Saxo Taps Treasurers’ Demand For FX Risk Watch

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When B2B payments firm Saxo Payments released a new whitepaper outlining the troubles of cross-border payments for corporates, the company was gearing up for its latest release: a real-time foreign exchange trading platform, integrated into its Banking Circle portal.

The new platform, announced on Tuesday (April 5), sees corporate treasurers able to access and trade foreign currency over Banking Circle, which connects payers and banks.

Saxo added in its release that it will also support payments using the currencies traded over the new solution.

It will provide corporate payers with a global IBAN account, linking treasurers to more than 160 currencies across 60 countries, the company said. Saxo did not specify what its transaction fees will be, however.

“For businesses that need to buy foreign currency on a regular basis, the big challenge is buying at the best rate and keeping costs down,” said Saxo Payments Chief Executive Officer Anders la Cour in a statement. “As we are already providing businesses trading internationally with a cost-effective alternative to conventional bank transfers, it makes complete sense to make FX trading and payments an integral part of the platform, giving an even greater opportunity to enhance profits and cut costs.”

Saxo emphasized the real-time availability of the tool, a measure la Cour said helps companies mitigate risk.

“Corporate treasury departments can monitor their live exposure through Banking Circle Real-time FX,” the executive added. “And the sophisticated risk management tools provide an overview of trading potential by displaying margin utilization, profits/losses and more — all in real time for the best possible control of costs for a business.”

Saxo’s new tool follows just one day after the company announced the results of a survey that found 63 percent of corporates are dissatisfied with the length of time it takes for their cross-border payments to complete.