No fees, no spread: how Spiko manages currency conversion

Spiko allows you to switch currencies within the app, with no fees and no spread. This capability has been live in Spiko T-Bills since November 2024. As of September 1st, 2026, it is also live in our flagship product: Smart Cash. You can now transfer funds between Spiko Euro, Spiko Dollar and Spiko Pound, and withdraw from any of them in EUR, GBP, or USD.

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Bid, ask, and the spread

Ask a bank to turn euros into dollars and you will be quoted one rate. Sell dollars to buy euros, and you will find the rate is slightly different.

The first is the bid price for the EUR/USD pair: the price at which the bank is willing to buy euros, the base currency, in exchange for dollars, the quote currency. The second is the ask price: the price at which it is willing to sell the base currency in exchange for the quote. Banks and exchange providers apply this difference to generate profit.

That difference is the spread.

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The rate Spiko applies: the mid

The midpoint between the bid and the ask is the mid-market rate, or mid rate. It sits exactly between the two prices the market is quoting, and it simplifies the arithmetic: each currency pair carries one rate, whichever direction you are trading in.

That is the rate Spiko applies to every operation involving a currency conversion. For Spiko Smart Cash, the mid published by WM/Reuters at 4pm London. For Spiko T-Bills, the Bloomberg BFIX fixing at 11:30 CET.

Why two different benchmarks?

The two products execute their conversions through different institutions. In Spiko T-Bills, the day's net flow is converted on CACEIS's FX desk, against the Bloomberg BFIX benchmark. In Spiko Smart Cash, the conversion is arranged through Amundi, against WM/Reuters.

Using the mid to execute your orders means there is no spread for you to pay when performing FX operations.

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And nothing on top

There are two ways to charge for a currency conversion: bury the cost inside the rate, or add a fee on top of it. Applying the mid rate doesn’t guarantee a fair price: many providers use the mid-market rate for executing operations, but then charge fees on top of it.

Spiko does neither. There is no fee on a conversion, so the amount does not change what you pay and neither does how often you do it.

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Getting started

Currency conversion is available now in the app, across the Smart Cash range. The mechanics, cut-off times and settlement rules are documented in full here.

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