Expanding a Singapore business internationally is exciting – until you hit the payment side: multiple currency accounts, slow expensive wire transfers, and FX rates that quietly erode your margins. If international growth is on your roadmap, it’s worth choosing a payment provider that can handle cross-border now, rather than after you’ve outgrown your current setup.
Key takeaways
- Don’t accept “we support multi-currency” – get the specific list of currencies you can hold, send and receive.
- Ask the exact FX markup above the interbank rate; vagueness usually means it’s high.
- Understand the two cost layers of cross-border money movement: FX conversion and the transfer fee itself.
- Confirm you can accept international cards (including JCB and UnionPay) and what the surcharge is.
- Plan against fragmentation – consolidating currencies and markets on one platform early saves reconciliation overhead later.
Expanding a Singapore business internationally sounds exciting – until you start dealing with the payment side of things. Multiple bank accounts for different currencies. Wire transfers that take days and cost more than you expected. FX rates that quietly erode your margins on every international transaction. Customers in one country, suppliers in another, and a payment stack that wasn’t built for any of this.
If international growth is on your roadmap – even six months away – it’s worth thinking about your payment provider now rather than after you’ve outgrown your current setup.
Here’s a practical checklist for evaluating whether a payment provider can actually support a cross-border business.
Check 1: Which currencies does it actually support?
There’s a big difference between “we support multi-currency” and having a specific list of currencies you can hold, send, and receive in.
Ask for the full currency list and check it against your actual business needs. If you’re expanding into Japan, you need JPY. Into Europe, EUR. Into Australia or the UK, AUD or GBP.
ONE Payments supports accounts in SGD, USD, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NOK, NZD, and SEK – covering most major corridors relevant to Singapore-based businesses expanding regionally and globally.
Having a proper multi-currency account means you can hold balances in different currencies and convert when rates are favourable, rather than being forced to convert every incoming payment immediately at whatever rate the bank offers that day.
Check 2: What’s the real FX conversion rate?
This is where many businesses get quietly squeezed.
Banks typically convert currency at a rate that includes a 2-5% markup above the interbank rate – sometimes more, and rarely disclosed clearly. Payment providers vary significantly here.
When evaluating any provider, ask specifically: “What is your FX markup above the interbank rate?” A straightforward answer is a good sign. Vagueness usually means the markup is high enough that they’d rather not talk about it.
ONE Payments charges 1% above the interbank rate for FX conversion. That’s a number you can model into your pricing and margin calculations before you expand – not a surprise that shows up in reconciliation later.
Check 3: How does international transfer pricing work?
Moving money across borders has two distinct cost layers: the FX conversion (covered above) and the transfer fee itself.
For local transfers – moving money within a country’s banking system – costs should be low. For SWIFT transfers (international bank-to-bank), fees vary enormously: some providers charge a percentage, some a flat fee, some both.
ONE Payments charges:
- Local outgoing transfer: USD 2.00 flat
- SWIFT outgoing: USD 28.00 flat
- SWIFT incoming: 2% (minimum USD 20.00)
Flat fees are predictable. If you’re sending large transfers, a flat fee is almost always better than a percentage. If you’re sending many small transfers, it’s worth calculating whether local payment rails (where available) are a cheaper option than SWIFT.
Check 4: Can you accept card payments from international customers?
If your business sells to customers outside Singapore, you need to accept international cards without excessive friction or cost.
Check:
- Does the provider accept cards from customers in the countries you’re targeting?
- Is there a surcharge on international cards, and what is it?
- Are JCB (Japan) and UnionPay (China/Greater China region) supported if relevant?
ONE Payments charges a +0.7% surcharge on international cards on top of the 2.7% + USD 0.50 domestic rate. That’s a predictable cost you can factor into your pricing model for international sales.
Check 5: Is there volume pricing for growing businesses?
Flat-rate pricing is convenient when you’re small. But as your transaction volume grows, the economics change – and you want a provider that can grow with you rather than one that leaves you hunting for an alternative once you hit meaningful scale.
Ask whether volume discounts are available and at what thresholds they kick in. The answer matters less than the fact that the conversation is possible. A provider that won’t discuss pricing flexibility as you scale is likely not built for your long-term business.
ONE Payments offers volume discounts – contact their sales team for specifics based on your transaction mix and projected growth.
Check 6: Is your payment stack going to fragment as you grow?
This is the strategic question underneath all the tactical ones.
As you add currencies, markets, and payment methods, are you going to end up managing five different accounts with five different providers? Or does your current provider give you a path to handling more complexity from a single platform?
Fragmentation has a real cost – in reconciliation time, in support overhead, in the cognitive load of running financial operations across disconnected systems. The businesses that scale international payments most efficiently tend to consolidate early rather than patch together solutions over time.
Ready to Model the Numbers?
Before you choose a payment provider for your international expansion, build a simple model: your expected transaction volume by currency and payment type, the provider’s fees applied to that volume, and the FX cost on any cross-currency flows.
The results are often surprising – and they make it easy to compare providers on a like-for-like basis rather than relying on headline rates.
See ONE Payments’ full pricing – no surprises