HSBC Launches Multi-Currency Wallet for International Payments

Published: May 18, 2021

HSBC has launched a multi-currency digital wallet that enables businesses to make and receive international payments simply and securely from one single global account.

HSBC Global Wallet is fully integrated within the bank’s existing business banking platform and removes the need for businesses to use third-party providers for international transactions. Clients can send and receive money in a number of currencies, and hold and manage those currencies in the same Global Wallet account.

HSBC Global Wallet uses the bank’s global payments network, enabling customers to ‘pay like a local’ – meaning that money will usually be delivered to a beneficiary’s account within minutes of it being sent.

By showing customers the exchange rate before they execute a payment, and by fixing it to ensure the right amount settles in the beneficiary’s account, HSBC Global Wallet allows customers to operate internationally with confidence.

Diane S. Reyes, Global Head of Liquidity and Cash Management, HSBC, said: “Global Wallet makes it as easy for our customers to deal with a supplier or a client on the other side of the world, as it is to deal with one on the other side of town.

“By fully integrating this solution into our everyday business banking platform we’re giving our clients a virtual presence in markets around the world – where they can hold and send cash just like a local business - while also eliminating the need to use third-party platforms for international payments.”

Targeted at medium-sized businesses with international supply chains, the wallet provides instant access to currencies from within customers’ day-to-day banking platform, allowing for greater visibility of their cash flow.

Richard Bibbey, Head of FX, Emerging Market Rates and Commodities, HSBC, said: “Sending money internationally is often viewed as a complex and time-consuming process, with exchange rates frequently changing between the point of execution and the point of settlement, meaning too little or too much money is received.

“HSBC Global Wallet users can build trust with their own customers and suppliers in other markets with faster, more reliable international payments and receipts – and have confidence in growing their businesses internationally.”

Respondents to a survey carried out on behalf of HSBC UK suggested that currency fluctuations were the leading concern for UK-based businesses when making and receiving payments overseas (40 per cent), while one in five were concerned about the speed of payments.

HSBC Global Wallet customers can hold and send money in US Dollars, Euros, UK Pound Sterling, Canadian Dollars, Hong Kong Dollars, Singapore Dollars and Australian Dollars, with more currencies to be added over the coming months. Regardless of where they’re initiated, payments to the US, the Eurozone, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia can be made ‘like a local’, using domestic real-time payment networks.

HSBC clients which took part in the pilot have praised the solution. Munir Patel, CEO of XRail Group, a UK-based rail signaling services provider, said: “For companies looking to expand internationally, to have an instant account facility with these local capabilities is amazing.”

HSBC Global Wallet is backed by the trust and security of HSBC’s global network, with more than 1.3 million business customers in 53 markets. Launching initially in Singapore, the UK and the US, the bank has a pipeline of further markets as well as new currencies and enhancements.