The CFO’s Guide to Choosing FX Providers: Banks vs Brokers vs Fintechs
This article is written by HedgeFlows If you’re a CFO managing international payments through your bank, the amount you’re overpaying depends entirely on your size – banks charge SMEs 2-3% while giving large corporates 0.1% for the exact same service. Yet the same SME could get 0.4% from a fintech in minutes. Or you can start with an FX broker with a tight spread and catch them overcharging a few months later. This isn’t about market dynamics; it’s about providers exploiting your inertia. Add the cost of unhedged risk, and the real damage to your bottom line becomes clear. When comparing FX providers, whether banks vs FX brokers or Wise vs traditional FX, the landscape is deliberately opaque. Banks vs FX Brokers vs Fintechs: The Hidden Truth About Your FX Costs This comprehensive FX provider comparison guide reveals what each provider type really offers, their hidden agendas, and most importantly, how to choose an FX provider that matches your company’s specific situation—whether you’re running a £5M startup or a £500M enterprise. FX Provider Comparison: The Five Types of FX Providers (Reality Check) 1. Banks: The Incumbent’s Paradox Best for: Large corporates (£500M+ turnover), companies needing credit facilities, complex structured products The Reality: Even for £100M turnover businesses, banks offer surprisingly basic transactional services. You’ll get access to a platform with competitive spreads, but that’s where the value ends. Despite their resources, banks treat FX as a profit centre, subsidising other services—meaning you’re the product. Pros: Cons: Hidden Truth: “Banks use FX margins to subsidise ‘free’ business accounts—if you’re an SME paying 2-3% spreads, you’re funding your own ‘free’ banking through hidden FX costs. Those free accounts aren’t free; they’re FX-subsidised.” Red Flag: If they can’t show you live rates online or quote you spreads in real-time, you’re overpaying. If they’re pushing structured products as “risk management,” run. 2. FX Brokers: The Wild West Best for: Price-sensitive businesses with simple spot/forward needs, traders comfortable managing their own risk The Reality: The sector contains some legitimate players, but its reputation is deservedly tarnished by cowboys and sharks. While they’ll beat bank pricing, many gladly sneak hidden fees on forwards or when leaving FX orders. Since their commission comes directly from your trading volume, the relationship is always about generating more trades, not managing your risk. Pros: Cons: Hidden Truth: “Commission-driven model means they want you to trade more, not smarter. They’re farming you for volume.” Red Flag: If they call about “market opportunities” weekly or send constant market volatility alerts urging action, they’re treating you as a revenue source, not a client. 3. Fintechs (Wise/Airwallex vs Traditional FX): The Digital Disruptors Best for: Small businesses (<£10M FX annually), payment-focused needs, cost-conscious startups The Reality: When comparing Wise vs traditional FX providers, fintechs sell technology, not expertise. They’ve revolutionised payments with transparency and user experience, but if your growing business needs help managing cash flows or FX risks, their limitations become clear. Great for payments, dangerous for risk management. Pros: Cons: Hidden Truth: “Great for payments, but leaving you exposed on risk management. If FX volatility can impact your margins, you’ve outgrown them.” Red Flag: If you’re starting to notice FX gains & losses appearing in your income statement, you need risk management, which demands expertise—and that means upgrading to other providers. Fintechs can’t help you here. 4. Specialist Treasury Firms: The Consultants Best for: Mid-to-large companies needing expertise, complex hedging strategies, and one-off treasury projects The Reality: These firms may provide genuine expertise but at a steep price—typically starting at £10-50K per engagement, often reaching six figures for comprehensive projects. Their project-based model works for specific initiatives but becomes expensive and impractical for ongoing needs. When your business evolves, you’ll need to re-engage them, creating discontinuity in your risk management. Crucially, if you’re a small business trying to access consultants on the cheap, you’ll get junior analysts delivering boilerplate advice, not the senior expertise you actually need. Pros: Cons: Hidden Truth: “The only model truly aligned with reducing your risk, but the economics don’t work for SMEs. Pay their minimum and get templated advice from juniors; pay properly and spend six figures. There’s no middle ground.” Red Flag: If they don’t start by understanding your business model, cash conversion cycle, and risk tolerance, they’re just expensive brokers. 5. The Hybrid Model (HedgeFlows): Best FX Provider for SMEs Best for: Growing SMEs (£5-100M turnover), businesses needing expertise without enterprise costs The Reality: A new category has emerged as the best FX provider for SMEs, combining fintech efficiency with treasury expertise. Companies like HedgeFlows bring institutional-level risk management tools and knowledge to smaller businesses at accessible price points. This model solves the expertise gap without the £50K consulting fees. Pros: Cons: Hidden Truth: “The only model bringing institutional-level FX risk management to SMEs—what large corporates have had for decades, now accessible to growing businesses.” Red Flag: Make sure they have actual treasury expertise, not just good technology. Ask about their team’s background in risk management. The Comparison Table: 10 Key Factors Factor Banks FX Brokers Fintechs Specialist Treasury Hybrid (HedgeFlows) SME FX Margins 2-3% 0.5-1% 0.4-0.8% n/a 0.2-0.5% Corporate FX Margins 0.1% 0.2-0.5% N/A n/a 0.2-0.5% Minimum Volume None (but poor rates <£10M) £100K None £10M+ £500K Hedging Products Full range Basic forwards None Full range Core hedging suite Risk Advisory None (unless buying products) Limited/Sales-driven None Comprehensive Included Technology/UX Poor Average Excellent Varies Excellent Execution Speed Slow Fast Instant Average Fast Transparency Opaque Semi-transparent Fully transparent Transparent Fully transparent Service Model Transactional Sales-focused Self-service Consultative Tech-enabled advisory Hidden Fees Risk High High Low Low Low Best For Revenue £500M+ £1-50M <£10M £50M+ £5-100M How to Choose an FX Provider: The Decision Matrix FX Provider for SME – Your Situation → Right Provider <£1M FX annually → Wise/Revolut £1-10M FX, stable/predictable → FX Broker £5-100M FX, growing/complex → Hybrid Platform (HedgeFlows) £50M+ FX, complex needs → Specialist Treasury £500M+, multinational → Bank + Specialist The Questions Every CFO Should Ask Providers During Provider Evaluation, Ask: Before Starting Your Search, Ask Yourself: The Uncomfortable Truth About FX Providers Every provider type has a business model that may conflict with your interests: The key is choosing the…
Franklin
The Anti-Burnout Reporting Playbook for Treasury Teams
This article is written by Treasury4 Reporting Isn’t the Problem. Burnout Reporting Is. Most treasury teams aren’t lacking skill—they’re constrained by process.The real issue isn’t just “too many reports.” It’s the time spent reconciling mismatched data, re-explaining logic, and stitching together tools that were never built for modern cash management. A quick update to the Cash Position Report becomes a multi-tab exercise. A Forecasting revision means chasing down half-updated files. And that monthly Statement of Cash? You’re still manually tracking what moved where—and why. Burnout reporting happens when outdated workflows collide with rising expectations. When leadership wants answers faster, but your tech stack can’t keep up. And when reports designed to show cash trends end up draining the very capacity needed to act on them. This playbook isn’t about cosmetic upgrades or automation for its own sake. It’s about redefining how cash reporting should work—with centralized logic, built-in context, and the kind of data architecture that lets you answer CFO-level questions like: Because when reporting is embedded within a modern cash and treasury platform—not bolted on—it stops being a burden. It becomes a source of information, speed and strategic insight. Let’s break down where the friction lives—and what it takes to eliminate it. The Time Sink Report There’s always one. The weekly report that takes an hour to prep, gets sent to six inboxes, and hasn’t triggered a single reply in months. Still, you send it. Just in case. It’s quiet burnout: polishing something that no one actually uses, just because it’s always been done. This is where modern treasury tools earn their keep. With report usage tracking, dashboard access logs, and automated delivery metrics, you can finally see which reports are being opened, by whom, and how often. No more guessing what’s useful and what’s a waste of time. What You Can Do About It Step 1: Know what’s actually being used.With a modern cash and treasury platform, you don’t have to guess.Usage tracking shows you which reports are being opened, by whom, and how often. Dashboard access logs give you insight into what’s being viewed, filtered, and downloaded—so you know what’s supporting decisions vs. what’s just sitting in inboxes. Step 2: Simplify what you deliver.The right platform doesn’t just distribute reports—it organizes them.With role-based dashboards, stakeholders see only what’s relevant to them—cash by entity, collections trendlines, forecast vs. actuals—and you get to stop managing six report versions for six different audiences. Step 3: Retire what’s no longer useful.If a report hasn’t been opened in 60 days, the data’s saying what no one else is: you can stop sending it.And if someone does need that data later, it’s already available on-demand—with audit trails, saved filters, and consistent logic embedded in the system. The Fire Drill Forecast It’s 4:57 p.m. and leadership wants a new cash forecast—updated assumptions, tighter collections window. You’ve done this before. Manual forecasting turns every “what if” into a scramble.The data’s scattered across five systems. Assumptions change halfway through. And by the time your spreadsheet is ready, the question’s already shifted. When forecasting lives inside your system—not cobbled together around it—you’re ready.You duplicate the 13-week forecast, tweak the inputs, rerun the scenario, and get the answer out before the next request hits your inbox. It’s not just about moving faster. It’s about not falling behind. What You Can Do About It The Spreadsheet That Ate Your Sanity Seventeen tabs. Nested logic. Cross-sheet references no one dares touch.And one person who knows how it all works—you. The Cash Position Report? You built it.The Statement of Cash? Still lives on your desktop.Every formula, every update, every exception—it’s yours to maintain, explain, and defend. You don’t want to be the only one who can fix it. But you also can’t afford for it to break.So you keep managing it. But spreadsheets weren’t built for treasury, version control, audit trails, or cash-critical reporting that supports board-level decisions. What You Can Do About It The Strategic Work You Never Get To You’re here to manage cash—guide decisions, model outcomes, and give leadership the clarity to move. But when your day is spent reconciling mismatched entries, updating broken formulas, and rechecking totals for the third time, the real work slips to the margins. That changes with a platform designed to cut through the noise. When reports like Cash Position, Collections, and Bank Fees live in a system with embedded rules, audit-ready history, and alerts for anomalies, you’re not just compiling data—you’re seeing what changed, why, and what needs attention. You stop reacting to errors and start delivering insight, not by doing more, but by doing what matters—with tools built for the job. What You Can Do About It: Step by Step Step 1: Identify the report that takes the most brainpower—but adds the least value.Pick one that regularly pulls you away from strategic work—like your Cash Position Report, Collections trendline, or bank fee summary. If you’re just formatting, not interpreting, it’s a candidate. Step 2: Document the insights you wish you had—before someone asks.For example: These are the signals you should be spotting—not scrambling to explain. Step 3: Move the report into a system that’s built for interpretation, not just storage.A modern cash and treasury platform helps you: Step 4: Let the system surface what matters.No more scanning rows or rebuilding logic. With built-in rules and centralized data, your time shifts from maintenance to management. Step 5: Use the time you get back to advise, not update.With the noise filtered out, you can focus on delivering insight: That’s the real value of modern treasury tools—not just reporting, but information that helps you lead. What Happens When You Get Your Time Back Most treasury teams don’t struggle because they lack skill or commitment. They struggle because their systems make even the most basic work harder than it needs to be. Reporting, at its best, should be a lever for strategic insight—not a weekly drain on your time and attention. But that’s only possible when the foundation is strong: data that’s structured, logic that’s embedded, and…