Record Payment Volumes, Service Expansion, and Acquisition All Part of Strong Growth in 2017
BOSTON and LONDON, Nov. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Flywire, a provider of international payment and receivables solutions for businesses, schools and healthcare providers, continues to expand its business in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the rest of Europe, highlighted by record cross-border payment volumes, new service offerings, and the acquisition of a London-based fintech startup earlier this year. The company is also hosting its second annual FlyForum UK event, on November 14th in London, part of a global thought leadership series.
Flywire, provides businesses, educational institutions, and healthcare providers with the ability to offer their customers a highly-tailored, international payment experience – customised by country, currency and vertical. The company removes cost and complexity in the cross-border payment process for end-users while offering financial and operations teams easy receivable tracking and reconciliation. To date, the company has processed over $5 billion in international payments and established its platform as the preferred solution around the globe for cross-border payments and receivables processing.
There were several highlights for the company in the UK, Ireland, and across Europe this year.
FlyForum UK
Flywire will host its second annual FlyForum UK Event in London on November 14. The thought leadership event is part of a global series designed to bring together education institutions doing business internationally to discuss some of the key issues surrounding international student recruitment, cross-border payment processing, security, and customer service. Discussion topics include compliance, money laundering prevention, and international recruitment support. The event will be held at Flywire’s Canary Wharf offices in London.
Increased Number of Payments Processed and Clients Served
Flywire added over 100 new clients in the UK and Ireland over the last 12 months – part of a 200+% increase in the volume of payments processed in the last two years across Europe. The expansion includes the addition of many prestigious business schools across Europe. In the last six months alone, Flywire signed an average of more than two educational institutions every week across ten different European countries.
Expanded International Coverage
Flywire has also expanded its support for payments across the globe. The additions of Alipay in Asia, and PayPal worldwide give international students attending schools in the UK, Ireland, and Europe more payment options, and make those cross-border transactions more convenient.
Addition of Trustly as a Preferred Payment Option
Flywire is also integrating Trustly as a preferred payment option for businesses and students in Europe making cross-border payments. With new digital authentication methods, the bank account has grown in relevance across European markets for both domestic and international payments. Flywire clients can now offer their international customers a fast and easy way to pay directly from their local bank accounts while streamlining payment and receivable reconciliation for their administrators.
New Service to Address Requirements for International Students in Ireland
Flywire has tailored its platform specifically to meet recently added requirements for international students who require a visa to study in Ireland. Irish schools are required to set aside funds paid on behalf of some students until the student’s visa application is approved or rejected. Flywire takes this burden off the schools with a new “delayed payment account” service. Flywire can now hold tuition payments until the Irish Naturalization and Immigration Service (INIS) decides on each application, transferring the funds to the school upon visa approval, or returning funds to the payer if denied.
Acquisition of London-Based Startup, Pace Invoice
In June, Flywire acquired PACE Invoice, a multi-currency invoicing platform. With it, Flywire enables its business, education and healthcare clients to more easily link invoices to cross-border receivables, saving time and costs in invoice preparation and payment reconciliation. The invoicing capability is available to Flywire clients as an option with its cross-border payments and receivables platform – providing end-to-end management from invoice delivery through to payment reconciliation. PACE is an alumnus of Startupbootcamp FinTech London, an accelerator program supporting early-stage tech companies.
Integration with First Data
In May, First Data and Flywire formed a reciprocal referral relationship, providing clients with seamless integration between Flywire’s international payment and receivables platform, and First Data’s vast client network and technology solutions. The partnership significantly expands card payment options for Flywire clients and enables First Data clients to leverage the Flywire platform to accept large sum international payments from their customers, while providing transparency and easy reconciliation.
New Offering for Businesses
In March, Flywire announced its entry into the $ trillion + business payment processing and receivables market, using its platform to connect all the entities involved in cross-border business transactions around the world. The company is targeting multiple business segments including travel, luxury goods, publishing, import/export, business/professional services, and technology to eliminate the obstacles to international expansion including slow payment processing times, a lack of transparency, unpredictable fees and FX costs, and country-specific regulations and infrastructure requirements.
About Flywire
Flywire is a leading provider of international payment solutions, connecting businesses and institutions with their customers on six continents. Introduced six years ago as a way for international students to pay their tuition for studies abroad, Flywire is now used by over 1,400 organizations across 19 countries around the world. The company processes billions in payments per year from 220 countries and territories, via bank transfer, credit card and e-wallet solutions, in over 120 different local currencies. Convenient, fast and secure, Flywire’s scalable platform provides currency conversion at exchange rates that can offer significant savings when compared to home-market banks and credit card providers. The company also supports its clients with end-to-end customer support including multilingual servicing via phone, email, and chat, as well as 24/7 online payment tracking.
Flywire is headquartered in Boston, MA with operations in London and Manchester, UK; Shanghai, China; Tokyo, Japan; Singapore; Sydney, Australia; and Valencia, Spain. For more information, visit www.Flywire.com.
