It has landed – episode three of a Beginner’s guide for brands: What is embedded finance, powered by Finastra. This time we are focusing on an important use case – cross border payments – with Jonathan McPhail, Lead Client Partner, Banking as a Service at Finastra.

There are some significant challenges faced by businesses operating internationally. Paying outside of home currency may sound straightforward but it brings, as Jonathan notes, additional complexities, and costs. The full interview provides a great view of the scale of the opportunity and the benefits to both businesses and consumers in a world where we are increasingly operating internationally.

Innovative providers are starting to bridge the gaps in provision. Providers of digital services helping businesses to operate internationally (eg tax advice, ecommerce and other platforms) then become the ideal place to embed cross border payments. If you are operating across multiple jurisdictions, you will need to operate in multiple currencies. This is an opportunity to broaden access to SMEs and filling in additional gaps created by correspondent banks who are withdrawing services.

The scale of the opportunity is large, very large, when considering the range of use cases for both businesses and individuals ($165 trillion), as are the additional benefits (lower cost for all stakeholders and better risk management for businesses, for example).

Keep an eye out for the next episode in the series and learn more about FTT Embedded Finance & Super Apps North America (September 2-3, 2025 in NYC)  and the Embedded Finance Stage at the FTT Fintech Festival at the Brewery in London on 11th – 12th November.