If you are wondering how to save money on international banking for your tourism or travel business, then keep reading as we are going to discuss the best ways to do it. Many tourism and travel companies have international payments or client exposure, which causes natural currency fluctuation risk that may affect their margins negatively. Any such business owner or finance manager should think of ways to minimise such risks and optimise international banking costs overall. Our Epico Finance professionals have helped many such companies optimise their international banking strategies, and we are going to share key tips with you in this article. Having More Than One Bank Account First and foremost, it is worth considering having more than one bank account. Usually, a local bank account is used for domestic operations in a local currency, such as paying taxes, rent, utilities, payroll, and more. However, the tourism and travel industries are cross-border intensive and require transacting internationally in at least several currencies. The most popular currencies are EUR, USD, GBP, AUD, NZD, CAD, and more exotic ones like TRY, ILS, AED, CZK, THB, SGD, and so on. Having such a vast currency exposure requires a platform and the capacity to manage all those payments in one or several places. Traditional domestic banks are not flexible in regards to currency exchange, receiving and sending payments in multiple currencies, or even allowing to fix currency rates with forward contracts. Therefore, additional multi-currency accounts are needed to have more capability to manage such payment flows. What Are the Most Common Types of Payments and Currency Exchange Operations in the Travel and Tourism Industry? Marketing Expense: In most cases, such marketing platforms as Google or Meta take local currency as payment for ads and pay per click. However, there are some other ways of marketing that might require the ability to pay in a foreign currency, for example, copywriting, backlinks, lesser-known marketing platforms like Digital Turbine, and others. Software expense: Some companies need to pay for their software infrastructure, such as AWS, Google Office, Microsoft, and many more. These payments are mostly in USD, which requires a currency exchange. Especially for bigger companies, it might be an opportunity to save thousands on such currency exchanges using an international digital bank. International Payroll: Some travel agencies or cruise travel providers operate in several countries that might involve cross-currency payroll and utility payments. Even though those branches might have local bank accounts, currency operations are usually centrally managed from the HQ. Pricing and budgeting: A lot of travel agencies prepare pricing plans and proposals for international partners that are used for 12 to 24 months. This creates a currency risk that might affect profit margins negatively in the case of currency fluctuations. In many cases, we have helped companies build a resilient currency rate fix that helped protect those margins for up to 24 months. An OTC FX forward is the perfect tool for that. Budgeting in general can be a difficult task if currency exposures are left unchecked. It is important to have at least partial currency hedges to have a sustainable budget for the next year. We partner with several digital banks that are currency specialists and can help build and execute an effective currency risk management strategy for travel or tourism businesses. Transportation costs: a big part of the travel and tourism business is transportation. Usually, cruises and flights are booked in USD. In some countries, local banks are struggling with the USD correspondence and exchanges because they lack top-tier banking partners such as JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs that could enable them to be competitive in the USD transactions. For this reason, we recommend using a digital bank that has strong partnerships with American banks and can provide narrow spreads for USD exchanges. Providing new destinations: quite often, tourism businesses or travel agencies are trying to offer clients new and attractive destinations such as Thailand, Australia, the Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, or others. In order to be able to price such travel attractively, it is important to have a reliable currency partner that can help save tons of money in local currency exchanges. A real-life example of a client case that we had recently: a travel agency was buying hotel stays and airport transfers in Turkey in bulk. Local partners were accepting only Turkish lira as payment. As the Turkish Lira was decreasing in value throughout 2022, we helped the client reduce the TRY exchange spread by 1%, which allowed them to save roughly 15.000 EUR on a yearly basis. In addition, we helped them reduce payment costs by 50% so they felt less strict about making monthly payments rather than quarterly and potentially saved on a currency value while it was dropping month to month. Connecting to Payment Gateways: There are many travel companies that sell their trips online and use payment gateways such as Stripe, WorldPay, and others. Payment gateways allow travel companies to sell their trips online and customers to book trips using their debit or credit cards. If trips are sold internationally, this automatically generates revenue in multiple currencies that requires a conversion. Some payment gateways offer currency conversion and settlement in local currency; however, this option is costly, as card schemes will take approximately 2-3% on such conversions. Travel companies can opt to receive settlements in multiple currencies to an already operating multi-currency account with a banking provider and convert those funds at much lower rates in the process, saving thousands. We have advised this strategy to several online travel businesses, and they are saving enormous amounts of money by simply taking settlement from the payment gateway to the bank account in multi-currencies. Each case is unique, and we take a close look at how we could help the client optimise their payment workflows or exchange operations by leveraging our banking partners networks. If you operate in the travel or tourism industry, do not hesitate to reach out to us for a free consultation and see how much you could save on international banking! Ability to send and receive multi-currency payments What is often overlooked is the ability to receive and send multi-currency payments within 24 hours. Traditional domestic banks do not develop their payment rails in such a manner because for them it is not important. On the other hand, digital banking providers can help companies in the travel and tourism industries receive payments from partners or clients in 30+ currencies and send payments in 50+ currencies to 170 countries via a single account. Such ability can help many companies perform business development and operations smoothly and without too much hassle. On top of that, we saved a huge amount on transaction costs. We do often advise clients to think about how their businesses could improve if they had little or no cost for multi-currency payment collection. Or sending small payments to partners internationally would be of significantly lower cost. And finally, many digital banks enable clients to make mass payments without the need to instruct individual payments separately, thus saving a lot of man hours in the operations department. Reach out to us to discuss payment flow optimisation solutions in a free consultation! Conclusion To conclude, there are many ways and types of transactions where businesses in the tourism and travel industries can save or optimise. Traditional domestic banks are better for local operations and payments, while international banking should be trusted for digitally specialised banking providers.

If you are wondering how to open a bank account for your shelf or offshore company without hassle, then please keep reading. Bank account opening for shelf or offshore companies is a difficult or almost impossible mission for anyone who is trying it or has tried it. It is due to the banking regulations and AML / KYC procedures that require analysts to check every single detail of a company, its activities, and especially UBOs. The source of wealth is also a question that doesn’t get ignored by traditional banks these days. Be prepared for several rounds of questions and additional document requests from the bank. In addition, a traditional bank will be understaffed and slow to process account opening applications for newly formed offshore companies or even existing ones. What Are the Alternatives for Traditional Banks in Offshore Jurisdictions? From our experience, it is much easier and faster to open an account for an offshore company with a PSP (Payments Service Provider). We have also written an article on How To Choose Payment Service Provider [Full Guide] PSPs are much quicker to respond to applications for account opening and, in general, easier to deal with. For example, on average, it will take two to three weeks to open an account for a shelf company or offshore company with Epico Finance payment partners. Moreover, these digital payment platforms will provide detailed questions and reasons for asking certain questions. The answers will be processed within several business days, while the relationship manager will do her best to assist clients with the progress and timelines. As payment and banking advisors, we do recommend to our clients and readers that they require a named virtual IBAN account instead of a pooled account in the name of the payment company. This will add clarity to your banking operations and your relationships with clients or suppliers, as they will be sending funds directly to you! Finally, alternative banking providers are much more flexible in terms of pricing payments and FX solutions. Our team has helped multiple clients achieve better conditions than what they have had with a traditional bank at an onshore company! What Documents Will You Need To Open An Account With A Payments Provider? As mentioned previously, payment providers usually ask for fewer documents than traditional banks. However, it is not a rule of thumb, as their compliance might want to dig deeper into the UBOs or source of wealth. Let’s talk about the basic package of documents needed to open a bank account with an alternative banking provider. -Registration form or online application -Identification of Directors and UBOs (holding more than 25% stake in the company): ID or passport; proof of address within 3 months (POA) -Proof of address for the company (within 3 months) -Company incorporation documents and statutes -Description of business activity and purpose of the account -In some instances, the CVs of the directors, or UBOs if they are private individuals, should be checked to see if they have experience in the business field that the company is set to operate. This is a starter package of documents that will be required with the account opening application or registration form. When the due diligence process starts, compliance analysts might require further information. And our job as advisors is to help prepare for these possible next due diligence steps and respond to them professionally without undermining the chances of account opening. Conclusion It is extremely hard to open a bank account for shelf or offshore companies in traditional banks these days. A viable alternative is digital banks or payment service providers that are more flexible and can support offshore companies to have access to worldwide payment systems. If you are looking to open an account for a shelf or offshore company, do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation and a list of the best payment providers that we can introduce you to.

What is a Virtual IBAN? If you’ve ever wondered what a virtual IBAN is or how to get one, then please keep reading. A virtual IBAN is a form of bank account issued by a bank or electronic money institution that permits the account owner to receive or send payments. The virtual IBAN account will be redirected to a real bank account held by the EMI or issuing bank. How Does a Virtual IBAN Work? The increasing market share of online sales versus physical sales is driving the popularity of virtual IBANs.Also, the B2B Payments expanse across borders and currencies is setting the stage to capture more online sales. A virtual IBAN is a reference number given by the bank that allows payments to be routed to a bank account. Getting a virtual IBAN is an easy and quick online process for many international companies, and it can be used to make cross-border payments, streamline those payments, and comply with necessary requirements that span the B2B and eCommerce digital economies. For clients, a virtual IBAN is the same as a traditional IBAN account with a bank; once they proceed with a payment, the money will be received in a physical receiving party’s account linked to the virtual IBAN. Moreover, the virtual IBANs can be customised or even multiplied for a company or group of companies to match certain requirements. A virtual IBAN has the same facilities as a traditional IBAN but can be an effective tool to reduce payment fees. On top of that, a streamlined back-office process, a certain degree of automation via API, tailored pricing for each client, and much more can be achieved by simply banking online. For eCommerce businesses, where acquirers are asking for bank accounts able to collect settlements in at least a few currencies, this can be hard to obtain. Together with receiving B2B payments in multiple currencies, there are currency exchange or hedging needs that must be met in order to maintain healthy business operations. How to Get a Virtual IBAN A virtual IBAN is intended to create access to payment services without the cost and complexity of a traditional bank account, where administrative and reconciliation costs are high. You can get a digital bank account with virtual IBANs and all named benefits from an industry-leading payments specialist that Epico Finance works with. Reach out to us to get a list of the best providers on the market. Our payment partners are able to offer settlement accounts to merchants, financial institutions, international corporations, and SME’s. The Epico team has experience supporting various industries with international payments and foreign exchange solutions. You can find more information about our service offerings here . Moreover, there are a few things to consider before searching for and signing up with any virtual IBAN providers out there. Not all of them are equally good, and it is important to choose wisely as they are going to handle your money. In order to help, we have put together a list of tips for you in our article "How To Choose Payment Service Provider [Full Guide]" What Are The Pros And Cons Of A Virtual IBAN? The standard virtual IBAN is a phantom account for a normal bank account. This way, it is able to replicate having multiple accounts in various jurisdictions and currencies while only having one actual bank account. In addition, the owner of virtual IBANs is the same owner of the actual bank account, and payments are routed to the actual bank account. Moreover, virtual IBANs make the management of multiple currencies easier. Because each different currency can have its own virtual IBAN. Also, the owner of a virtual IBAN is able to receive different account statements for each virtual IBAN. On the other hand, virtual IBANs cannot replace real multi-currency accounts in different jurisdictions. If a customer or supplier wishes to transact within one country's borders, the virtual IBAN associated with an actual account in a different jurisdiction might not be able to assist. Conclusion All in all, a virtual IBAN is a cheap and quick solution for organisations doing business in multiple markets. It is easy to create, maintain, and account for.

What is a Payment Service Provider? PSP is a company operating under an EMI license and providing payment aggregation or cross-border payment services. PSPs operate via nostro accounts and rely on wholesale payment networks similar to those of traditional banks. What Should I Check When Choosing A Payment Service Provider? If you’ve ever been wondering how to choose the best payments service provider, then please keep reading. Here is a full guide that will help you select, analyse, and choose the best provider of all. There are plenty of payment service providers nowadays across various jurisdictions. They are all offering the same thing: multi-currency accounts. But not all are equally good, and it is important to choose wisely as they are going to handle your money. In order to help, we have put together a list of tips for you: Money safeguarding. Ask where the payments provider is safeguarding client funds (bank name, country, currencies). If it is a good payments provider, they will have bank accounts for safeguarding funds at top-tier banks such as Barclays, Citi, Deutsche, UBS, etc. If it is an unknown bank or high-risk country, avoid such a provider. Also check if client funds are segregated on your provider’s balance sheet. Regulation. It is important to check where the provider is licensed. If it is a small, less developed country, it implies risk. Also check if the provider has ever had a problem with the regulator. For example, if a particular PSP was fined by the regulator for money laundering practices, you should avoid it. Security. Review the overall platform security, authorisation tools, and encryption. There is an increasing number of fraud cases, even with banks. Modern hackers are using the security loopholes to wire out client funds. Exchange rates. Foreign exchange rates and payment fees are very important. The reason for anyone to choose a payment service provider over the traditional bank is to save money. Transaction fees should be transparent and sensible. In order to have better grounds for negotiation, provide your current pricing with the bank and ask for a reduction. It is the easiest and most constructive way of negotiation. For FX fees, it is important to check with current spot rate in the market in order to have an understanding of the spread being provided to your business. Do not forget to check with other providers as well, and again compare for the spot rate to see which one is more competitive. Payments technology. You should investigate the technological capabilities of the payments platform. Pay attention to login security, reporting functionality, and available audit trails. In addition, the ability to store beneficiary details is key so you don’t need to do repeated entries. Beneficiary email notifications is another good functionality allowing your payees to know that you have made a payment to them. A live feed FX rates and hedges will help you to determine when is the right time to enter a foreign exchange transaction. In case you are dealing with dozens of payments or exchanges per month, you may also check possibility to make mass-payments. Mass-payments solution will reduce the need for manual payments entry and reduce errors. In addition, ask about API for possible integration with your existing business infrastructure. FX portfolio. Check their full FX offering. Ask for a list of currencies they are able to execute payments and exchanges in, and hedge. A good provider should have more than 50 currencies available. Payments capability. It is important to know their full list of countries they can send payments to and list of currencies the platform is able to accept payments in. Not all providers can send funds to all destinations and in all currencies. Only a good provider will have a wide list of cross-border payment routes. Testimonials. Ask for clients testimonials and especially form a relevant industry. Any well-established payment service provider will have happy clients that can say a good word for them. How To Finding A Good Payment Service Provider? As mentioned earlier, there a plenty of providers. We suggest to look for one in the most banked countries, such as UK, Germany or The Netherlands. To save your time, we can recommend you payment providers that can fit your business. Do not hesitate to reach out to us for a free consultation. We have helped hundreds of companies worldwide to find the best payment and FX options based on their business operations specifics and payment destinations. Usual payments partner that we work with is able to: -Provide single multi-currency IBAN for all payments and foreign exchange -Ability to receive payments in 30+ different currencies -Ability to send payments in 50+ currencies to 120+ countries -Ability to make mass-payments by integrating via API or uploading an excel spreadsheet -Access to effective currency hedges -Exchange of currencies using reasonable and competitive pricing -Process automation via API integration -Cost-effective solution for low value international payments -Payment control and audit trails -Streamlined beneficiary management and compliance processes -Relationship manager ready to help finding best solution and answer questions Should You Keep Your Money With Payment Service Provider? Unlike with the bank, your money with PSP are not insured. Even though, payment service providers are required to safeguard client funds with a licensed bank overnight, this is not fully equal to insurance that banks have. Yes, a highly reputable PSP will be keeping client funds with Top Tier Bank. However, it is important to ask before account opening. Our payment partners safeguard client funds with banks such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Citi, Lloyds and similar. We would recommend to use payment service provider only for the intended services, such as foreign exchange or cross-border payments. This would mean that we recommend to pre-fund the account with payments provider to exchange currency or make an international payment. Keeping money for a long time with PSP, unless it has excellent reputation, is not recommended. Conclusion All in all, we have covered the main things to consider before choosing a payment service provider. Hope this guide will help you in your selection process!

Why Are International Payments in USD So Difficult? If you have ever been wondering why international payments in USD are so difficult and expensive to make, we are going to explain it in this article. The U.S. dollar is a global currency, with more than 80% of worldwide foreign exchange transactions taking place in USD. There are several reasons for that: liquidity, accessibility, acceptability, and most importantly, the backing from the Federal Reserve of the United States ( FED ). The FED has an excellent reputation in global markets for safe and timely USD payment settlements. Also, all top-tier banks have offices in the U.S. and are able to settle on behalf of their international clients. The difficulty of transacting in USD comes from strict compliance and the USA Patriot Act . This is used both for achieving US foreign policy and anti-money laundering ( AML ). Financial crimes such as AML and anti-terrorism are hot topics for US regulators, especially after 9/11 . How Do International Payments in USD Work? Paying in USD internationally usually involves an additional correspondent bank in the routing of such payments. Every correspondent bank that touches the money takes a fee, and fees can accumulate and reduce the value of the original payment amount. Even more, the receiving bank can also apply a fee or exchange the original USD into a local currency. This is one of the reasons we recommend transacting in local currency if possible. In a similar vein, the international payments and settlements in USD are handled by Fedwire (the Federal Reserve of the United States), also known as the real-time gross settlement system of the central bank. Fedwire is an electronic funds transfer system used by financial institutions for USD transactions. Such transactions are initiated when the sending institution receives accurate transaction instructions (such as an ABA routing number , name, account number, etc.) from the receiving institution (usually a bank). This information is then submitted to the Fedwire system (FED), and once processed, FED will debit the funds from the sending bank's reserve account and credit the receiving bank's account. Such transfers get completed instantly or within one business day. In other words, the FED has significant control over all international payments in USD and is able to enforce U.S. AML policies (terrorist financing, for example) or political agendas (sanctions). Losing the ability to transact in USD is basically a hold on global trade for a country. Also meaning the U.S. has the leverage to enforce its policies, and that is why countries like Russia and China are looking for alternative currencies to transact globally. What Are The Alternatives To USD? Since 2016, the USD is no longer the single reserve currency in the world. It remains the king currency (the most prevalent), but the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) introduced four other reserve currencies to the list: EUR, GBP, JPY, and Chinese Yuan. There are speculations that the 75-year USD dominance is coming to an end, even though the vast majority of transactions are still happening in USD. Besides that, there is a new term "de-dollarization,", where countries like China and Saudi Arabia agreed to use different currencies for their oil trade (the Chinese yuan, for example). Another alternative is gold. For example, Russia is increasing its gold reserves very rapidly. Very recently, Bitcoin and blockchain technology have been speculated about among politicians and prominent business people as a possible decentralised alternative to the USD. The idea of cryptocurrencies was always to ditch the use of fiat currencies. How to Make International Payments in USD Now that we have discussed the background of the USD as a currency, it is time to explain how one actually makes an international payment in the USD. First and foremost, if you wish to make an international payment in USD, you must have an account that supports the currency. Usually, it is a multi-currency account that is able to receive and send payments not only in USD but in a variety of other currencies. Secondly, you need to have USD in your account. That can be done by exchanging your local currency into USD. If you are using a multi-currency account, that should be an easy and straight-forward process. Thirdly, you will have to have all necessary payment details. If it is a business payment and in a larger amount than $100,000, you should also be ready to present the invoice or other type of document that will prove the legitimacy of such a transaction. Last but not least, a good digital bank will not only provide a multi-currency account but also a great variety of payment routes that will guarantee successful international payments in USD. It is important to understand that the payment service provider is the key here. That is why we are providing a first consultation free of charge for our clients, especially those who wish to optimise their payment flow or currency exchange. Feel free to contact us and get a list of the best payment and FX providers in the market. Conclusion On a microeconomics level, the USD is a difficult currency to deal with, especially because of high risk and anti-money laundering controls. Having a good payments partner will help you send international payments in USD seamlessly and without any problems. Contact us to get a list of the best payment providers for international payments in USD.

International Payments for Business: What to Look For? Have you ever worried about your international payments for business and how to save money on them? Then keep reading. Any business that operates in multiple markets is exposed to international payments and foreign currencies. And any such business owner can tell you that sending money abroad or exchanging foreign currency is an expensive service. Here is a list of tips that will save you money when making international business payments and key factors you should account for when opening an international business account: 1. A monthly account fee is a fee to tie you up to the provider of your choice and cover the account management costs. Usually, the monthly fee depends on the projected volumes of international payments for business. Any reputable PSP these days will provide you with an account manager that will be your point of contact in regards to your international business account issues or banking products. You should evaluate how well and informatively the salesperson answered your questions or presented the international payments platform, because that is probably the same person you will have as an account manager. Lastly, it is quite hard to waive a monthly account management fee but simple to negotiate it lower. We have waived monthly fees or, in the worst cases, negotiated the monthly fees to a minimum for our clients. 2. Foreign Exchange Fees: it is strongly recommended to seek a fixed margin on the foreign exchange spread. This margin should be calculated into the exchange rate and always be transparently visible on the international payments platform or the mobile app. In terms of the foreign exchange spread itself, it depends on the currencies used and the volumes exchanged per month or year. The higher the volume and more liquid the currency, the smaller the spread. Knowing the foreign exchange market from inside, we can confidently say that negotiating the spread is of key importance. We have helped many clients save thousands just by negotiating the FX spread to a minimum. Another important element is the variety of currencies available with the selected banking provider. Anything over 30 different currencies is a sign of a good international payments provider for businesses. Don’t forget to consider the settlement times of foreign exchange too. Anything over T+2 is not efficient enough. Generally, same-day or next-day settlement is preferred. 1. Payment Fees depend on the volume of transactions per month. The higher the volume the lower the fee. Please take into account the speed of transactions. Some banks offer up to five-day transfers; other international payment providers for business can deliver the funds to the recipient the same day or on the next business day. Speed depends on the correspondent banking network of a used banking provider. Prominent bank names used by the banking provider would guarantee better speed and a greater variety of currencies. On top of that, a good international payments provider for businesses is able to make payments to more than 70 countries worldwide. In addition to that, we generally recommend asking what correspondent banks a PSP or banking provider is relying on. 2. Account Type – it is recommended to look for a single IBAN solution that can allow for receiving and sending international payments for business in multiple currencies and in the name of the company. In addition, a good payments provider should be able to offer currency hedges, mass-payments, and API connectivity so that the payments platform is able to help the business scale once it grows. 3. Client Support - make sure you get a dedicated account manager who is always there to help during complex transactions or technical issues with the payments platform. 4. Client Testimonials – make sure to ask for client testimonials, or even better, if they have clients from your country. It is to find out if any big names are working with them or if the provider has experience serving your specific industry or sector. That should indicate the reliability of the provider. The less prominent providers are often having technical difficulties, can be less compliant with the regulator, and later on receive fines, eventually creating disruptions in the service and losing clients to the competition. 5. Safeguarding – another important question to ask is where client funds are being safeguarded. You should check the names of the banks and their reputations where the payments provider is keeping client funds. It should be the top-tier banks like Citi, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Lloyds, etc. If it is an unknown bank in a high-risk country like Latvia, Romania, or similar, we wouldn’t recommend that to our clients. How to Open an International Bank Account Account opening for international payments for business nowadays is an easy and straightforward process. Anyone can do it online without leaving the comfort of their bedroom. We at Epico Finance have multiple banking service providers in our network that can open single multi-currency accounts that are capable of transacting in 50+ currencies, exchange currency at competitive rates, and safeguard clients’ money at top-tier banks like Barclays, JP Morgan, and others. We generally suggest digital bank that are in business for many years and can support private individuals or corporate entities in 50+ jurisdictions including off-shore like Belize, Panama, BVI, Hong Kong, Montenegro, Gibraltar, Bahamas and more. We also have experience in advising various corporate structure for bank account opening such as corporates, trusts, foundations, holdings, charities, religious structures, funds, family offices, SPV’s, etc. Do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation and we will help you to get local or international IBAN account, negotiate fees and optimise your payment and currency exchange workflows. We can also advice on back-office API integrations, complex or reoccurring transactions, OTC Forwards and currency rate fixing. Conclusion All in all, digital banks are changing the landscape of everyday international payments for business. The benefits of using Epico Finance as your advisor are that you are going to end up saving significant amounts of money and your precious time.