In a sentence: GeistM needed an international payment platform that allowed them to manage exchange rate risk, deliver a transparent payment process, and free up administration time.
About GeistM
GeistM is a full-service marketing partner that specializes in performance content marketing and customer acquisition. Working with clients around the world, they spend and receive across multiple territories in different currencies.
Challenges
When you’re advertising and marketing to audiences around the world, it means you’ll have to spend money in lots of places. GeistM is a global agency that runs campaigns on behalf of their clients in dozens of territories, through countless platforms, and to millions of people.
Making that international spending and receiving efficient and cost-effective is always going to be a core challenge for them, and they had spent a lot of time trying to find the right partner.
“We had dipped our toe into pretty much every single fintech out there, as well as traditional banks” says Robbie Hynes, VP, Head of International at GeistM. “It was a clear case of needing to simplify and get a single payments provider to do what we needed.”
Due to the different currencies and territories GeistM operated in, it was a complex job to manage the process in an efficient way. While lots of the transactions were between major currencies, like USD to Euro and vice-versa, fluctuating exchange rates meant GeistM needed a way to manage significant risk. Their previous process didn’t give them much flexibility to do so.
“With the banks, we weren’t able to lock in exchange rates live at the time of payment. So, if you were to do it on a Friday, you’d schedule it for Monday, but you don’t know what the exchange rate is going to be on Monday, whether you’re going up or going down. If you wanted to find out what the exchange rate is for a specific payment, you’re told to call a number in the bank, and that could mean waiting 45 minutes to talk to someone. We needed more flexibility and control.”
“It was an unacceptable level of risk, and we wanted to limit the impact of it.”
Beyond spend, they were also receiving funds from clients around the world for their work, which also carried similar risks.
“We’d be billing our clients at set exchange rates but, with long payment terms of 3 to 6 months after invoicing, currency fluctuations could really hurt your bottom line. It was an unacceptable level of risk, and we wanted to limit the impact of it.”
Beyond managing the FX risk fluctuations, GeistM were also being hit by hidden or unclear fees from their banks.
“We weren’t getting any insight into the associated fees upfront when making payments. It was only afterwards we’d find out there was a new line item below it. It was frustrating, and that lack of transparency left you with the feeling you were being penalized unnecessarily.”
These fees were not only hitting the bottom line but causing complications in the bookkeeping as well.
“If we’re sending $100,000, for example, we want to know what the associated fees for that process. If it’s higher than expected, we have to reconcile that figure down the line. It just causes more work.”
The GeistM team needed a payments system that could lock-in exchange rates, allow them to make payments when it (and the exchange rate) suited them, and have an easy-to-use system for both their internal team and clients.
Solution
GeistM now use TransferMate’s online portal for paying and receiving internationally. An immediate win was the ability to flexibility manage exchange rate risk.
“Being able to lock it into a specific exchange rate at any time during the working week is probably the core benefit we get from TransferMate. Having that visibility gives us comfort so that we know exactly where we are.”
“Where we’ve really saved money is by taking advantage of exchange rates through the visibility of the platform.”
The hidden fees and high costs have also been eliminated.
“Beyond the fees, where we’ve really saved money is by taking advantage of exchange rates through the visibility of the platform. If we’re seeing that the rates are good and it’s a good time to move, we’re able to act quickly and pay all the relevant bills at once. We were never able to act like that through the banks.”
All this had added up to a much more transparent payment process that the GeistM team can manage and plan around – all within an easy-to-use platform.
“It’s super straightforward and there’s a lot of communication built within the platform, so you know where payments are. It’s quick to approve payments, it’s easy to bill clients in their local currency with a built-in exchange rate, has reporting that means references to every payment are in there permanently if you need it, and the ability to make batch payments when you want to really saves us time.”
Results
The choice of using TransferMate as their international payment provider has resulted in the GeistM team having more control over FX risk, greater agility to make payments when it is favorable to them and also save significant administration time. Robbie estimates that it has freed up nearly 2 – 3 people’s workloads from implementing the solution.
“We’ve settled on TransferMate as our go-to provider. It makes everything a lot more streamlined and easier, both for reconciliation and for making the payments themselves. We get exchange rate certainty and a modern platform for paying vendors. It’s been a key win for us.”
The Final Word
“It’s very straightforward, easy to use, and has allowed us to manage exchange rate risk effectively.”
- Robbie Hynes, VP, Head of International at GeistM
To start using the TransferMate Web Portal for your international payables and receivables, sign-up here.
