforms).

The article delivers main outcomes of conducted survey which attempted to specify customer preferences with regard to their online foreign exchange activities. The first part of the article introduces the reasons why customers decide to undertake foreign exchange operations via Internet. It elaborates on the determinants influencing customers’ choice of online exchange platforms as location of foreign currency exchange. The following part of the article elaborates on convertible currency types and exchange operations’ frequency with regard to online foreign exchange platforms. Finally, customers’ trust and its level is evaluated in the field of foreign currency exchange platforms.