The FT
The Financial Times is known and recognised around the world for its coverage of business and financial events. They are known for their depth and breadth of data as well as in terms of editorial analysis.
Most people in the UK will be familiar with the pinkish colour of the newspaper itself, and this is also replicated on the website. As such you’ll feel at home here, as soon as you arrive!
Take me to the site! How do I get there?
The home page of the site FT.com - nice and simple to remember. But if you want to hotfoot it to the currencies part of the website, you should do so by visiting this, slightly longer link located here.
What does the site offer?
Within the FT website there is a large and comprehensive market data section that deals with all active trading markets from equities such as normal stocks and shares, to commodities such as oil and coffee.
Like many such sites the FT allows you to track a portfolio of shares, access free annual reports, such as those published by companies for full year and interim results, and much more besides.
The FT has an outstanding reputation for delivering facts and as such it is relied upon by many in the City of London as a one-stop-shop for much of their financial data needs. Both professionals and private individuals use and like the Financial Times. And of course there is plenty of up to the minute news on the site as well, which is excellent.
One other thing to note though – you need to register to be able to read more of the site. And in order to get access to all of it you’ll need to pay.
What is their currency converter like?
The converter is on the currency page of the section involving market data. So if you visit the longer link we mentioned above, you’ll see it there. The actual converter is tiny though, so if you don’t take a close look at the centre of the page you might just miss it!
The currency converter is very much one of the stripped-down school of thought. The screen that welcomes you to the currency conversion section actually has very few things on it. As such there are only three choices to be made. You need to tap in the number of units you have in mind first of all; in other words how much of the currency you are starting from.
After this there is a pair of drop down lists where you can choose from a selection of major currencies. Unlike several other websites there are relatively few currencies to choose from; there are less than thirty in each drop down list. As you can imagine there are none of the more exotic or obscure currencies here, just the much more common and well known ones. Likewise none of the traditional Forex “hedges”, such as gold or platinum make the lists.
These are major world currencies only – the most outlandish one that they have included would arguably be the Argentina peso. As such the FT currency converter is focused well and truly on anyone who is heading off abroad on holiday. If you are thinking of trading in the Forex market then another site will probably offer more in the way of benefits.
All in all the simplicity of the page is good as there is very little that could confuse anyone. The page is also less fussy than many currency conversion pages. For tourists this is a good site that is well worth remembering.
Another point worth noting is that the currency converter is reasonably up to date with its figures. You’ll see just how much by when you visit of course, but at the time of writing it stated that the data used for the conversion was at least ten minutes out of date.
Now that is quite something when you consider that most currency converters use data from the day before, i.e. the closing rates from the previous day. Some are more up to date but the FT does well in getting to the head of the queue in this respect!
Supposing I need some help and advice – can they help me with that?
Yes they certainly can. If you keep scrolling down you will see a number of links grouped together in sections on the right hand side of the page. But the real links you need in case of assistance are even further down, across the very bottom of the page.
The site map link can be useful if you get lost trying to find what you need to know. But in addition to that the help section is by far the best one we have seen.
This is tabbed into sections so you only need to go through the one that is right for your needs. Right near the bottom of the first section that comes up is the line ‘contacting the FT’. This has plenty of connections and contacts that could help you to figure out where to go if you need help.
In conclusion
The Financial Times is one of those names that gives you an immediate feeling of reassurance. No matter what you might be using their currency converter – or indeed their site – for, you won’t be disappointed.
There is only a very limited amount of access to it if you don’t want to subscribe of course, but regardless of whether you do or not, you will still benefit from it in some ways. So why not take a look now?
Rating (out of five stars)
After careful thought, we are going to give the FT website four stars out of five. There is a lot of information on here, but the need to subscribe lets it down somewhat for our purposes. The currency converter is very good though, and its basic nature will be just fine for many people.
- 4 Stars
Link: FT.com Currency Converter