When I started my computer this morning one of the first things that popped up was the above advertisement. ZenBanx is the majority owned subsidiary of Duca , the Dutch/Canadian credit union. This new enterprise is going to give them growth, lets take a look.
To keep the math simple lets assume that the exchange rate is .80 or 1.25, which would imply that it would cost 250 x 1.25 = C$312 but as they promise to do this at par they receive only C$250 so they lose C$62. But they do charge about C$6 per transaction, so on a net basis they will go in the hole C$56 for each and every transaction. This is on top of the millions squandered to get the whole thing going.
The question now is, is this an absolutely brilliant marketing ploy that is going to grab the attention of the world at a relatively low cost, or is this a completely stupid and irresponsible idea that is going to help bring Duca to it’s knees. Time will tell but I would not bet my Duca bonus shares.