Exclusive: Currencies Direct increases transparency with payment tracking

By Sunniva Kolostyak

Cross-border transfers provider Currencies Direct has introduced a payment tracking service to provide users with increased transparency while easing payments-related stress.

The international payments provider has launched the tool to provide its customers with the ability to track payments through every step of the transfer journey, from instruction to completion.

The tool was launched during the Covid-19 crisis, and it hopes to address the heightened anxiety during this period by easing people’s minds when it comes to transfers, Hardik Shah, Group Head of Product at Currencies Direct, told IBS Intelligence.

“The payment tracking is designed to answer the customer needs, to increase transparency and control and to reduce that fear or anxiety around ‘I’m not sure where my payment is’,” he said.
“You can track a pizza as it makes its way to your house … so why shouldn’t you be able to track payments as well?”

The tracking information is accessible from the dashboard of their online accounts and customers simply need to click on a payment to see more detail about its status. They can also download payment confirmations, including SWIFT details, to confirm receipt of payment.

“We always look at what is difficult for customers to try and make it simpler for them. You could wait until the SWIFT gpi implementation or you can start giving them as much transparency as is available today while continuing to build – and that’s what we have done,” Shah said.

Currencies Direct has had a busy year – as an omnichannel business, it has seen its branches in Spain closed during lockdown, but it has also had the opportunity to review customer engagement processes.

Shah explained that it has seen that those customers who prefer branch interaction will continue to choose in-person services wherever possible, but that there has been a trend for those usually using web-based services to move towards mobile solutions.

“It is perhaps because they don’t have a laptop at hand, maybe they left it in their office or can’t get to one. So we have been looking at how do we enhance that mobile experience even further, how do we accelerate that programme, add value to our customer support services and introduce innovative features like payment tracking, which allows customers to self-serve more.”

The FinTech launched services in the US in March this year and has seen significant growth in Southern Europe, continental Europe and the UK since the start of the pandemic.

Shah said: “As a business our aim is to make the experience of personal customers as simple as possible, removing anxiety. And you know, Covid does not help with that but by providing capabilities like the payment tracking functionality we can build more control and transparency into customers’ payment cycle, and, having our personal touch model always available to the customers, try to alleviate perhaps some of the concerns they would have making transactions in today’s environment.”