VertoFX Teams With ClearBank for Enhanced SMB Cross-Border Payments

Business-to-business payments firm VertoFX is partnering with cloud-based clearing company ClearBank to bring comprehensive solutions for cross-border payments to underserved businesses in Europe.

Despite representing 99% of all businesses in the European Union, small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) usually face high FX charges and transaction costs in addition to dealing with a slower process when paying for goods and services abroad.

SMBs also employ some 100 million workers and account for over 50% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Europe, according to Fintech & Finance News on Tuesday (Nov. 2).

See also: B2B Payments Platform Verto Raises $10M

Ola Oyetayo, co-founder and CEO of Verto, said that the company is “on a mission” to revamp how SMBs exchange money.

“The challenges faced by businesses in the U.K. and EU include poor access to competitive FX rates and inability to move funds quickly and securely without incurring excessive transaction fees,” Oyetayo said.

The partnership between the two companies will bring U.K. and European SMBs multi-currency bank accounts and FX solutions to further remove barriers to cross-border payments. The partnership also enables all Verto users to accept and send payments from one simple platform. The result is liquidity, speed and instant settlement.

Charles McManus, CEO of ClearBank, said that its multi-currency offering is being used for the first time by Verto and will help bring down some of the barriers that European SMBs regularly encounter.

“By working together, we’re meeting the demands of the next generation of consumers and businesses,” McManus said.

Read more: B2B Marketplace VertoFX: From Currency Convertibility to Cross-Border Payments in Emerging Markets

Verto tackles the issues SMBs face when it comes to FX and payments by offering a digital marketplace to exchange currencies and submit cross-border payments to suppliers. The platform solves important pain points in the B2B global payments industry, which is forecast to grow to close to $200 trillion by 2028, or over six times larger than the retail payments space.