Currency Cloud FinTech Leader Enters US Market

International payments provider Currency Cloud has made its way to the United States.

The company, whose API facilitates cross-border payments for businesses, announced yesterday (April 21) that it has opened its first U.S. office, located in New York City.

The company’s API — called its Payment Engine — currently provides over 100 FinTech firms with the ability to fully automate and manage all aspects of their international payments. Currency Cloud, which first launched in London in 2012, notes in a press release that among the companies presently utilizing Payment Engine are XE.com, WorldRemit and Payoneer.

The expansion into the United States — plans for which Currency Cloud CEO Mike Laven talked about with PYMNTS last year — comes as Currency Cloud has found great success in the European market, where (the company states in the release) its customers have processed $10 billion in payments.

Remarked Laven in that discussion with PYMNTS: “The U.S. is the largest payment market for international payments – but the percentage of international payments as a percentage of the global total economy is actually smaller than that of Europe. Though the volume is very large, it actually has not been that important until now.”

And now that Currency Cloud’s move into the U.S. is official, Laven stated in the press release: “Businesses find making international payments slow and costly. While we live in a digital age, it’s surprising that it costs more to send money from the U.S. to Europe via a bank than it does to send a letter. It’s antiquated! Businesses desperately need functionality to enable them to compete around the world. Automation of payments and access to corporate grade payment methods is becoming more and more important in an increasingly digitized global economy.”