The growth of digital based industries and the expansion of global commerce has resulted in a big increase in the number of small and medium sized companies doing business on the world stage. However, when it comes to international payments, these firms are finding themselves held back by legacy banking systems which were designed to serve large corporations and not the dynamic requirements of smaller and more agile companies.
Bank’s hidden charges
Small and medium sized businesses are unknowingly paying over the odds for their foreign exchange (FX) services despite claims of ‘0% commission’ and ‘free transfers’ from their bank or FX broker. Many businesses are unware that they could be paying hidden fees of around 3-5% every time they instruct their bank or broker to exchange currency to pay an international supplier or convert overseas revenue into GBP. This could equate to a charge of up to £2,500 for converting £50,000 of currency.
Rather than displaying these fees upfront to their customers, banks and large FX brokers hide these charges within the exchange rates they quote on their foreign currency transactions. With around 85% of small firms still using their bank to do FX transactions, the resultant fees are estimated to cost them some £4bn per year in additional and unnecessary charges.
Levelling the playing field
Large multinational companies, through their closely managed banking relationships, obtain much more favourable currency exchange rates than SMEs by virtue of their size and ‘importance’ to the bank/broker. It is our mission to level the playing field so that all companies, regardless of size, can gain access to market leading exchange rates whilst at the same time providing a superior customer experience throughout the process.
CurrencyWave is at the forefront of FinTech innovation, leveraging state of the art technology to reduce the complexity and cost of international payments for small and medium sized businesses.
10 Reasons why small and medium sized businesses use CurrencyWave:
- Save up to 85% on the charges hidden within foreign exchange rates offered by banks and brokers for converting international payments/receipts.
- Unlock currency exchange rates that are generally only available to large multinational companies.
- Banks usually provide FX services only during normal banking hours whereas 24/7 access to our payments platform gives you the flexibility to arrange currency payments whenever and from wherever you are.
- Our established FX liquidity supplier handles over£12bn in international payments per yearand 20,000 individual payments every day.
- Our technology removes friction from the international payments process by offering superior speed of execution with real-time exchange rates and at a fraction of the cost charged by the banks.
- Our Payments Engine supports your worldwide growth ambitions with over 35 currencies and 212 country destinations available.
- We can help you manage currency risk and protect profits in your business by undertaking forward currency transactions to lock in exchange rates for up to 1 year ahead.
- You may not have the time to regularly compare exchange rates against the live interbank rate. Our platform automatically displays the real-time interbank rate alongside the rates we quote so you have greater transparency.
- Unlike some other FX providers, we do not offer ‘honeymoon’ exchange rates just to attract new customers only to increase our spreads later on, once you become a client. Our charges remain constant at all times.
We only work with providers regulated by the UK regulator- the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
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