Starting Global: Why international business presence is the key to post Brexit success – Finextra

As the clocks turned 2020 into 2021 the UK left the European Union after 47 years. The decision divided the country, and businesses were forced to adapt to - and comply with new regulations. Certain industries were clearly more affected than others, and businesses which had some sort ofinternationalpresence benefited from a smoother transitioning period.

Players in the payments industry were perhaps one of those lucky ones, due to the nature ofinternationalcapabilities inherent in the sector and its continued ability to stay agile.

A key consideration and a massive point of debate was whether London would remain the centre of the financial services sector, and if not, what would the repercussions be for businesses.

For the payments sector, while the UKs Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has instituted a Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) enabling registered European payments firms to continue operating in the UK without relicensing through 2024, the European Central Bank (ECB) has been more robust, spreading a sense of uncertainty across the board.

It wasnt just new regulations which threw many businesses, but the issue of successfully managing and retaining aninternationalworkforce. As companies were forced to adapt, the financial industry saw the underdogs leading the charge, as smaller firms proved to be more agile and resilient to the ever changingBrexitlandscape.

Friend or foe?Brexitand the payments industry

BeforeBrexit, the payments sector was seamless, cross-border and collaborative. Like many industries, it was easy to access multiple markets as trading wasnt so limited. In the past seven months, the imposed regulatory changes have made everything more challenging and forced the industry to focus on digitalising its offering and cementing itsinternationalcapabilities in order to stay competitive and futureproof itself.

But the initial stages were far from easy, and in the early months ofBrexit, many industry players reported of IBAN discrimination being a major issue as a number of companies across Europe began to refuse Euro account bank details if they contained the country code GB.

As a result ofBrexit, sending a payment to Eurozone countries resulted in additional charges. Whilst the fee is nominal, it means that payments can be short of the required full amount being sent. This new imposed fee has caused an unnecessary amount of disruption and operations teams have been tasked with managing flows into different accounts to mitigate unforeseen costs arising.

Starting Global, Thriving Global

In a bid to mitigate the impact ofBrexitand futureproof our growth, we knew early on that ourinternationalcapabilities would help us navigate this challenging time. As a bespoke payments and FX technology platform, we were programmed to integrate seamlessly with global data fields across multiple banking partners. We also know which global industries benefit from our digital cash management system and how we can take that into new markets - so really the missing piece is local permissions to enter new jurisdictions. It was therefore a no-brainer for us to really focus on bringing our pre-establishedinternationaloperations to the forefront and help the teams mitigate any disruption.

Brexithas not changed the need for cross border payments, rather only the operational functionality and regulatory requirements. Having established experts in multiple fields reduces the time spent by management members imposing new legislations and regulations - many of which are interpreted at each local regulators absolute discretion.

Tips to help your business guarantee the bestinternationalmove post-Brexit:

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Starting Global: Why international business presence is the key to post Brexit success - Finextra