Small business gains foreign exchange platform

An affordable foreign exchange (FX) platform has been created by CurrencyVue, designed to help small-to-medium businesses (SMEs) manage currency exposure risks.

The venture is being supported by the NSW Government’s Jobs for NSW initiative.

The platform, which will be launched in mid-2017, connects directly to banking and accounting systems and comes as more small businesses want access to international markets.

“SMEs can be at a huge disadvantage when dealing in FX markets experiencing financial losses, due to unpredictable market movements,” said Deputy Premier and Minister for Small Business John Barilaro.

“Systems to manage FX dealings for big businesses can cost more than $50,000 a year, which may not be affordable for many SMEs. CurrencyVue is targeting a global market for SMEs by providing an easy-to-use platform at a fraction of the cost.

“The company has been supported to develop and test its technology with a minimum viable product (MVP) grant from private-sector-led, NSW Government-backed Jobs for NSW.”

The platform uses innovative cloud technology to provide smaller businesses with some of the sophistication until now only really available to large institutional businesses.

CurrencyVue Chief Executive Matthew Tyrrell said the MVP grant had been very helpful accounting for about 15% of the cost of developing an initial prototype.

“SMEs need to understand and manage financial risks. For example, post-Brexit the British pound fell about 10% against the US dollar, meaning an unhedged UK importer paying for USD goods would have added an extra 10% cost overnight,” he said.

They provide a portfolio of product and service offerings including grants, loans, loan guarantees and other forms of business support to accelerate new job creation.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Henrik Jonsson

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