Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS
01:18:53 · David M. Brear, Sarah Kocianski
[01:18:53] S10: Okey dokey. So in this section, we're gonna be talking about automating payment collection and online card payments acceptance, which is a bit of a mouthful, I have to say. [01:19:02] S0: It is, but we've got some great guests who are going to turn it into English for us. So please welcome Pranav Sudh, is the director of international expansion at GoCardless. I hope he's there. There he is. Come on up. And Stuart Gregory who is head of business at transfer wise. To the stage, gentlemen. Please help yourself to drinks. Oh, I see Stuart brought his own drink. He came prepared. So, the reason we're talking about this today is that Xero continues to invest heavily in the ability for customers to automate payment collection, is actually a really big deal if you're a small business. And also to accept a range of card payments online because no business is a business if you can't sell online right now, right? [01:19:42] S10: So... Very true. So Carrie, maybe to start us off on this one, for those a little bit less familiar with this, can you tell us what the subject matter means?
01:19:42 · David M. Brear, Keri Gohman
[01:19:42] S10: So... Very true. So Carrie, maybe to start us off on this one, for those a little bit less familiar with this, can you tell us what the subject matter means? [01:19:51] S13: Yeah. I'll start from the customer experience. If I'm a Xero small business and I want to invoice one of my customers, we have some options where that customer can pay by card using Stripe and the advantage to the customer, this gets used by the way a lot in The United States because you know we use things like checks, I know, and using a credit card means that you can get paid faster and you don't have to pay right away. So that customer doesn't have to pay the small business owner right away and the small business owner gets paid right away. So convenient. By the way that payment mechanism is helping small business owners get paid faster, which makes a big difference in cash flow and the ability to be successful. In fact, today we have this capability live and it's essentially saving small business owners helping them get paid in half the time. So twenty days faster on average here in The UK and then if you want to get if you want to take advantage as well, we have the solution with go cardless where a small business owner can get paid instead of paying by a credit card. They can direct debit right out of their account using go cardless in our system. Also an incredible convenience and helps customers get paid faster. So that's the difference credit card versus essentially getting a direct debit right out of the account. So pretty simple.
01:21:07 · Sarah Kocianski, Stuart Gregory
[01:21:07] S0: So now we've done a sort of a quick overview of what it is. I'm going to switch it around and I'm going to speak to Stuart over here because I want to know a little bit more about TransferWise's offering for small businesses because I know that you've announced a few changes to that today. So, can we can we start talking about cross border payments please? Because these ladies have talked about the importance of being able to to accept payments. Cross border payments obviously are a huge deal for you guys. [01:21:29] S15: Yeah. Mean, cross border payments is a huge opportunity like small businesses who either have international suppliers, can find international clients, can, you know, the stats show that they can be really successful. But actually, to to do that is really difficult because of cross border payments. So, if you go to your bank, you're trying to make an international transfer, you lose so much in the exchange rate as well as the upfront fee. And and that's very opaque, right? It's not transparent and also the payments take days, right, to arrive. Money gets lost along the way, there's receipt fees and so the whole experience of international payments through banks has been very fundamentally broken. And the opportunity that we see at TransferWise is if we can let these small businesses send and receive internationally without that pain, without that cost, then it can really allow them to take their businesses globally.
01:21:29 · Stuart Gregory, Sarah Kocianski
[01:21:29] S15: Yeah. Mean, cross border payments is a huge opportunity like small businesses who either have international suppliers, can find international clients, can, you know, the stats show that they can be really successful. But actually, to to do that is really difficult because of cross border payments. So, if you go to your bank, you're trying to make an international transfer, you lose so much in the exchange rate as well as the upfront fee. And and that's very opaque, right? It's not transparent and also the payments take days, right, to arrive. Money gets lost along the way, there's receipt fees and so the whole experience of international payments through banks has been very fundamentally broken. And the opportunity that we see at TransferWise is if we can let these small businesses send and receive internationally without that pain, without that cost, then it can really allow them to take their businesses globally. [01:22:24] S0: And so, we heard today that TransferWise customers will soon have access to a bank feed from zero. What does that mean for your customers and what impact is that going to have?
01:22:24 · Sarah Kocianski, Stuart Gregory, Caroline Plumb, Megan Caywood, David M. Brear, Pranav Sood
[01:22:24] S0: And so, we heard today that TransferWise customers will soon have access to a bank feed from zero. What does that mean for your customers and what impact is that going to have? [01:22:32] S15: Yes. So, small businesses can use TransferWise to pay overseas invoices, to receive money overseas from clients, to local bank details and and the channel size model is different because we've got local bank accounts in all the different countries that we operate or or local payment infrastructure integrations and and that means that we can move money faster and cheaper. So, a big part of it is how can we make it convenient too And and that's really where the the zero feeds come in. We want businesses who, for example, have a USD account with TransferWise. They're receiving. They're sending in USD. They want that to appear in zero as a USD bank account. They want it to be, you know, reconciled as as conveniently as possible. So, it was the most requested feature from small businesses at TransferWise was a Xero integration we're excited today to have announced it. [01:23:22] S2: That's not... If that's [01:23:23] S0: not an endorsement, I don't know [01:23:24] S5: what is. [01:23:24] S0: I love it. [01:23:25] S10: Sounds good. Like, Pranav, thanks for for joining us. Like, you guys have probably leveled up the swag in Zerocon by the way. Like, I'm loving the jackets. That's really, really impressive. [01:23:34] S7: Thanks very much. And also up of the year 2018, big up.
01:23:34 · Pranav Sood, David M. Brear
[01:23:34] S7: Thanks very much. And also up of the year 2018, big up. [01:23:38] S10: Oh, nice. Well, two accolades right there. That's good. Obviously in terms of the automation around payments and getting paid quickly, this is a really important thing to small businesses trying to manage their cash flow more effectively. So kind of what impact do you see is those late payments doing and and how are you guys kind of working to alleviate that problem? [01:24:00] S7: Yes. I mean late payments are terrible. They're a nightmare. Everyone knows it. I could give you heaps and heaps and heaps of statistics that show the impact that they have on the ability to invest and your ability to grow as a business. But I think actually what resonates the most for me is the personal impact. It's the stress, it's the sleepless nights, it's the disturbed holidays, it's all the time worrying about whether you're gonna get paid, whether your business is gonna be viable next month or next year. I actually... I think that the stat that resonated the most with me was we just did some research and we found that I think 41% of SMBs are more worried about late payments than they are about Brexit. And given the given the delicate nature of our negotiations at the moment, I think that's saying saying something about how important it is.