Managing foreign currency payments and collections from a single platform

Based in Los Angeles, Jacques Marie Mage (JMM) produces and sells limited-edition designer goods, specializing in collectible eyewear. Helmed by French designer Jerome Mage, each item is handcrafted in Japan and sold globally through their website or a network of selected retailers. As part of their growth strategy, which aims at more than tripling the size of their business over the next five years, JMM is planning to open flagship stores in key markets internationally as they continue to expand in Europe Asia and the Middle East.

The Challenge

With buyers located all over the world, and vendors in Japan and Europe, overseas payments were managed in USD and inflows were in USD and EUR. With international growth this rigid approach to payments made cross border relationships more complex.

When Andrea Tonello joined the company as their new CFO in 2020, he quickly recognized that invoicing and making payments in local foreign currencies would be commercially advantageous for the company, enabling them to win more business and secure better vendor pricing. The problem, however, was that doing so would increase their cost of doing business substantially and increase their exposure to foreign exchange risk –considering the company’s aggressive growth strategy.

Opening new bank accounts overseas to collect receipts and pay local vendors, for example, would result in mounting banking fees. With a lean finance team who was already spending significant time managing multiple banking and payment provider platforms – adding new accounts and platforms to the mix would add cost, complexity and impact operational efficiency.

Alternatively, managing foreign currency collections and vendor payments from the US based USD checking account was undesirable too, as it exposed the company to foreign exchange risks like currency losses and expensive wire fees.

To support the company’s objective to expand into several new global markets over the course of the next five years, JMM was looking for a solution that would streamline collections and payments while also minimizing the potential expenses associated with their existing processes.

Andrea came to HSBC with his challenge and HSBC recommended HSBC Global Wallet, a multi-currency account solution. With this, JMM is able to do business with customers and vendors all over the world, in their local currency, without opening foreign currency accounts internationally, while also benefitting from less expensive and streamlined payments.

Accessible via HSBCnet, the bank’s online banking platform, HSBC Global Wallet lets the company manage many foreign currency wallets in one place. This means that JMM can pay international suppliers or invoice customers in foreign currency without opening international accounts. Multi currency wallets can be funded from foreign currency collections, directly from JMM’s USD account or from funds transferred between wallets. For payments, instead of sending wires, these multi currency wallets allow local payments directly into local clearing in each country. This significantly improves the payments process, with reduced transaction fees, elimination of expensive wires and intermediary bank fees, as well as speeding up average payment times, by routing into local clearing.

The success

• Cost effective: By eliminating the need for opening multiple foreign bank accounts, JMM does not have to deal with time-consuming and bureaucratic international account openings, and duplicative bank fees for maintaining accounts internationally.
• Faster payments to vendors: HSBC Global Wallet speeds up the average payment time, as payments travel directly onto local rails in each country and avoid intermediary banks.
• Smarter Foreign Exchange Risk Management: Being able to collect, hold and pay out in foreign currency from within the US means less frequent foreign exchange events and more control about when and how funds are converted
• Enhanced efficiency: Fewer accounts and banking platforms to manage as well as streamlined reconciliation processes, with all information in one place freeing up resources to focus on growth.

Leveraging HSBC’s global infrastructure without leaving the US makes it easier for JMM to fulfill its growth strategy. The ability to pay suppliers as well as invoice and accept payments in many foreign currencies will help the company build stronger business relationships as they expand their reach to new countries. Highly scalable, HSBC Global Wallet eliminates high wire and banking fees while delivering more control over foreign exchange.