Arguably the most impactful innovation of the modern era of open banking-powered finance is the introduction of competition for cross-border payments.
Where once sending money internationally was time consuming, inefficient and expensive, now consumers and businesses have a host of options for fast and cheap cross-border transfers.
Here are Britain’s biggest cross-border payments companies.
(Note: Many fintech and finance businesses now offer cross-border payments as part of their wider services.
This list is focused on companies whose primary service is cross-border payments or who are best-known for cross-border payments.)
Revolut
Valuation: $48bn
The self-described financial superapp really (almost) does it all. Revolut users today can buy and sell crypto, buy insurance and will soon be able to get a mortgage.
Europe’s biggest private tech firm has come a long way but what made it stand out in the early days, and what for many is still the major appeal is its international payments, with multi-currency accounts, competitive exchange rates and extremely simple and fast transfers to other Revolut account holders abroad. Many of its earliest adopters were those who struggled to open a bank account in the UK with a high street provider and who wished to remit money to their home countries.
In 2024, Revolut secured a UK banking license after an extended waiting period, allowing it to expand its services and grow its user base – now more than 50 million globally. The company is also heavily suspected to be gearing up for a blockbuster IPO, likely in New York.
Rapyd
Valuation: $15bn
Rapyd operates largely behind the scenes, providing financial infrastructure technology for other businesses as a fintech-as-a-service provider. The business took off quickly (Rapydly?) after its 2016 launch but truly shot to prominence during 2021, when it closed back-to-back $300m funding rounds.
Rapyd’s fintech building blocks have allowed thousands of companies to integrate diverse local payment methods and manage complex international transactions.
Wise
Valuation: $12.8bn
For many Wise – or its original name TransferWise – is synonymous with sending money internationally. When Wise burst onto the scene in 2011, it redefined how cross-border payments work, offering cost-effective transfers with a focus on low fees and fair exchange rates. The Shoreditch-based company also offers a comparison service for exchange rates that presents itself alongside competition.
Being the go-to international money transfer services in dozens of countries comes with plenty of benefits, but in Wise’s case, also landed it in trouble with the government. In 2023, regulators found that Wise had breached restrictions against Russia by allowing a customer to withdraw cash from a business account held by a sanctioned entity in the country.
Checkout.com
Valuation: $9.4bn
With an extensive network of acquiring banks in more than 50 countries and a platform supporting 150 processing currencies, Checkout.com boasts an impressive full stack payments operation.
For a decent spell, Checkout.com had the honour of being Britain and Europe’s biggest fintech, though a combination of internal devaluation and the meteoric rise of Revolut has seen its value drop from a peak of $40bn to its much smaller, though still respectable, figure today.
In 2023, after having serviced billions in cryptoasset transactions, the company moved away from the digital currency industry, cutting ties with China’s Binance.
WorldRemit
Valuation: $5bn
Founded in 2010, WorldRemit has taken a particular interest in the remittance needs of migrant and gig economy workers. Jefferies analyst Hannes Leitner once described the divergence of the global remittance market as having on one side firms like Wise, typically used by the white-collar middle class, and firms like WorldRemit, used by the blue-collar working class.
In 2021, WorldRemit acquired fellow money transfer provider Sendwave and established Zepz as a parent company managing both businesses.
World First UK
Valuation: $700m
Providing global money transfer services to businesses and consumers, the London-founded company built up its brand for 15 years before attracting the attention of Ant Financial, the owner of Chinese tech giant Alibaba – and its associated fintech service Alipay.
The acquisition was particularly significant as it opened up the British company’s services to China, a market of more than a billion people that’s notoriously hard to crack for western firms.
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