The study of 150 finance executives across the UK and US found 22% of firms lose more than $250,000 a year in hidden FX mark-ups and poor conversion rates.

Finance systems are hiding the true cost of FX

The research also found that 71% of CFOs say their teams spend more than a quarter of their time on manual or spreadsheet-based tasks, with 11% spending more than half their week reconciling data across systems.

On top of that tool fragmentation is also a problem, with over a quarter (27%) of teams using between 6–10 tools to manage finance workflows.

This operational drain leaves little room for analysis or proactive FX management – meaning many finance leaders are effectively flying blind when managing currency exposure.

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” said Pierre-Edouard Jumel, Chief Financial Officer at Primer. “CFOs want to be more strategic, but they’re trapped in operational cycles that leave little time to act on what matters most. FX is a perfect example. Finance teams know it’s eroding margins, but without accurate, unified data, they can’t see how much or where.”

CFOs see the problem, but don’t have the tools to fix it

When asked what would help finance operate more strategically, respondents pointed to the same four enablers:

• Real-time data access (44%)

• More automation (43%)

• Reduced manual work (42%)

• Improved reporting accuracy (41%)

Each of these directly connects to the FX problem: poor visibility, fragmented systems, and heavy manual workloads. Together, they define a clear mandate. Finance needs better infrastructure, not bigger teams.

The answer: visibility, transparency, and control

It’s within this context that Primer has launched Global Accounts, to tackle one of the biggest hidden costs in global commerce – FX.

Global Accounts follows Primer’s Reconciliation product, launched earlier this year, which helps merchants match payments received from PSPs against what customers paid.

For global merchants, settlement can happen in a variety of currencies. This creates a costly cycle of forced conversions resulting in inflated FX rates.

Together, the two products give finance teams both visibility into and control over settlement flows.

With Global Accounts, merchants can:

• Receive and hold funds in 20+ currencies

• Convert at market-linked rates

• Transfer and pay out through local rails or SWIFT

• Together with Reconciliation, track and match every transaction from one dashboard

This marks the next phase of Primer’s vision: solving the operational burden of global money movement, and going beyond payments teams to empower finance.