- Fintech firm Neo, which operates across Europe and has a significant user base in the UK, has launched a new service that offers IBAN-registered bank accounts for small businesses.
- The new account will provide customers with hedging options designed to help them reduce their liability and risk – and is offered in a range of different currencies.
- The firm’s chief executive officer Laurent Descout said that the service was born out of an understanding that SME customers can still face problems when placing international transactions – even in Europe.
A European financial technology company that specialises in forex payments for small to medium-sized enterprises has announced a new bank account product.
Neo said that it would provide the account to small firms looking to make international money transfers in multiple currencies.
The firm, which operates across the EU and also in the UK, can provide customers with forex options.
Options are tools that are used to control the risk involved in a forex transaction, and are a key part of reducing liability for companies making significant transactions.
At Neo, these are made available in around 80 different currencies from across the globe.
The new bank account also fits well into major recent regulatory frameworks.
The account provides firms with an official International Bank Account Number (IBAN).
The account is also entirely compliant with regulations such as the recent Europe-wide transparency-boosting directive known as MiFID II.
In a press interview with the outlet AltFi, the chief executive officer at the firm, Laurent Descout, explained more about the thinking behind the new move.
He said that the firm’s focus on international payments is rooted in its history – and that feedback from customers suggests that frictionless cross-border payments are highly necessary.
“From the very first day we wanted Neo to be cross-border,” he said.
“One of the biggest problems our clients face is that, even when you have a large company, as soon as you cross the border you can encounter issues.”
He went on to claim that even European regulatory environments, which are largely harmonised thanks to bloc-wide measures, are not necessarily conducive to simple business banking.
“Even in Europe, we have seen that banks don’t always offer the same services from one side of the border to the other, which can become extremely problematic as soon as you want to open a branch subsidiary, you have to completely re-do everything,” he said.
Neo was first set up in 2017, meaning that it is just three years old.
However, it claims to have secured more than 100 clients in recent months.
Almost half of these, it says, are from Britain, which suggests that the demand for these services is high even in the context of Brexit.
Financial technology, or fintech, firms really are reshaping the way that we all see cross-border payments.
Neo is just one of them: to find out more about how cutting-edge online money transfer firms could reduce your costs, click here.