Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS
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.
01:24:00 · Pranav Sood, David M. Brear
[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. [01:24:49] S10: Is is that because we we understand the impact of late payments but we've got no fucking idea what Brexit means? Yeah. It's like... Yeah. Probably. Yeah. So so I I guess why do accountants feature so heavily in terms of the the stuff that you guys are doing right now? [01:25:04] S7: Do you mean apart from their devastating good looks and dry wit? [01:25:08] S10: What you charmer are you? That's impressive.
01:25:08 · David M. Brear, Pranav Sood
[01:25:08] S10: What you charmer are you? That's impressive. [01:25:10] S7: No. Listen. I mean accountants have... Cash flow is a huge problem for SMBs and if an accountant can solve cash flow for their clients, that is a gigantic win that allows them to focus on the value added, the interesting stuff that they really want to go and spend their time on. And so for us, if we can give accountants access to that kind of quick win, then, you know, that's brilliant. I think the other thing is that we sometimes forget that accountants are small business owners too. And, you know, accountants who are worrying about collecting their own fees, transitioning to value based pricing, you know, we actually offer them a tool that can help them to power their own businesses. So actually at Zerocon this year, we've also just announced our new partner program. So special discounts, training, support for accountants just because they are so important to how we go to market and how we do business. [01:26:00] S10: And that partnership's now global, is that correct? [01:26:04] S7: Yeah, that is absolutely correct. That's actually my day job. So we've just launched in Australia and New Zealand. It is going like an absolute rocket ship. We've already got, I think, 100 accountants collecting their fees and then a couple of... Well, actually several 100 more SMBs on top of that and we've only really been going for about six weeks. So super exciting and and Canada, The US to come in the in the very near future as well.