Go borderless: GoCardless launches the first global network designed for recurring payments
Last editedMar 20213 min read
I’m very excited to announce that today we are launching the first global network designed specifically for international recurring payments.
Our new global network brings together bank debit systems from around the world for the first time. It provides the most simple, predictable, and transparent way to collect recurring payments, such as invoices and subscriptions, regardless of where your customers are located.
“Our vision is to make it easy for businesses of any size to collect recurring payments from anywhere, to anywhere, in any currency.”
The complexity of international payments is holding businesses back
What do many of the world’s most successful businesses of the last decade have in common? They all have commercial models that rely on recurring payments on an international scale.
But despite this explosion in recurring payments, the way companies collect them isn’t fit for the digital age. Businesses often think their only option is to collect recurring payments by credit or debit card, which have high involuntary churn rates, or by manual methods like bank transfer or cheque, which are slow and expensive.
These challenges are putting many businesses off the idea of growing internationally. 73% of decision-makers think their business would be more successful if it had greater access to international markets, but 39% think the complexity of international payments is holding their business back from expanding internationally*.
Using bank debit as the basis for everything GoCardless has done so far, we’ve been able to help over 50,000 businesses, including DocuSign, The Guardian and Bulb Energy take the pain out of getting paid, so they can focus on what they do best.
But as much as we have achieved to date, we recognise there is still a lot more we could do to power the world’s recurring payment needs.
Learn more about international payments with GoCardless
Collaborating to fix recurring payments
Our new global network will transform GoCardless from a collection of national and regional bank debit schemes into a truly international network.
A big part of making our new network fully international is the ability to collect payments across multiple bank debit schemes and countries into a single bank account, all through one interface.
As part of building our new global network, we’ve been working very closely with the online money transfer experts at Wise. Wise co-founders, Taavet and Kristo, and I share the same vision to revolutionize international payments, so the collaboration was a no-brainer.
Wise will power the foreign exchange (FX) capability in our global network so that we can settle funds in our customers' home currencies. This will hugely benefit businesses with ambitions to scale globally, as well as businesses already collecting payments from around the world.
“GoCardless shares our passion for bringing fairness and transparency to the business banking sector. With GoCardless customers trading internationally in over 30 countries, giving them the ability to collect payments in currencies all over the world is a major step change for businesses trading across borders.” - Taavet Hinrikus, Co-founder, Wise
What makes our global network different?
Our new global network has been built to make international recurring payment collection fit for the modern age, but how does that benefit businesses?
It provides an automated method to collect international payments, without having to rely on the card networks or manual push-based mechanisms such as international bank transfers. We are able to settle payments directly into your bank account, in your home currency, across any of the 30 countries we cover today.
As we have built this global network, we have focused on three principles:
Creating a simple way to collect payments, by bringing together geographically fragmented schemes that banks have historically restricted access to.
Providing a much more predictable way to collect payments, by creating a pull-based mechanism that gives you more control over, and visibility into, your cash flow.
Pricing our service in a transparent way that avoids hidden fees or nasty surprises that are typically associated with FX conversion. By partnering with Wise we can ensure you get the ‘real’ FX rate for every transaction.
We believe that our global network marks a step change in the value we can bring to the payments landscape. Our customers are now able to collect and make payments across over 30 countries around the world, representing more than 70% of global recurring payments volume.
“GoCardless has always been about taking the pain out of getting paid. Our global network does this in a very tangible way, so businesses can focus on what they do best.”
Go borderless
This launch represents another step toward our vision of creating the best way to collect recurring payments. We have now turned a series of geographically fragmented bank debit schemes into a single global network that enables businesses to grow without borders.
In just eight years, we have been able to take the pain out of getting paid for over 50,000 businesses, enabling them to focus on creating great products and services. I’m incredibly excited to see what our new network will enable even more businesses around the world to achieve in the years to come!
Find out more about our new global network here.
*All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 741 adults (senior decision-makers in private businesses of 50 or more employees). Fieldwork was undertaken between 14th - 30th October 2019. The survey was carried out online.
