They needed a provider who could help them simplify their global payment processes, and turned to EQPay.
Challenges
The manufacturer’s head office in the UK was converting payments from GBP to USD, a more recognised global currency, for remittance to their finance team in South East Asia. From there, the funds were distributed to the company’s staff and suppliers in local currency, where possible. This resulted in the company:
- Being exposed to additional fees as a result of multiple payments and conversions being made
- Having a greater level of exposure to currency risk as a result of these excess conversions
- On occasion paying its people and suppliers late due to inefficient payment processes
Alongside this, the manufacturer was paying its Chinese-based suppliers in USD rather than CNY and a number of these suppliers were in fact placing a surcharge on the incoming USD payments from the manufacturer to protect themselves from currency fluctuations and potential losses. Essentially, by not paying their suppliers in CNY, the manufacturer was exposed to excess costs.
Solution
Working with EQPay allowed the manufacturer to use a single online payments platform. The finance team in the South East Asia office were able to access the same capabilities, payment information and currencies as the UK head office. Payments could also be executed from this central platform rather than from their previously independent payment systems.
By reducing the number of currency conversions, the manufacturer reduced the level of currency risk that they were previously exposed to. EQPay also worked with the manufacturer to ensure that the platform workflow authorisations were tailored to mirror the organisation’s own requirements when it came to making the payments, for example, setting-up multiple authorisers for transactions over a certain value.
Result
Alongside reducing the additional costs incurred by streamlining their payment processes, the manufacturer was able to efficiently and effectively pay its people and suppliers on time, in their local currency via a single online platform.
In addition to this, by enabling the manufacturer to send supplier payments to China in local currency, rather than USD, they were able to pay their suppliers for the correct amount, removing their exposure to supplier surcharges.
