delaware

Delaware wanted an international payments partner to both use themselves and leverage on behalf of their Asia-Pacific customers, allowing all parties to trade more cost-effectively, efficiently, and flexibly.

About delaware

Delaware is a global organisation, 5,000 people strong, that delivers advanced ICT solutions and services, supporting its clients through business and digital transformations. They implement transformational projects using ERP and other software’s, embedding new processes and technologies within organisations work based on partnerships with SAP, Microsoft, OpenText, and Salesforce.

The Southeast Asia arm of delaware, consisting of around 600 people, carries out this same mission in the region. It has partnered with TransferMate to include the digital transformation of international payments into its value proposition for companies. They also use TransferMate for their payments and FX activities.

The Challenge

Asia is a complex financial ecosystem to navigate, with nearly a dozen major economies neighbouring each other, all with separate currencies, laws, regulations, and cultures. Massive internal and external trading activities mean money and goods flow across borders with regularity, and businesses need to be adept and agile at navigating all the obstacles which that movement brings.

Delaware, and their partners, are at the centre of that navigation. Their platforms help businesses trade internationally efficiently, cutting costs and the administrative burden on financial teams.

“There is a lot of business going back and forth between China and Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, and all other regions. And every time that money changes hands and it changes currency, companies have to pay for it,’ said Christophe Derdeyn, Asia-Pacific Managing Director, delaware. “For us, it seemed a very logical thing to offer them a solution like TransferMate to help them optimize and circumvent these kinds of complexities that they deal with’.

Besides those two core pillars of cost and efficiencies in the actual payments process, another clear friction point in trading for their Asian partners was the ability to set up a banking footprint in new regions and begin trading immediately.

‘Our clients would have to go through long KYC processes to open up a bank account in, say, Singapore. It meant a lot of obstacles that needed to be overcome before trading could begin. In fact, in our conversations, we thought the speed of the international payments TransferMate can deliver would be a key selling point, but in fact, it was the speed of setting up bank accounts with addressable BICs and IBANs pretty much instantly was what really caught their attention.”

The challenges delaware could solve for businesses through the TransferMate partnership were clear — cutting costs of international trade, using technology-led payment platforms to create administrative efficiencies, and allowing businesses to set up and trade within new countries easily.

The Solution

One of the foundation stones of the partnership – and a prime reason why delaware chose TransferMate – was the regulated global payments infrastructure built up through the acquisition of 92 banking licenses around the world.

“I think the two biggest differences between TransferMate and the alternatives in the region are, firstly, you are B2B centric. The second is that you have an incredibly broad footprint, and you work with the biggest banks like J.P. Morgan and Citibank as a backbone to the service. If you look at the scale that you already have, the reach that you have as an organization, and the partners that you work with, they are of a different calibre to the other companies operating here.”

Cutting costs of international trade

This robust infrastructure allows businesses in the region to instantly leverage it as if they went through all the work of setting up a banking footprint in these regions themselves. It also allows them to move money through a proprietary, integrated network at a low cost. This is compared to sending it through several regional banks, each charging a fee and FX costs.

“We believe that there is a big opportunity, especially in Southeast Asia, and probably more so than in Europe, for companies to save big time on these international payments and money movements.  We can help companies run their regular banking operations at a much more favourable cost, cutting down on the majority of banking fees and offering better FX rates.”

Delaware uses TransferMate for international payments, and the savings are clear.

“We have saved 1.5% on all FX costs since the beginning of using it around six months ago. Banking fees have also dropped, so the total impact is quite significant. We’re using this as a real-life example to get other entities on board.”

Creating administrative efficiencies for international payments

Trading across borders, and managing multiple currencies, can be a complex and administrative-heavy task. Different systems and platforms must be used, then aligned, and then reconciled. This can lead to finance teams focusing on paperwork rather than on more productive areas.

One example area for delaware to help their clients achieve these efficiencies was for those that used SAP.

“We are an SAP integrator, so many of our customers run SAP for their back-office operations. When we talk to them, we can demonstrate that you can directly integrate TransferMate with their core ERP system. Because of the integration, they don’t really need to change their processes or systems. They can basically do what they’ve always done, but instead of selecting bank account A, you now select bank account B, which is TransferMate, to execute your payment.”

The integration between TransferMate and SAP Concur (you can read more about the partnership here) means users can automate the accounts payable process to reduce the administration workload.

“To expand that ability, delaware has developed integration components between SAP S/4HANA and TransferMate. It’s a journey that hasn’t been completed yet, but we’ve completed two integrations and are in the process of implementing a third. And, as we like to do, we’re using ourselves as guinea pigs to make sure the integration works seamlessly.”

Quickly expanding a client’s banking footprint

The final piece of the puzzle was leveraging TransferMate’s global payments infrastructure to allow delaware clients to set up a banking footprint in new territories quickly and at no cost.

The solution for this came in the form of Global Accounts by TransferMate, which allows users to hold, pay and receive in 30 currencies and set up virtual local bank accounts with addressable BICs and IBANs.

“Say you’re a Singapore company, and you want an addressable account in the US. With Global Accounts, you click a button, and there you are, you have an account. When I mention this to people, they just go, “Oh, wow. Great. This is awesome.” You don’t need to go through all the KYC hoops you normally would. You just open an account, and you can start trading straight away.”

The continual process of adding more currencies from the region to the Global Accounts product is a prime target for the future.

“It doesn’t cover every single market – yet, but it’s continually improving. Malaysian Ringgit was added this year, and we already have the Japanese Yen, Hong Kong Dollar, and Singapore Dollar, so we’re getting there and Chinese Yuan is coming soon. And, of course, companies here can set up accounts in all the other countries, including all of the EU, the US, Canada, Britain, etc., and start trading locally there too.”

Delaware is already onboarding new companies to adopt TransferMate to make their international payments and international cash management more efficient.

“Some of the most interesting are in the maritime industry, which is obviously the paradigm of companies conducting international trade. We’ve started the process of doing step-by-step integration with their ERP, so in the next four to six months, all their flows will run through TransferMate. Just that sector will see 80 million dollars a year flow through the TransferMate payment rails.”

The Final Word

“Who doesn’t want to save money? Who doesn’t want a more productive payments process & adopting it as easily as opening a new bank account? Using TransferMate means keeping money in your pocket and being able to use it for something else – what company doesn’t want that?”

• Christophe Derdeyn, Asia-Pacific Partner & Director, delaware

To learn how TransferMate can help you make international payments more efficient, and manage multi-currencies with ease, contact the team today.