How do you plan for banking and payment flows

Good planning is half the success.

I used to work as a tax advisor, so my clients asked me first when they wanted to optimize their company’s expenses. Now, I run a payment consulting company and the first thing we need to chat about is their payment providers and banks.?

Why?

Because today the banks hold all the cards. Litrerally.

Many companies fail to realize that the most important bottleneck of their operation is actually the payment and banking. But how many of them turn to their payment specialist when it comes to operational planning??

The increasing level of banking restrictions and new legislations force every business to revise their cash flow and asset keeping regularly. We can never be sure that our bank (and bank accounts) will still be working tomorrow. The more money we have in the bank, the more we pay them (this is the negative interest).?

So it's clear - the payment strategy is more important than ever. But how do you actually plan when it comes to payments?

1.Think like the bank

For the banks, money laundering and chargebacks are the biggest threats. When the bank’s compliance is not comfortable with any aspect of your business, or transaction, they are more likely to reject than to ask further questions. An offshore entity in the group? Red flag. Director’s countrty of residence is different than the company’s juristdition? Explain.

If your own secretary doesn’t understand something about the information you share with your bank, the compliance will neither. The clearer the structure, the better the acceptance.

2. Localize

One of my clients was confident they will be successful in Germany with only card payments. After investing almost a quarter of a million in marketing, he realized that people will simply not enter their card details onto his website. We quickly added Sofort to his website and he had a 50% increase in sales in the first month.

Smaller business owners often don’t have the opportunity to gather market intelligence about every country they receive orders from. However, localization is the key to good conversion. Every country has its own preferred online payment habits; developed over time through local circumstances and often with origins in offline shopping. To optimize your conversion rates, you need to offer the right choice of payment methods. Whatever your client prefers, you should implement.

3. Hunt down the right providers

Calling up all the available banks and other payment providers and trying to get accepted by them is hard and time-consuming work. Testing them is even harder. Some of them have good fees but the conversion rate is low. Some of them are giving you excellent service but they just cannot settle into your preferred bank account. The higher your company’s risk category – the riskier the bank that will accept you. Finding the balance between “your ease and your fees” is hard. Payment is an ever-changing market with new players on the field and if you don’t keep your eye on the market, bet your competition will.

4. Use an expert

Payment is not something you can learn at school. The industry experience has an incredible value but is very rare to find. Hiring a well-connected, full-time head of payment is a very expensive investment mainly for smaller operations.?

Using a payment consultant can significantly reduce your banking and operational costs overall.?

Pointing you to the right provider can cut the time you spend on research and application. Finding a cheaper way to send foreign currency payments abroad can cut your banking fees by 90%. Introducing your business to that prestigious bank that would not accept your business off the street can be priceless.

A good consultant can not only highlight certain areas of the company structure which might prevent you to be accepted by the best providers but can also divert your attention to new developments which you might not have even thought of.?

How can PSP Angels help

PSP Angels Group is an independent payment consulting firm.

We understand the payment market and have a huge network of different banks and financial providers, so we can give?our?clients an accurate picture of all the different payment and banking options.

We know the payments market’s ever-changing risk appetite and licensing requirements, as well as what fees are currently offered. We help?our?clients make informative decisions about the possible options, prices and risks.

Within?our personalized payment consulting services, we set up an overall payment plan, help to move funds between countries, reduce real banking and payment risks, re-negotiate current fees to match the lower market rates, optimize tax and cash flow, and assist with the overall payment/banking setup.

Helping?our?clients to take their business globally, we explain what country uses which types of payment options and we also refer them to local payment providers for safer and cheaper banking and financial products. We have several partners who offer payment solutions, alternative payment methods, mobile payments, wallets, open banking, vouchers, crypto payments, chargeback and fraud tools, cashiers, and correspondent banks, based on individual circumstances and needs.

Our Cyprus?branch offers?various?fiduciary, accounting, taxation and audit services, where we assist companies not only during their operation, but also from incorporation, including company setup, licensing (office and personal setups, executive and non-executive directors, AML officers, lawyers, software providers, correspondent banks etc.)

Our Malta?branch offers?banking and payment consulting, aimed specifically for the iGaming and Gambling industry.

Via?our new Greek?branch, we now offer in mergers and acquisitions of financial licensed companies such as brokerages, crypto exchanges, banks, E-money institutions, small payment institutions, money service businesses insurance, and remittance companies, etc. globally

We also specialize in payment and financial evaluations on different projects to assist.

In 2023 PSP Angels won the Payment Consultants of the Year 2023 award by Acquisition International Magazine https://www.acquisition-international.com/winners/psp-angels-2/