Banking Circle

Best Cross-Border Payment Platform – Europe 2022

Headquartered in Luxembourg, Banking Circle is a next generation technology-led Payments Bank that launched its Banking Licence in February 2020.  Banking Circle is wholly focused on delivering a payments solution for Payments businesses and Banks that is invisible to end users but will enhance their customer proposition – without any requirement for upfront investment in systems or process changes.    

Our mission is to make international payments feel like local payments. To achieve that, we’re taking on a job that very few other banks or FinTechs want to tackle. To reduce the cost and time of international payments.      

We’ve built the first and only real-time clearing and settlement network for 25 currencies, that delivers fast, low cost payments – with no hidden fees for the beneficiary.  

Through Banking Circle, the entire B2B financial ecosystem benefits – Banks, PSPs and FinTechs can access a global network of clearing and settlement so that they can offer a full cross-border banking solution that makes international payments feel local – without the need for multiple banking relationships. We give Financial Institutions a local presence in the markets they want to serve without them having to invest in a physical presence.      

Innovation  

After launching our Banking Licence in February 2020, we accelerated a programme of innovation during 2020 and into 2021 to extend our proposition and service offering. It can take 5 days and cost 50 Euros to do one cross-border payment. That’s holding back the global economy. The end game for Banking Circle is to see cross-border payments cost 50 cents and take 5 minutes.  

We have committed to significant investment in the integration of a vast network of local clearing and payments schemes to build a unique super-correspondent banking network. This allows us to do ‘the heavy lifting’ for our 200+ clients.  SumUp, Stripe, Alipay, Paysafe and PPRO, to name but a few, are all capitalising on the investment in innovation that Banking Circle has undertaken in the last five years. 

A period in which we have achieved an 86% growth in payment volumes settled on behalf of payment companies, banks and online marketplaces – equating to €250bn. In 2020 we settled 6% of European B2C e-commerce flow.  

The Banking Circle future 

Crucially, we have the scale to keep on building and growing. Our cloud-based de-coupled architecture means we can react quickly to changing client demands, and provide ever-faster payments, particularly when compared to traditional banks that are anchored by legacy technology and processes.    

Our market-leading solutions speed up payments, reduce transaction costs and landing fees and eliminate operational errors and admin costs. We provide local and cross-border payments in 25 currencies.