FX solution is key to this company’s multi-currency receivables

The challenge

Global-e was established in 2013 and since then, has experienced tremendous growth; doubling volumes every year, and increasing its number of clients and services, including selling to new markets and supporting additional currencies. As the merchant of record for its clients’ cross-border ecommerce sales, Global-e has taken on the challenges and risks associated with managing all of the different currencies of the buyer and seller, which currently exceeds 95 currencies.

To simplify these complex processes, Global-e set forth the following objectives:

1. To enhance visibility and automation on the FX rates that are applied to its currency receivables.
2. To control the FX-related costs.
3. To partner with a bank with a global reach and a strategy focused on innovation.

As Eyal Shechter, CFO, Global-e recalls, “We asked Citi to create an automated solution whereby our receivables across the ten most common currencies would be automatically converted and credited to our currency accounts held in both the UK and the Netherlands.”

The solution

Global-e and Citi worked together on an automated solution that would streamline the process; receiving and converting the required currencies and then crediting their GBP (or USD/EUR) accounts in London and in the Netherlands. The solution was designed to support further growth by the company and an additional 30+ currencies when needed.

The solution also enables Global-e to control costs with a pre-agreed FX spread for all currency conversions.

“The solution gives us access to state-of-the-art reconciliation, which significantly increased our visibility on the amount we received in the original currency, the rate that was applied, and the amount that was credited to our accounts,” says Shechter.

To enhance reconciliation across the multiple payment intermediaries it works with, Global-e is now working with Citi to implement a virtual ‘Payer ID’ solution whereby each payment intermediary will pay into a separate ID linked to its main accounts. This will help to easily reconcile receivables across each payment intermediary. By combining this with the FX solution, Global-e is working towards a holistic and end-to-end cash management and FX structure.

Best practice and innovation

The traditional approach to managing the challenges of the accounts receivables would have been to open different accounts in all currencies that Global-e receives. Global-e would then have to manually monitor its daily complex exposures, and at regular intervals, actively engage in discrete FX trades to convert to the currency of the merchant. As the company’s activity grows to additional markets, it could potentially reach dozens of currencies and hundreds of accounts.

Such a process is costly, time-consuming and inefficient. Global-e is devoted to helping its hundreds of clients grow their cross-border sales in more than 200 destinations worldwide, and therefore sought an innovative solution for managing FX at scale.

The automated, streamlined and transparent solution demonstrates a truly innovative approach to how FX transactions are managed, reducing three distinct processes to their lowest common denominator to create one singular transaction. This enables a greatly reduced processing time, enhances transparency and tight cost control.

Key benefits

• Reduced processing time.
• Increased automation.
• Simplified reconciliation.
• Transparency on actual FX rates.
• Cost control.

“With this unique solution we enable our clients to expand internationally without actual physical expansion, and Citi enables us to support this growth in volume and currencies in the most efficient way possible,” concludes Shechter.