Banking Circle helps Ixaris streamline travel industry payments

Ixaris’s payment solution, now connected with Banking Circle Virtual IBAN, streamlines payments and taps into new revenue sources. Ixaris travel partners can now send and receive payments anywhere in the world at a low cost and in real-time, eliminating the reliance on multiple banking relationships in different territories.

The payments problem

Traditionally, before Banking Circle Virtual IBAN, seamless cross-border B2B payments required companies to have a physical footprint and open a physical bank account in the territories in which they wanted to operate.

Launched in 2017, Banking Circle’s Virtual IBAN allows businesses to send and receive payments anywhere in the world at a low cost and in real-time, eliminating the reliance on multiple banking relationships in different territories. Banking Circle's Virtual IBAN technology, combined with Ixaris' ability to optimise every payment, is delivering more efficient global payments handling for the travel industry that can generate revenue and, ultimately, profitability.

The cost and administration of payments squeeze profit margins for travel companies. This is exacerbated when payments are made across borders; international transactions incur higher bank charges, poorer FX rates, payment delays and huge amounts of administration. Today, payment experts Ixaris ease that squeeze, transforming payments from a profit-draining necessity to a fully optimised revenue stream for over 200 customers in 50 countries and boosting margins by up to 26% for the world’s largest travel brands to independent travel agencies.

Anders la Cour, Chief Executive Officer at Banking Circle, adds: “Banking Circle Virtual IBAN plays an invaluable role in delivering faster, cheaper payments to merchants transacting around the globe. Unlike traditional business to business cross border payments, which can incur high bank charges and payment delays, our innovative and multi-award-winning solution enables Ixaris to give customers their own virtual IBANs. This improves payments acceptance, settlement times and reconciliation without the burden of multiple banking relationships, high fees and slow transfer times.”

Aran Brown, CEO, Ixaris added: “Our partnership with Banking Circle allows Ixaris to offer an even more competitive edge for travel companies, not only by optimising payments but by creating a seamless cross-border transaction process across more than 25 currencies in 50 countries in a way that banks simply would not allow. Ixaris’ ability to optimise travel payments is now second to none.”

The Banking Circle benefit

With Banking Circle Virtual IBAN Ixaris is now able to offer a 24hr service and automated loading of funds. Clients can get deposits into their account at any time regardless of their time zone – if it hits Banking Circle, it will be loaded in the funding account. Prior to using Banking Circle, funds were loaded manually by Ixaris at four set intervals during the day – once funds hit the account, they still needed the Ixaris team to action the deposit, causing a delay for the client.

The value of Banking Circle Virtual IBAN to the wider industry is clearly evidenced by the impressive early and continued results. In the first six months after its launch, accounts using Banking Circle Virtual IBAN handled on average 2,000 payments per month. In the following six months that had reached on average 15,000 per month with 250,000 monthly transactions taking place by mid-2019. Two million Banking Circle Virtual IBAN accounts have been issued to businesses around the world.

With Ixaris, which launched with Banking Circle in May 2019, when comparing April with June there was a 22% increase in deposit volume and a 6% increase in number of deposits across Ixaris’ top ten clients using Banking Circle.

Banking Circle Virtual IBAN enables Ixaris to give its clients their own virtual IBANs, negating the need to have several banking relationships in different international territories. With full transaction transparency, payments acceptance is improved and screening time reduced. Banking Circle Virtual IBAN also reduces the likelihood of errors in processing cross-border payments. Plus, reconciliation and settlement times are improved, helping financial institutions improve the customer experience. End-to-end transparency also reduces AML and KYC risk.

The use cases for Banking Circle Virtual IBAN have increased significantly since launch. Initially starting as a means for supporting cross-border payments for FX and payments businesses it has now been modified to cater for the following client sectors: prepaid card issuing, marketplaces and marketplace sellers, insurance brokers, fintech banking providers, payroll, and invoice discounting with many more to follow.

About Anders la Cour

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Banking Circle, Anders la Cour is a hands-on leader driving innovation to facilitate more efficient, cost-effective banking solutions. He was instrumental in arranging the acquisition of Banking Circle by EQT VIII and EQT Ventures.

About Banking Circle 

Banking Circle is a next-generation provider of financial services infrastructure that is leading the rise of a super-correspondent banking network and increasing financial inclusion.

Ixaris is a financial technology innovator that's shaking up payments for the travel industry — and beyond, by cutting costs, flattening forex fees and streamlining reconciliation.