Sending payments abroad comes with exorbitant fees, poor exchange rates, and delayed settlement times when relying on traditional banks. But new financial technology (fintech) solutions are emerging to fix an antiquated system and streamline cross-border transfers.
Christophe Derdeyn, a seasoned global entrepreneur and visionary leader in business transformation and IT innovation, explains how businesses can leverage these new platforms to slash costs and boost efficiency.
Assess Your Foreign Exchange Volumes
The first step is understanding your current foreign exchange flows across borders. Track your annual international payment volumes, both between major currency pairs and from major to exotic currencies. This provides a baseline to quantify potential savings from fintech solutions. Christophe gave an example of a company transferring $60 million annually that saved nearly $600,000 per year with optimized global payments.
“On the $60 million that they convert every year in different currencies, they basically save almost $600,000 per year just by using a different means of conveying the money,” he said.
Research Fintech Providers
Once you’ve measured your volumes, research fintech firms offering business payment services like Wise, Revolut, GoPay, Aspire, Transfermate and others. Christophe advises focusing on well-established players that follow strict financial compliance regulations and maintain proper insurance safeguards. Validate that platforms have obtained all necessary licenses and security certifications.
For smaller companies, often entry-level solutions like WISE and Aspire are great – even if they don’t cover the entire market, they are low-entry and have a good user experience. For companies with a large geographic footprint & bigger volumes, B2B fintechs like Transfermate are often a better alternative.
Run Small-Scale Tests
Rather than shifting all of your international payments to a fintech provider at once, run small-scale tests to build confidence.
Try several platforms with a portion of your overall payment volume to compare fees, foreign exchange rates, settlement times, and the ease of integration with your existing systems.
“All of them are subject to financial regulatory context. So they need to have finance payments licenses and so forth,” he said. “They also have ISO certifications related to security and there’s a whole list of financial certifications that they have.”
Secure Executive Buy-In
Given the clear benefits, one might expect automatic enthusiasm for fintech payment solutions. But Christophe cautions that CFOs often hesitate due to ingrained reluctance toward financial innovation.
“CFOs are typically very careful people because they need to manage the treasury chest of a company and as a consequence by nature they’re risk averse,” he said. The CEO or COO must therefore champion these initiatives based on operational impact rather than just financial risk management.
“It’s a COO or a CEO – someone who is more driving, who sees the value and who is willing to take a commitment,” Christophe advised.
Integrate Fintech Solutions
Once leadership is on board, focus on seamless integration. The fintech should interface with internal systems like ERP platforms to ease data transmission and reconciliation. Christophe also noted an emerging trend where banks acquire or partner with fintechs to incorporate their tech while retaining the customer interface. This helps assuage hesitant executives through brand familiarity.
Continuously Optimize
Adopting fintech payment technology is not a one-time initiative, but rather an ongoing process. As new platforms and capabilities emerge, continually evaluate the global payments landscape to identify potential additional efficiencies.
With the right solutions in place, businesses can unlock significant time and cost savings on critical cross-border financial flows. Follow these expert strategies to streamline global payments and redirect resources toward higher-value initiatives that drive growth.
Outdated cross-border payment infrastructure burdens businesses with delays and fees. But new fintech solutions offer a chance to streamline transfers and capture significant savings. Following a strategic approach can help businesses adopt optimized global payment platforms and leave legacy wire transfers behind.
To understand more about Fintech and business payments, visit Christophe Derdeyn’s website or check out his LinkedIn profile.
