Are your overseas deals costing you money? Blame the bank

Doing business all over the world is great, but if your bank is overcharging for FX, it could be time to switch

Successful SMEs have a value proposition that nobody else can match – which means that nobody else in the world does what you do, how you do it. For this reason, it is not unusual for SMEs to have customers around the world. It is also not unusual for businesses to buy parts and raw materials from suppliers based overseas.

Overseas customers and suppliers bring a particular set of challenges to business owners, however, not least deciding on the currency with which the deal will be done. If the volume of traffic is big enough, it may make sense to have an account in another currency such as Euro or US Dollars. The advantage of having a foreign currency bank account is that you can easily pay bills and accept payments from your overseas contacts. But at some point, you are likely to need to turn those kroner, yen and rupees into GBP. If you’re not careful, this is where you could find your margin takes a hit. 

This is not small change. Research conducted by payments consultancy Accourt shows that businesses are overcharged in the region of £4bn each year on money transfers. Not only that, but a lack of transparency often means that customers do not know the final cost of a transaction until it has completed. Swoop’s own figures show that on average, customers save £8,000 per year by switching to a specialist transfer service. 

The lesson is clear: most of the time, completing international transfers with your regular bank for the sake of convenience is costing your thousands of pounds. 

At Swoop, we don’t think it’s fair for SMEs to be secretly overcharged and we have made it a mission to help business owners get a better deal on their FX fast. If you are not already signed up to Swoop, getting signed up and checking how much you could save takes just a few minutes. If you are already a member, it’s even quicker. 

With businesses recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, further uncertainty around the future as variants of concern make the headlines and the fallout from Brexit continuing to change the landscape, it is vital for SMEs to be smarter with their finances. In the past this meant seeking out (and paying for) expert advice or long hours researching all the options. With Swoop, businesses can find better deals fast without going to a specialist. 

To find out whether your business could save money on international funds transfers click here.