Banking-as-a-Service · Use case
Offer multi-currency accounts and FX
Short answer
Multi-currency accounts let customers hold, convert and pay in several currencies. The BaaS provider supplies balances per currency — ideally with local receiving details — plus FX conversion and international rails. Compare on currency coverage, local details and the all-in FX cost.
What this use case is
One account relationship with balances in EUR, GBP, USD and other currencies, used to get paid and pay abroad without separate banks per country.
Who builds this
What your customer sees
- 1Opens an account
- 2Sees balances per currency
- 3Shares local account details
- 4Converts at a quoted rate
- 5Pays suppliers abroad
How Banking-as-a-Service solves it
Account opened with balances per currency
Account opened with balances per currency
Local receiving details issued where the provider supports them
Local receiving details issued where the provider supports them
Incoming payments credited to the matching currency balance
Incoming payments credited to the matching currency balance
Conversion at a quoted, optionally locked rate
Conversion at a quoted, optionally locked rate
Outgoing payments via local rails or SWIFT
Outgoing payments via local rails or SWIFT
Statements per currency
Statements per currency
Want to have
- Required currency list
- Local receiving details for key currencies
- FX quotes and rate lock
- Transparent markup over a stated reference rate
- International payouts
- Sanctions screening
Optional
- Batch conversions
- Multi-entity accounts
Design decisions
One provider or two
simplicity versus price and currency coverage
Your FX margin
revenue versus transparency to customers
Payout route
cost and speed versus reach
What to put in your RFP
Currencies
- holding, receiving, paying — by customer type
Account details
- local details per currency, naming on accounts
FX
- pricing model, reference rate, rate lock, limits
Payouts
- corridors, rails, fees
Commercials
- FX margin, account and transaction fees
How to evaluate providers for this use case
- 1Currency coverage for your customers
- 2Whether local details are truly local
- 3All-in FX cost at your volume
- 4Payout reach and speed
Pitfalls
- Hidden FX spread
- "Local details" that are pooled with unclear naming
- Hedging products needing different permissions
- Coverage that differs between consumer and business customers
What providers will ask you
- Currencies and corridors
- Expected conversion volumes
- Customer types
- Countries of counterparties
Other Finlane categories that cover parts of this
This use case is solved mainly with Banking-as-a-Service. These categories cover specific parts of it and can be tendered alongside it.
Frequently asked questions
Questions for this use case are covered in the category guide.
Solving this with another category instead? See Offer multi-currency accounts to customers
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