The EMI license will further boost its growth by allowing VertoFX to on-board UK or EEA businesses, whilst integrating with local banks to provide better financial infrastructure and payment services. Additionally, when both the sender and recipient are VertoFX clients - regardless of where they are located - payments are executed instantly via wallet-to-wallet transfer, offering even greater transaction speed and value to businesses.

VertoFX is perfectly positioned to make it easier for these businesses to transact at FX rates 9x cheaper than high street banks, settle 3x faster, charging no transaction fee whilst enabling them manage their currency exposure through its multi-currency business accounts. With a customer base spanning the US, Europe and Africa, VertoFX is well positioned to fulfil its mission of making it easier for businesses in emerging markets to engage and transact with the world.

“The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital payments, prompted global business to re-assess their supply chains and the transaction cost of working with global partners as the need to reduce cost becomes paramount in the current economic climate. This trend has partly contributed to a +270% increase in our customer base year-on-year; predominantly driven by SMEs who trade and transact with emerging market businesses.” said Ola Oyetayo, Co-Founder and CEO, at VertoFX.

Research revealed that SMEs in the U.K. are spending nearly £4B in hidden fees to their banks for cross-border payments across the Eurozone alone, growing even more when you include trade with the rest of the world - which is around 50% of imports and exports by UK SMEs.

Furthermore, B2B cross-border payments by SMEs is growing at 2-3 times the rate of large corporates - especially driven by emerging market SMEs. SMEs account for nearly 30 percent of global imports and in emerging markets they make up 45 percent of total employment. This is a segment that has been neglected, underserved and overcharged by traditional banks, despite its huge potential to impact communities and people.

“Acquiring our e-money license is a key element of our vision to create a more inclusive financial ecosystem for global businesses. VertoFX has invested the last three years in connecting hundreds of people and organisations to a global system that enables fast, safe and reliable financial transactions. However, this is only the beginning, we are excited to pursue our ambitious goals of creating a fairer and more inclusive financial ecosystem - especially for underserved and overcharged market segments!” said Ola Oyetayo, Co-Founder and CEO, at VertoFX.