Global Expansion wanted an international payments partner to support delivering payroll for enterprise clients across the world.
About Global Expansion
Global Expansion is an Employer of Record (EOR). They work across 214 countries and territories, providing legal and technical expertise for organizations ranging from SMEs to multi-nationals, allowing companies to hire internationally without having to set up a local entity.
The Challenge
International payments are complex, international payroll payments doubly so. Firstly, there are significant legal and regulatory pressures in processing payroll payments within defined parameters, and those parameters change from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
“There are a lot of challenges. International payroll is a compliance minefield” said James Peters, Chief Revenue Officer & President, Global Expansion. “Every country has their own rules, which can be updated without much fanfare, and included amongst those rules was the actual act of how money flowed into a country and into an employees’ bank account.”
In addition to meeting these compliance standards, the matter of accurately distributing tens of thousands of payments in multiple currencies, all into individual bank accounts, and do that on-time, every time, is a difficult endeavor.
Global Expansion had been utilizing the international banking network to process these payments, using numerous individual local, regional, and global banks for their payroll flow. This meant, by definition, that their payment network was disconnected. Payments would flow through multiple 3rd parties, resulting in delays and hidden fees, while tracking payments was incredibly difficult.
“Dealing with international banking is very, very complex and difficult. The problem we were facing was one of confidence. When we made payments through correspondent banks, it was impossible for us to guarantee that the money would land in these employees' accounts on time, as promised. We had to source a new solution that gave us that peace of mind.”
The complexity also meant it was difficult for Global Expansion to quickly deliver payroll in new territories on behalf of their clients. Each time they wanted to, they had to go through all the regulatory hoops for each individual client.
“Historically, when you are dealing with a bank, the period in which it takes to suddenly set up a local account, the number of forms you need to fill in, scanned passports, etc., etc., it’s a very time-consuming process. All the client wants to do is pay an employee, and we needed to make it easier for them to do that.”
The Solution
Global Expansion partnered with TransferMate to be the engine delivering their international payroll payments. TransferMate has built an international payments network covering 200+ countries and territories, based on acquiring proprietary licenses in different countries and bringing them together in an integrated, compliant infrastructure.
“Compliant payments are the foundation for everything we do. Our partnership with TransferMate means we know that all the KYC and AML compliance procedures are always adhered to and there are no shortcuts. It means that we're always protected. We always have that security blanket. And we also can truly understand how we're transacting and report on it. All of that is vital.”
With this network Global Expansion can deliver payroll across the world, in multiple currencies, using a single provider.
“The number one thing for us is the ability to transact globally. To have one single platform that allows us pretty much to pay to almost any country in the world is just a game-changer for us. And it means that we can centralize everything from a reporting point of view, from a compliance point of view, and a way of mitigating our risk.”
Being able to collect in multiple currencies, and distribute accurately in multiple currencies, was a real sea change for the team.
“As an example, we take money in from one of our US clients in USD. They may have employees across 50, 60 different countries with 50, 60 different currencies requirements. The beauty of TransferMate is they're able to transact all that money globally in all the local currencies.”
The global infrastructure also allowed Global Expansion to not just expand its offering but also enhance how they delivered that value proposition.
“Having TransferMate as our infrastructure sitting behind those global payments gives us the confidence that we can really help these companies as they grow quickly, and we can scale quickly too. No EOR can operate globally without the support of a company like TransferMate.”
The integrated, proprietary network means Global Expansion can set-up in new territories on behalf of their clients much quicker too.
“We don’t have the problems we had with banks before. When our clients need employees in foreign markets with complex currencies, we know TransferMate can support that because it has the local currency capability and is able to provide us with virtual accounts in that currency. We simply phone up TransferMate and say, "We've got a client who are based in South Africa, and they want to pay in rand" and we’ll have an account in minutes.”
The Results
The partnership has allowed Global Expansion to match their international payroll expertise with an equivalent international payment network. It has become a key element in delivering their service internationally.
“It's allowed us to go truly global. We are the only employer of record that operates in 214 countries and territories. We're able to transact pretty much anywhere on the planet.”
For such an international, complex service, the delivery and success rates have been excellent.
“TransferMate’s capability is phenomenal. Their success rate is phenomenal. They have a 99.8% delivery rate for us, which is unheard of. Obviously, we would love to have 100%, but dealing with so many different countries, with so many different currencies, it's virtually impossible to ever have 100% guaranteed success rates. It’s pretty much near perfect.”
The Final Word
“You've given us the confidence to be able to take on large enterprise projects for very well-known brands. If we have a project where we take on 1,800 people across 18 different countries, we know there is that depth of experience, knowledge, and expertise that we can deliver.”
- James Peters, Chief Revenue Officer & President, Global Expansion
To learn how becoming a partner of TransferMate can update your global payroll payment engine, contact the team here.
