When operating in the global high-risk industry of Forex, having a dependable payment software provider is crucial, as it will benefit both you and your clients. Not only does a modern payment software provider assist in automating payment processes and increasing payment security, but its primary advantage also lies in the ability to save a substantial amount of money on payment system maintenance while boosting your revenue.
To avoid wasting time on theoretical considerations, we have chosen to demonstrate how you can save a considerable amount of funds using a real-life case study from one of our Forex clients.
Due to Akurateco’s provision of white-label payment solutions, customized and branded under each client’s name, our clients prefer to maintain confidentiality and not disclose their identities. Thus, while fully conveying our client’s story, we refrain from further identifying them by their real name to preserve their privacy. Here, we will refer to our client as Forex XYZ.
Client’s Background: Business Profile
The Forex Company, whose story we’re about to explore, is a leading global financial institution specializing in foreign exchange trading. With a strong presence in the European Union and Asia Pacific, they provide comprehensive Forex services to diverse clients worldwide. The company boasts an impressive average monthly turnover of $2.9 million, demonstrating extensive market reach and robust trading capabilities.
Their payment process is supported by a payment department comprising 15 employees that diligently monitor payment processes from an established network of 38 payment connectors, including Alternative Payment Methods, Credit Cards, and Crypto Providers, enabling pay-ins and payouts for their clients.
To keep track of various administration panels of payment connectors, the payout schedule, fees they charge, refund requests, etc., the company’s employees constantly monitored the administrative panels of each connector manually. Unfortunately, such an inefficient approach took them plenty of time and effort. In addition to that, they lacked modern payment technologies such as intelligent routing, cascading, billing, and analytics. As a result, the payment conversion and approval rate fell significantly short of expectations, vastly underestimating potential revenues.
Key Operational Obstacles
When the company realized that the problem would not be solved by itself, it embarked on a search for a payment software provider capable of addressing its challenges. Here are the challenges they faced before approaching Akurateco.
Inefficient payment system
The need to constantly monitor the admin panel of each connector separately has become a burden for Forex XYZ. First, as they lacked unified payment software to handle transactions, they could not leverage modern payment technologies and tailor them to suit their business requirements. Then, the absence of data consolidation from various systems hindered their ability to perform comprehensive analytics and effectively identify the preferred payment methods for different customers. Last but not least, many staff members needed to be involved in order to have enough resources to monitor the admin panels of 38 payment connectors.
High maintenance costs
A team of 15 employees in charge of transaction processing that consisted of integration developers, payment analysts, fraud prevention experts, and others with an average salary made around $45,000 monthly maintenance costs in wages and taxes alone. Throughout the year, the maintenance costs associated with the current transaction processing approach surpass a staggering $540,000, despite the non-satisfactory approval rate and low revenue.
Low approval rate
Due to the client’s lack of modern payment technologies at hand, such as smart routing and cascading, the average rate of declined transactions reached 18%. Most of these transactions encountered soft declines, so the client lost out on potential revenue. By employing payment cascading, nearly all of these transactions could have been successfully processed through alternative payment providers.
Poor bank relations
Since Forex XYZ’s field of work is high-risk, having a high level of trust among banks was vital to the company. Yet, the low approval rate negatively affected bank relations. Banks perceived a low approval rate as a sign of increased risk or limited transaction processing capabilities, which eroded trust and confidence, resulting in difficulties establishing banking partnerships. As a result, at the time Forex XYZ approached Akurateco, they were at risk of having their accounts closed at several banks.
Irrelevant integrated payment methods
The ratio between the number of website visitors who reached the checkout stage and the conversion rate fell significantly short of our client’s expectations. After the company’s representatives consulted with Akurateco experts, they concluded that the root cause of the issue was an irrelevant selection of payment methods for their target audience and the absence of a smart checkout system.
Addressing operational challenges with Akurateco
In close cooperation with Forex XYZ’s representatives, we developed a strategy that addressed their challenges in the most effective way. Here is an overview of the comprehensive approach that was devised.
Expanding the list of integrations
Before initiating the client’s transition to our system, we thoroughly analyzed their existing list of valid payment integrations. Additionally, we clarified the specific new integrations they wished to establish. During this process, we discovered that out of the 38 payment connectors previously connected by the client, 5 no longer aligned with the current preferences of their users and had become irrelevant. Later, we identified 4 connectors already integrated into the Akurateco system that met the client’s requirements. At the client’s request, we initiated the development of 2 new integrations.
Unified payment orchestration platform adoption
To streamline and simplify the management of the client’s 38 integrated banks and payment providers, the initial step involved consolidating them onto a unified platform provided by Akurateco, which served as a centralized management center.
Given that managing each payment connector individually was the most time- and effort-consuming task for Forex XYZ’s team, it significantly reduced employee workload, freeing up their time for more efficient business tasks. After undergoing system training, 2 employees were able to manage payment connectors previously overseen by a team of 15 people.
Reducing the payment system maintenance cost
Having provided a white-label payment system to the client, we took full responsibility for its maintenance, including solving bugs and developing updates, features, and new integrations, both scheduled and at their request. It allowed the client to reduce their most considerable expense – their own integration development and payment system support. In the first six months of using the Akurateco system, the client saved $84K on development and $234K on payment system support in staffing costs.
Improving approval ratio with intelligent routing and payment cascading
Following the client’s selection of payment connectors and their successful integration into the system, they took the next step to configure the intelligent routing technology. Smart routing is a technology that automatically chooses the most relevant payment provider for each transaction according to predefined parameters established by the user to maximize success rates and save on processing fees. To know more about intelligent routing, read the article below.
Payment Routing: The Ultimate Guide
The most sought-after payment technology for a client was payment cascading, as its technology is responsible for increasing the approval rate. If a soft decline occurs, instead of completing the payment attempt, payment cascading technology takes over. It redirects the transaction for processing to another payment provider to ensure the payment is completed successfully. Thus, the client increased the approval ratio by 11% within six months after adopting the Akurateco payment orchestration platform. You can learn more about payment cascading technology by reading the article below:
The Power of Cascading Payments: Boosting Your Revenue Growth
Advanced high-risk tailored anti-fraud configuration
As the client’s number of failed payments has considerably decreased, their level of trust among banks and financial institutions has steadily grown. Furthermore, the Akurateco system offers advanced anti-fraud measures designed to address the needs of high-risk businesses. Our tailored anti-fraud solution aids in the early detection of fraudulent transactions, effectively preventing them from being processed. Also, anti-fraud rules were configured in the system, taking into account each payment provider’s limits. All of the above contributed to reduced processing fees and an expanded list of potential partners for future collaborations.
Growing a conversion rate through increasing customer satisfaction
In addition to the above-mentioned technologies implemented, the client’s payment page was customized with their logo and brand colors. All this in the complex significantly improved customer trust and satisfaction with payment on the client’s website. This led to a notable 13% increase in the payment conversion rate within the first six months of utilizing the platform.
Achieving Measurable Results
More than 8 months have passed since the client started using the Akurateko payment orchestration platform. As of today, the client has:
- 42 integrated payment connectors: 8 payment connectors integrated by Akurateco, of them 3 at the client’s request, and the list of integrations continues to expand.
- The client completely reorganized the payment department and reduced the number of people responsible for maintaining the payment system from 15 to 2.
- The client made the strategic decision to forego hiring their own developers entirely, as they are no longer needed.
- As a result, Forex XYZ saved $424K in stuffing costs in 8 months of Akurateco’s system usage.
- The company’s approval ratio reached 13%.
- Overall, the client’s payment conversion increased by 15%.
…and the results continue to grow every month.
Need a hand?
If you desire to achieve such impressive results for your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We at Akurateco have extensive experience in delivering payment software tailored to the needs of high-risk businesses. Our experts will gladly answer all your questions and guide you through our cutting-edge system.
