Trading without borders: The cross border payments evolution

Plenty is unfolding in the global payments arena. There is a stream of new products or partnerships being publicised by financial institutions to improve the user experience across both domestic and international payments.

One common theme rings true, the existing system is failing to meet the demands and realities of cross-border payments, especially for SMEs. In a market that continues to grow and now worth over $22 trillion [1], the challenge is to make international payments more accessible to businesses and set a new standard of trading without borders.

What’s enabling the cross-border payments evolution? 

To put it simply, the whole infrastructure is highly complex. There are too many lenders, brokers, FI’s, processes and systems in place that lack sufficient integration or none at all.

Furthermore, a study in 2015 by Capital Economics has shown that SMEs were overcharged over £4bn a year [2]. What businesses are screaming for is faster access to data, fewer intermediaries, transparent transaction times and most importantly, reasonable fees. 

Nowadays, people expect their user experience with financial transactions to be the same if not better than social networks or other apps they use daily. As a result, we demand money to be transmitted instantly, securely and with the promise of being available to do so anywhere in the world in real-time. 

To add to this complexity, challenger banks, Fintechs and incumbents are all competing for the right to provide their version of these solutions. How do businesses choose from a plethora of providers that enable them to make seamless international payments with no obstacles?

The first step to delivering a seamless cross-border payments service to both businesses and consumers across the global payments ecosystem will require collaboration.

Trading without borders

At Form3, we believe that trading internationally shouldn’t be a pain point at any stage of the process, no matter the size of the company. We are building a global transaction-based API platform specifically for SMEs using advanced technology, automation and partnerships.

Form3 is removing the burdens that limit many SMEs from making international payments all through one single API integration built in-house. As a result, our customers can access the latest technology advancements on multiple payment endpoints, leaving them to focus on delivering enhanced customer propositions to grow their business instead.

How Form3 is revolutionising cross-border payments

To further strengthen our proposition, we’ve partnered with leading global payment partners. Through our initial partnership with Ebury, Form3 can offer end-customers access to our International Platform through their respective banks and Fintech providers, linking with Form3’s API-driven real-time platform.

Backed by our outstanding operational excellence and simple customer onboarding, financial institutions can embed this capability into their existing customer channels and mobile apps with ease. Once connected, financial institutions will then be able to provide services that traditionally only global organisations and specialist Fintechs could offer to customers.

With 80% of cross-border payments B2B related [1], we believe the future is giving SMEs increased access to tailored solutions no matter where they are located or who they want to make cross-border payments with.

Together, we can shape the next evolution of cross-border payments, remove the barriers to trade and improve the financial well-being of many businesses around the world.

Sources:
[1] www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com
[2] www.capitaleconomics.com