When you visit a foreign country, you must first convert your country’s currency to transact using your debit card. Unfortunately, this requires you to pay relatively high conversion fees.
A multi-currency card essentially serves as a solution to this common problem. These cards allow users to switch between currencies and assets fastly and at a low conversion rate. The convenience they provide makes multi-currency virtual cards extremely popular among customers. However, it has also recently become a trend in the business industry.
Of course, convenience is part of it – but there are many other reasons why startups should implement multi-currency virtual cards in their system. For instance, it streamlines card issuing. Moreover, below is a list of its other benefits:
Startups Can Create Multi-Currency Virtual Cards Within Minutes
Several years ago, it typically took several days or even weeks to issue a card to a single person. It also involved getting in line for several hours and collecting a bunch of paperwork.
It still takes considerably more time nowadays to get a card from banks than it takes to get a card online, even with the existing technology. After all, the entire process of getting a virtual card, multi-currency or not, can occur within minutes, so it’s a hard time to beat. So, if you mainly use multi-currency virtual cards for your payment system, you can save time. And, of course, saving time is essential for any business as it allows you to focus on other responsibilities.
It Can Boost Employee Morale
As your business grows, the financial matters will eventually be too much for you to handle. As a result, you’ll have to assign cards to a handful of employees.
It allows you to divide the responsibility for the finances of the business. However, this particular change can negatively affect your employees’ morale since they’ll have to write financial reports on their respective cards. It is yet another reason to use multi-currency virtual cards.
Unlike traditional cards, virtual card suppliers like Airwallex allow users to track their transactions. It means employees no longer need to write reports since the system automatically does so. By eliminating the need to deal with paperwork, you can boost your employees’ morale, positively impacting your startup.
You Can Avoid Mystery Payments
Apart from boosting workforce morale, the virtual card’s tracking feature allows you to avoid mystery payments or payments you’re unaware of. This feature helps with business growth since it can become overwhelming when transacting with more suppliers and vendors. By assigning cards for each vendor and supplier, you’ll know precisely where each payment goes to or comes from, eliminating guesswork involving your budget.
Startups Can Manage Their Budget More Easily
On top of the tracking feature, you can also set a spending limit on multi-currency virtual cards. By placing a limit on your card or your employee’s, you no longer need to worry about overspending. It also gives your team a grasp of your company’s available funds, promoting cooperation and financial responsibility.
Virtual Cards Are Generally More Secure Than Traditional Cards
Multi-currency virtual cards, or any virtual card, for that matter, generally have more security measures than traditional cards, and for several reasons. For one, there’s no physical card involved, so losing or having the card stolen is out of the question. Moreover, you can create cards that expire under certain conditions, such as after a number of uses or a set amount of time.
It allows you to minimize the damage done by frauds or scams since the system will most likely delete the virtual card before any severe damage happens.
Nonetheless, the virtual space is as dangerous as the physical world. But technology like encryption should at least reduce the likelihood of breaches.
You Can Save Money On Conversion Fees
As stated earlier, multi-currency cards generally have lower conversion rates than traditional cards. It may not be a lot of money at once, but the money you can save can accumulate to a considerable amount. This is particularly true for startups that operate internationally, where conversion is frequent. It can not only save you money but also save your customers time.
A multi-currency virtual card makes sure customers don’t have to set up an account in payment gateways to convert their currency into yours. Your card should be able to receive the money as is.
Closing Thoughts
Multi-currency virtual cards were initially only available to large companies and financial institutions. It was only recently, with recent fintech (financial technology) advancements, that these cards became accessible to all business types. Therefore, if you wish to benefit from these cards, there’s no better time to implement them into your system than now.
