A Leeds based FX specialist is helping businesses unlock the global digital economy with the launch of a unique multi-currency account via its payment provider, Currencycloud. The online platform removes the complexity of receiving, holding and sending payments in foreign currencies and serves a growing market of SMEs looking to increase their global footprint.
Many businesses that trade internationally and need to pay international suppliers or invoice overseas customers are often underserved when it comes to financial services.
Jamie Holmes, director of CurrencyWave, says: “SMEs generate as much as 50% of private sector turnover and employ 3/5ths of the UK workforce yet their potential to participate in global trade is often limited by the restrictions of conventional banking. As new trading corridors open up, it’s important that there are no barriers to entry created by cumbersome legacy payment processes.
Take the simple example of a business that exports its products to the USA. They may want payment to arrive in GBP but the customer would prefer to pay in USD. The customer, when sending the payment, suffers punitive FX conversion charges and the funds arrive short after correspondent banking fees are deducted along the way. As well as costing money, this creates a reconciliation headache for the exporter, requiring time wasting manual intervention.”
With the new multi-currency account, clients are allocated a single IBAN (International Bank Account Number) that can receive and hold 34 different currencies and pay out in 38. In the case of the US customer, they can send payment to the account using domestic payment methods (ACH or FedWire) meaning expensive cross-border payment charges are avoided altogether and the funds arrive in full and a lot quicker.
Says Jamie: “The whole ethos behind the platform is to facilitate the freeing up of working capital that is so vital to a company’s success or failure in overseas trade. No longer will it be necessary to open up a bank account in another country, so this complex and expensive pain point is removed for all of our clients.”
By providing access to innovative and streamlined payment networks, the company aims to get its customers into overseas markets more quickly and efficiently and help them realise their global ambitions.
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