Borderless banking arrives in Canada


The hassle of opening a bank account in a foreign country may soon be a thing of the past. British financial tech company TransferWise launched its ‘Borderless’ account platform in Canada yesterday.

Founded in 2011, TransferWise, one of the biggest London-based fintech startups, seeks to eliminate the pain of international money transfer. By redirecting payments to the recipient of an equivalent transfer going in the opposite direction rather than transferring the sender’s money directly to the recipient, the process avoids currency conversion and transfers crossing borders.

The Borderless platform became functional in May of this year, and works by allowing users to set up quasi-local bank accounts in the U.S., U.K., Europe, and now Canada to easily store, send, and receive money.

 

The Borderless account also allows TransferWise users to convert the money in their accounts into 27 different currencies, including the Euro, Great Britain Pound, and the United Arab Emirates Dirham.

Using TransferWise’s existing currency exchange system, the Borderless platform allows users to exchange currencies at their actual rates, not the rates imposed by local dealers or banks.

“We built TransferWise out of personal frustration. My bank was screwing me for a long time and now we’ve built a cheaper, easier solution to moving across borders,” said Kristo Käärmann, CEO and co-founder of TransferWise. “If you’re a freelancer or entrepreneur working with a global network of vendors, the Borderless account will be a game-changer.”

TranferWise plans to unveil a corresponding debit card that will provide all the same benefits in 2018, and will be available for businesses and consumers alike.

“While our operations are in the UK, our customers and suppliers are based worldwide. When we sell to the EU, we get paid in euros. The same applies to our operations in the US and Canada,”Irina Turcan, TransferWise customer and Founder of UK health supply company Erbology said in a press release. “So if we dealt with a high street bank we would lose a lot of money on the currency exchange and transaction fees. We were losing on conversion rates. In addition, Borderless saves us monthly fees that a retail bank would typically charge. Both the app and the website are user friendly and service is great.”

The TransferWise platform was launched as a currency exchanger in Canada last year. Since then, Canadians have sent and received over $2 billion.


Photo via Unsplash

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