Fintech sector is developing with seven leap steps now, offering great opportunities, as well as a high level of reliability and confidentiality. Online payment system is a fast and reliable way of receiving and transferring money through the Internet, making payments on contracts, withdrawing funds to cards, etc. Moreover, international payment systems (PS) enable you to open corporate and personal accounts with unique IBAN, make SWIFT and SEPA payments, while the procedure for opening an account is faster – up to 5 days, the KYC procedure is easier than in the bank. Another advantage is that the payment systems work with VISA, Mastercard, American express, etc.
At the same time, the requirements of the banks for verification and identification of customers are constantly growing, banks stop servicing customers from classical offshore zones, moreover, the availability of registration in positive jurisdiction also does not guarantee that the bank will not close an account or it will not check each transaction thoroughly.
Advantages and disadvantages of international payment systems (PS)
Most of the PS issue their VISA, Mastercard cards or white-lable cards, which allow the customers to withdraw funds, and these cards can be issued as:
- non-personalized cards (i.e. with the possibility of preserving the anonymity of the card holder);
- salary cards (widely used by IT companies which employees are located in different countries);
- corporate cards in different currencies (to cover corporate expenses, since there is no control over transactions when transferring funds to such cards).
The cards issued by the PS are an excellent option for those who often travel abroad (it is advantageous to pay by card on a trip, withdraw cash in foreign currency (because it is possible to withdraw only in UAH via ATMs in Ukraine, according to the decree of NBU), receipts to the card are not subject to publicity).
The account in the PS is also beneficial for the companies involved in export /import and making or receiving payments in different currencies and in different countries, as well as for e-commerce companies accepting payments through the site, as PS offer merchant accounts for the companies with low and medium risk.
We represent a brief overview on the most popular payment systems offered in the European market.
Satchelpay is a British financial company regulated by FCA. It offers services on opening an account (regular and merchant account (for the companies with low and medium risk), an account with a unique Iban is available only in PLN and EUR. The dollar account can be opened, but with a common Iban, incoming payments in other currencies will be automatically converted to the currency of the account according to the tariffs of the system. One of the advantages is rapid opening of the account (2-3 weeks from the moment of submission of documents), the possibility to open an account without a personal meeting. The accounts are opened for physical and legal entities – residents of different countries. Among the disadvantages is the minimum permanent balance on the account – 2500 EUR, quite high cost of opening an account, unique Iban only in three currencies – EUR, GBP, PLN.
Paysera is a Latvian payment system. It provides personal and corporate accounts, as well as merchant accounts. As for the disadvantages, it becomes possible to open a corporate account only after opening a personal account for the beneficiary of the company, in addition, in order to be able to open a corporate account with a unique Iban and to remove limits on transfers and withdrawal of cash from cards, several levels of identification will be required to pass and increase the status in the system. For the identification, it is necessary to file a complete package of corporate documents of the company and personal documents of the beneficiary of the company, to fill out the questionnaires. Among the advantages is the lack of restrictions on the country of registration of the persons, work with many currencies, the possibility of converting to an account currency, free opening of an account.
Sogexia is a French financial company, working only with the customers registered in SEPA zone. The procedure for opening a corporate account and removing limits is similar to Paysera. Among the disadvantages: payments can be made and received only in EUR in SEPA zone, the maximum possible balance on the account without identification is 250 euro, after identification – 80,000 euros.
IbanFirst is a Belgian financial company, it provides an account with a unique Iban in different currencies for business. Among the advantages: it works with non-resident companies, there is an opportunity to open a merchant account. Among the disadvantages: the company must be registered for a long time, have a corporate bank account, in addition, a new account must be actively used, in particular, to buy currency (if the company is not going to buy foreign currency, opening an account for it will be in question). On the other hand, such an account is suitable for the companies working with international partners using accounts in their local currency.
To date, the biggest problem of the PS is significant restrictions: on the territory of activity and reception/making payments, on withdrawing cash from cards, on the currencies of accounts with a unique Iban. Therefore, on choosing a payment system, it is necessary to focus on the main countries with which you cooperate.
