Metro Remittance UK Review 2026: Fees, Exchange Rates and What Your Recipient Gets

A published fee that rises with the amount

We found Metro clearer than most bank-linked services on fees. Sending to a Metrobank account online costs £7.50, cash pickup is £8.00, and other Philippine banks cost £8.50, under the schedule it updated at the end of 2025.

On top of that, a surcharge of 50p applies for every £100 above the first £500. So a £1,000 transfer to a Metrobank account works out at about £10.00 once the surcharge is added.

The exchange rate is the hidden part

The fee is the easy bit to check. The harder cost is the exchange rate, and Metro does not show it on its public pages, listing only "the counter rate for the day".

You see the live rate inside the app or by calling the London office before you commit. We estimate the margin near 1.5% above the mid-market price, wider than a low-cost specialist, so the rate is where Metro quietly earns more than a flat-fee rival.

We use the live mid-market rate near 80.89 on 29 June 2026. Metro does not publish its rate, so its figure below is an illustration at our estimated margin; check the live in-app rate before you send.

Read it like this. On the same £1,000, a flat-fee specialist such as Kabayan Remit lands roughly 80,200 pesos, while Metro lands near 78,900 on our estimate, a gap of about 1,300 pesos driven by the wider rate and the £10 fee.

Metro still beats a full bank route. We found PNB Europe, the bank-run option on the corridor, carries a far wider margin and delivers thousands of pesos less. So Metro sits in the middle: dearer than the keenest app, but better value than a traditional bank transfer.

The Philippines, across the Metrobank network

This is a single-corridor service built on Metrobank's reach at home. Credit to a Metrobank account arrives in about two hours, which is the quickest and cheapest payout on offer.

Beyond Metrobank accounts you can send to other Philippine banks, collect cash at Metrobank branches and partners such as LBC, Cebuana Lhuillier and Palawan, top up GCash or Maya, or arrange door-to-door delivery. You can also pay Philippine bills and government contributions.

If the Philippines is your route, it pays to see how the wider market prices it first. Compare the field on the UK to Philippines money transfer route before you commit.

Speed and access

You can send online around the clock, use the MetroRemit app, or visit the London branch in Kensington. Funding works by UK bank transfer through Faster Payments, debit or credit card, or cash at the counter.

UK and Philippine bank holidays and weekends slow the larger other-bank payouts, which move on the slower PESONet rail, and can delay door-to-door delivery to the provinces. A Metrobank credit or cash pickup stays the faster choice.

Families tied to the Metrobank network

This is the core case. If your family banks with Metrobank in the Philippines, the roughly two-hour account credit at the lowest fee tier is fast, direct and keenly priced within the service.

That direct routing is the main reason to pick Metro.

People who want a major bank behind it

A reasonable fit. Metro is owned by Metrobank and authorised in the UK as a payment institution, so it offers institutional backing plus a London counter and Tagalog-speaking support.

Just know your funds are safeguarded rather than covered by the FSCS.

Anyone chasing the best rate

Not the right tool. Because the rate is hidden until you are in the app and our estimate puts the margin above a flat-fee specialist, value-led senders will usually get more pesos elsewhere.

For the cheapest send, compare a low-fee app first.

Who runs it

We checked the FCA Register. Metro Remittance UK is Metro Remittance (UK) Limited, an authorised payment institution regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 509751.

It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, known as Metrobank, and has operated in the UK since 2002 from its office in Kensington, London. The parent is one of the largest banks in the Philippines.

How your money is protected

Metro is a payment institution, not a bank, so it does not offer FSCS protection. Instead, customer money is safeguarded: kept separate from the firm's own funds, so it is protected if the company were to fail.

That is the standard arrangement for a money transfer service. The practical point is simple: for a normal same-day send the safeguarding rules apply, but do not expect the deposit cover you would get from a UK bank account.

Checks and security

Expect standard onboarding. We found Metro verifies you with government ID and proof of address before a first transfer, and larger amounts can prompt source-of-funds questions if they look out of step with your income.

The app uses a one-time passcode for sign-in, and the firm runs transaction monitoring as a regulated business. Keep your documents handy for a bigger send to avoid a hold.

Getting started. Register on the website or the MetroRemit app and complete identity checks, or visit the London branch. You add the recipient's Metrobank account, other bank, e-wallet or cash-pickup details before sending.

Paying. Fund a transfer by UK bank transfer through Faster Payments, by debit or credit card, or with cash at the counter. A Metrobank account credit is the cheapest payout, and the fee rises with larger amounts.

Support. The team works in English and Tagalog, by phone, email and at the counter, which suits customers who want to speak to a person. The website and app run around the clock, while the branch keeps standard hours.

We looked for the customer view, and the public record is thin. Metro has only a handful of reviews across Trustpilot, Yell and the app stores, far too few to read as a reliable score.

What there is leans positive on service. Customers praise the bank-grade reassurance and the responsive, Tagalog-speaking support, which fits an older, branch-loyal base rather than the app crowd that leaves reviews in volume.

The recurring grumbles are the ones to weigh: account holds while source-of-funds checks clear, and a rate margin wider than the cheapest apps. Judge Metro on the cost shown to you on the day, not on a star rating.

On this corridor the real test is the pesos received, and you can see the wider field in our money transfer comparison.

Its two natural rivals sit either side of it. Our Kabayan Remit review covers a Philippines specialist with a low flat fee and a near mid-market rate, which tends to deliver more pesos on a like-for-like send.

Our PNB Europe review looks at the bank-run alternative, which brings deposit protection but a much wider rate margin. Metro lands between the two on value.

Rates move daily, and we refresh the live figures, so run a live comparison of today's rates and fees before you send. Then weigh Metro's payout reach and Metrobank backing against the larger amount a flat-fee app tends to deliver.

Metro Remittance UK is a safe, well-connected way to send money into the Philippines, with the backing of a major bank, fast credit to a Metrobank account and one of the deepest payout networks on the corridor.

What holds it back is value. The exchange rate is hidden until you are in the app, the estimated margin runs wider than a low-cost specialist, and the fee climbs on larger sends, so a keen flat-fee app usually delivers more pesos.

That balance lands it at 3.5 out of 5. Use Metro if your family banks with Metrobank or you need its cash and delivery reach. If you want the most money to arrive, compare a low-fee specialist first.