Fexco is a leading provider of domestic and international payment solutions, helping clients across a diverse range of sectors to reduce FX risk and increase efficiency in accounts payables operations.
Fexco provide bespoke foreign exchange solutions to SME’s, large corporates, public sector including Higher Education Institutions seeking to minimise and automate outgoing global payments. Our FX solution to import and export businesses helps to mitigate the risk of currency fluctuation and includes spot and forward contracts to protect profit margins.
Where did your passion for digital come from?
My passion for digital came from seeing how digital services can benefit businesses and consumers and how they can help people to do business from anywhere in the world.
Fexco has over 2,700 staff and we process billions of euro worth of transactions online each year from our headquarters in South West Ireland. Digital services are in our DNA. Our mission is “Building Borderless Business” and technology is central to that vision.
It’s amazing to see how digital services have transformed business so that it’s now the norm to do all banking and payments online. The digital revolution isn’t over either: PSD2 is going to transform our industry even further. At the same time I think the digital revolution helps to remind us that business is all about people. Our customers stay with Fexco because we have skilled dealers and support staff who deliver transparent digital services that our customers need.
Where do you see yourself /your company in 5 years?
PSD2 is a huge game changer in our industry. Third party platforms like ERP systems and Fexco software will be used for payment transfer activity where traditionally this was the domain of the banks. Delivering payment technology is what Fexco does best so PSD2 presents an enormous opportunity for the company. We are constantly innovating and developing our product portfolio and the Fexco Group has recently announced the creation of 175 new jobs, primarily in information and communications technology (ICT), engineering and sales. Payments are getting faster, cheaper and more integrated. The answers to each of these challenges are: automation, efficiency and partnerships.
What’s your role and what does a typical day involve?
I am responsible for growing our Fexco Corporate Payments Division in Scotland. We provide bank-beating payment solutions to our customers using technology, so a lot of our work is IT-based. On any given day, I could be meeting new and existing clients, working with them to understand their long term goals and objectives for digital transformation for their finance functions and I also attend a lot of industry networking events. It’s completely varied and I love it.
Looking to the future, what do you see as being the next big thing in tech?
In the financial services industry, the rise of digital banking is certainly a central theme. Pressure to reduce costs, especially in small business banking means automation and digitalisation will become more significant. We in the fintech industry are finding solutions to automate workflows for greater efficiency from supplier on-boarding to payment initiation and reconciliation. Faster international payments have also been on the industry’s agenda for several years but finding a global standard despite technological advances seems to be a sticking point for now.
Any new products, services, events coming up for your business?
Our success to date has been based on innovation for Foreign Exchange. This is Fexco’s core business unlike traditional Banks. Fexco already has partnerships with major ERP providers like Oracle and Agresso who use its integrated payment solution to solve complex payment problems in the higher education, third sector and health sectors. We are in the process of rolling out our accounts payment transformation initiative in Scotland, focussing on partnering with ERP providers here to offer our FileDirect Solution into busy finance functions. We are also about to launch our Supplier Direct Initiative, which will provide greater digital efficiencies whilst reducing risk for accounts payable teams. Initially our focus will be in the public sector, initially within the Scottish University Sector and we will be expanding our offering to other sectors thereafter. As companies grow and evolve with the digital transformation, our new services will become an integral part in creating best in class end to end payment efficiencies.
Why did you join ScotlandIS and importantly, why are you still with us?
We joined in March this year to assist with growing our brand awareness and profile here in Scotland and to be involved in sharing best practices and policy for digital transformation.
ScotlandIS is a perfect platform for Fexco to communicate and network with ERP Providers, Digital Leaders and finance function decision makers