Is Your Business Managing Foreign Exchanges Correctly? Here’s How It Can

Business leaders and owners have a lot on their plate—there’s no denying that. Whether managing a business with five employees or 500, it can feel like there’s often a never-ending list of to-dos, fires to put out and other tasks that need to be taken care of. However, there is one more task to add to the list that really shouldn’t be overlooked for companies operating internationally and that’s managing your foreign exchanges properly. 

When it comes to exchanging different currencies, it’s easy to simply opt for the path of least resistance. After all, you have enough on your plate as it is, so you don’t want to allocate even more time out of your day to handling something as menial as foreign exchanges. And yet, large financial institutions are relying on your apathy toward the subject to make a killing off of those simple exchanges. Many banks and service providers are taking advantage of businesses who don’t want to deal with the headaches by hiking up rates beyond what they ought to be paying. 

While it’s not unusual for large multinational companies to have their own dedicated teams handling foreign exchanges, small businesses are the ones really losing out. Many small businesses don’t have a lot of extra wiggle room in their budgets so they’re less inclined to seek outside help from specialists in the foreign exchange industry or they may even opt to not deal with foreign currencies altogether. On the surface, that seems like a good idea. By not paying for additional help, businesses are saving the added expense. Of course, that’s not actually the full picture. 

There are plenty of reasons why businesses operating and selling products internationally should be taking advantage of foreign currencies. By not offering products in consumers’ local currencies, businesses are effectively self -mposing a limit on themselves and unnecessarily hiking up the costs of doing business internationally by requiring currency exchanges from the point of sale. Depending on the bank or financial service provider in question, the costs of constantly exchanging currencies back to your bank account can add up over time and really impact your bottom line. 

For international companies, there’s no avoiding foreign exchanges, it’s simply the cost of doing business abroad and expanding your customer base. However, businesses handling foreign exchanges properly will notice the difference it makes when interacting with exchange specialists. 

The aforementioned “path of least resistance” means that businesses are at the mercy of their bank for handling foreign currency exchanges and transfers and, more importantly, are subject to much higher fees than they need to be paying. While banks undoubtedly offer lower exchange rates and fees than the kiosk at the airport for international travellers, business needs differ from an individual’s. Fortunately, the truth is that even small companies can actually afford finding someone to handle exchanges and transfers for them. 

Though it may seem like a foreign exchange service is out of the question for small businesses, there are foreign exchange providers like Global Reach Group who are happy to help for free. There’s no need to pay for a specialist to help your business find a good exchange rate and transfer options when there are providers who can handle it for you. MoneyTransferComparison’s Global Reach Group review shows that the company handles a tremendous amount of volume in foreign currencies, offers over 130 options for businesses to choose from and has been doing so for over 15 years. 

In addition, there are plenty of other benefits that come from working with a foreign exchange service that your business simply won’t be able to get when dealing with other providers like PayPal or a bank. Your business can lock-in an exchange rate for up to two years and even create a stop-loss or limit order for your ideal rate before exchanging. 

Small businesses operating internationally need to know the effect foreign exchanges are having on their bottom line and act proactively to counter them. Even if there’s not a lot of room in the budget, there are ways to add just a little more wiggle room—just look for them.