Zvi Appel, Co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based neobank start-up OPAL, on working with Currencycloud to revolutionise the financial landscape for SMEs.
OPAL is a Singapore-based neobank start-up established in 2019 and licensed as a Major Payment Institution (MPI) by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to offer domestic and cross-border payments, payment accounts and e-money.
In February 2022, OPAL successfully launched its flagship offering, Global Digital Business Account, to provide SMEs with an innovative form of international payment and cross-border banking, offering cost-efficiency and convenience.
OPAL credits Currencycloud for playing a crucial role in this launch by providing the APIs to deliver a seamless, user-friendly experience to its SME customers.
In the development of the Global Digital Business Account service, OPAL wanted to give SMEs the ability to make smooth and seamless cross-border collection of payments and transactions with the convenience of a single account.
However, going at it alone presented several problems, including significant investment to establish relationships with banks across the US, Europe and APAC – all of which would weigh on the manpower and capital resources of a young start-up.
According to Zvi Appel, Co-founder & CEO, OPAL, amongst the different paytech firms the company evaluated, Currencycloud stood out because of its dedication to innovation and fostering collaboration – which align with OPAL’s mission to revolutionise the financial landscape for SMBs.
“Both OPAL and Currencycloud prioritise leveraging innovative technology to transform the financial landscape for SMBs. Unlike traditional banks, Currencycloud offers transparent pricing, which gives our customers a clear understanding of the costs associated with their transactions. What’s more, its platform is flexible, scalable and integrates seamlessly with ours to enable a smooth and efficient user experience. Overall, it made us more accessible, transparent and efficient,” Appel said.
OPAL’s choice of Currencycloud’s API-driven payment solutions allows for rapid innovation and deployment of new features. Once fully integrated, OPAL can add Currencycloud’s technology to multiple aspects of its services, including payment instructions and FX conversions for seamless cross-border transactions and access to real-time exchange rates.
The implementation was planned for the progressive phasing in of new services and the experience for the initial phase was smooth. Currencycloud provided end-to-end dedicated support for the seamless integration of Currencycloud’s comprehensive suite of APIs onto the OPAL platform to kick-start initial services like account creation and collection. These have since gone live and new features like payment and foreign currency exchange are currently in the works.
“Throughout the first couple of months, Currencycloud worked with the OPAL team to ensure key timelines of the project were met. This allowed OPAL to progressively launch features on its platform according to its timelines, ensuring maximum customer satisfaction,” said Rohit Narang, Managing Director, APAC, Currencycloud.
With Currencycloud onboard, OPAL successfully launched the first set of its Global Digital Business Account offering, including an important feature for SME customers to name their OPAL account like they would a bank account, to reduce cross-border payment friction on both SWIFT and local rails.
“Our decision to choose Currencycloud over competing international payment platforms was driven by its extensive presence in various markets, state-of-the-art technology, transparent pricing and exceptional customer support,” said Appel.
Utilising Currencycloud’s advanced features, OPAL’s Global Digital Business Account customers today enjoy efficient and cost-effective management of cross-border transactions when navigating the global financial market.
Through the business named accounts for international payments, OPAL’s SMB customers benefit from:
- Global connectivity and presence
- The ability to send funds to local payment networks in 21 countries and territories
- Having multicurrency accounts opened in their customers’ own names to:
- Improve access to collect funds globally
- Receive funds in up to 33 different currencies
- Receive funds via SWIFT and local payout rails
- Savings of up to 40% in transaction cost and improved transaction speed
Appel views OPAL’s partnership with Currencycloud as an example of fintech-to-fintech collaboration success. He believes that such synergies are the vehicle for increased competition in the financial sector, pushing for continuous innovation and improvement in services.
In OPAL’s case, that means allowing businesses in the region to benefit from access to affordable, user-friendly, and efficient financial tools that can streamline their operations and support their growth.
“As we continue to grow and expand our offerings, we remain confident that our partnership with Currencycloud will serve as a cornerstone of our success, empowering SMEs to drive positive change within the financial industry,” he said.
“I believe that fintech-to-fintech collaborations like that of OPAL and Currencycloud can help businesses to leapfrog technology and quickly benefit from B2B banking and payment solutions, to address the gaps left by traditional banking services.”
Currencycloud has grown from start-up status itself to being able to provide financial infrastructure and enterprise-class solutions anywhere in the world to any business that wants to move money across borders. What was once a simple FX tool evolved into a platform and is currently a full-scale Software-as-a-Service solution for companies that want to boldly lead the way in financial innovation.
From rental office roots in east London, Currencycloud now has offices in New York, Amsterdam, Singapore, Cardiff and London – but as a remote-first company its near 600 employees are all over the world.