RFP News

Published on Jan 25, 2011

An international payments service, called Earthport Direct is now available for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and is specifically designed to reduce the hassle, delay and cost they face when trading internationally.

The Earthport Direct online service enables SMEs to manage their own payments and collections throughout the world via a simple to operate payment account accessed through a secure portal. The service is targeted at businesses ranging from, for example, exporters and importers, manufacturers, tour operators, hoteliers, aviators and oil distributors to law firms, international property managers, wine merchants and e-tailers. The service is cost-effective for organisations making or receiving more than 10 global payments a month.

For over a decade, Earthport has provided large organisations with a global payments and collections service. Today, this secure, ‘self-service’ solution is released to SMEs providing them with an alternative to credit cards, cash remittances and other traditional methods.

Once an account is opened, the SME is able to set up their customer and supplier details and serve themselves to make and collect global payments in 26 different currencies. Matt O’Donnell, director of business development at Earthport said: “Earthport Direct is all about ensuring global payments move at the speed business demands. Our online service offers small to medium-sized businesses fast, reliable, secure and low cost international payments and collections in 26 currencies in 200 countries.”

The launch of the service is timely given the Government’s ambitions for British business to increase their export drives, as Matt O’Donnell comments: “It is clear that the Government agenda is to encourage SME growth and Earthport has responded to champion the needs of SMEs surrounding international payments and collections. Our recent survey revealed fears over getting paid, fraud and so called hidden landing costs resulting in shortfalls of payments, all of which can hold back some firms from boosting exports. We also address the delays, high cost and hassle of arranging payments which are top concerns, too.”

Early users of the service are delighted with the impact on their business. Roger Braithwaite is chief executive officer of Aerospace Services Limited of Derby, which provides a comprehensive range of commercial and technical services to the aerospace and airline industries to keep carriers airborne. Commenting on the ease and flat transaction fee offered by Earthport Direct he said: “Responding quickly and effectively to emergency situations is a vital part of our service. With Earthport Direct we now have a mechanism for gaining certainty of payment before a plane takes off, which is helping us to conduct business at a lower cost and significantly lower risk. This was hard to achieve before Earthport Direct.”**

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