WorldFirst offers fast digital cross-border payment alternative to boost global sales for Australian SMEs
WorldFirst, a one-stop digital payment and financial services platform for global businesses, particularly SMEs in international trade, has tailored fast and secure cross-border business payment solutions for Australian e-commerce sellers and SMEs looking to capitalise on strong e-commerce growth trends.
Within minutes and online, e-commerce sellers can open a foreign currency account to be immediately able to collect sales proceeds in 15 local-currency accounts or solutions from over 100 e-commerce market platforms worldwide.
“WorldFirst offers a streamlined digital alternative to traditional financial institutions, addressing the common pain points associated with lengthy banking processes. By offering fast cross-border payments and more local currency accounts than the financial incumbents in Australia, WorldFirst widens the opportunities for its e-commerce clients to sell in more countries,” said Jim Vrondas, Country Manager, ANZ at WorldFirst.
Cross-border payment inefficiencies hinder e-commerce growth potential
Professor Tim Harcourt from the University of Technology Sydney, who was the first Chief Economist of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), said “for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who are the heartland of the exporter community, the cost-of-living pressures are tough, but the benefits of e-commerce have provided opportunities for expansion.”
Gabriel Leibovich, a pioneer of Aussie e-commerce who co-founded Catch Group and Fingertip.com, said social media has transformed how consumers shop online with profound implications for e-commerce businesses.
“Shaped partly by social media, consumer habits and preferences have become more volatile than ever. This volatility makes fast and efficient cross-border business payments crucial for e-commerce businesses. By enabling sellers to pay their suppliers promptly, these businesses can secure shipments of goods and adapt quickly to changing consumer demands,” Leibovich said.
However, inefficiencies in cross-border business payments may hinder SMEs from adapting to rapidly changing consumer preferences in global e-commerce.
“Australian banks typically don’t offer offshore foreign currency accounts, requiring SMEs with overseas customers to seek localised payment solutions from foreign banks, which is often a difficult, costly, and time-consuming process. To open a foreign bank account can take months, the payment itself can take days to arrive and often the SME has no control over the conversion of sales revenue earned offshore,” said Vrondas.
“Having a local currency account is important to cross-border e-commerce businesses, because most local e-marketplaces will only pay out sales proceeds to accounts based within the country the e-marketplace operates in. For businesses that receive money directly from their customers, they can receive funds more quickly and cost-effectively by having their customers settle into a locally currency account,” he added.
WorldTrade facilitates secure, fast payment to overseas suppliers
WorldFirst has also launched an international sourcing payment solution called WorldTrade to streamline supplier payments. Traditionally, sourcing even a product sample from a supplier has been expensive and fraught with trust issues between buyers and sellers. WorldTrade uses smart contract-fulfilment technologies to protect and enhance SME buyers’ sourcing operations by safeguarding buyers’ funds, ensuring timely delivery of goods, facilitating faster payments to sellers, and reducing transaction costs by up to 30%.
Through World Account, Australian importers can pay overseas suppliers in over 40 currencies across 200 markets over the globe. WorldFirst has further increased the payment settlement speed, with World Account now settling 90% of payments within one business day. International transfers between World Account holders are instant and free of charge.
WorldFirst has served one million customers worldwide and is connected to over 130 marketplaces. Between January and June 2024, the total transaction volume by new Australian WorldFirst clients rose over 60% compared from a year earlier, speaking to an increasing demand for fast and secure digital cross-border payment service by local SMEs.
“The speedy payment services we provide is secure with client funds deposited at the world’s leading banks. We also leverage AI and other technologies to comprehensively conduct fraud prevention and risk evaluation, ensuring a streamlined and secure payment process for our clients,” said Vrondas.
