Selling abroad no longer needs a foreign bank account, yet most UK firms still assume otherwise. International demand for UK products and services has held up better than the headlines about trade friction suggest. The real obstacle is rarely finding customers abroad. It is getting paid by them without losing weeks and margin to the banking system along the way.
One workaround that has gained ground among online sellers is accepting payment in crypto or stablecoins instead of routing everything through correspondent banks. A platform such as gatewaycrypto.io converts these payments into a currency the business actually wants to hold, so a shop in Leeds can take payment from a buyer in Manila without either party opening an account abroad.
This is one option among several, not a replacement for every banking relationship a growing business needs.
Why Cross-Border Payments Still Cost So Much
UK exporters have plenty of reason to look outward. According to the Office for National Statistics, total UK exports of goods and services rose in 2024 even as imports fell, narrowing the annual trade deficit.
Getting paid for that growth is where the friction usually starts. Card scheme interchange fees on cross-border transactions climbed sharply after Brexit, moving from roughly 0.2% to 0.3%, and up to as much as 1.15% to 1.5%, a shift regulators have linked to an added cost of £150 million to £200 million a year for UK merchants.
Banks remain the priciest option, with World Bank data showing average bank fees near 15% on smaller international payments, while commercial FX markups and SWIFT fees routinely eat 2% to 5% of larger invoices. The fees still show up later, as a smaller number landing in the account than expected.
Where the Hidden Costs Show Up
Three cost layers typically stack on top of each other on a single international payment:
- Currency conversion markup: Even a zero commission provider can build several per cent into the exchange rate shown at checkout.
- Correspondent bank charges: Each bank in the chain between buyer and seller can deduct its own fee before the payment arrives.
- Settlement delay: Money held in transit for days cannot be used to pay suppliers or restock inventory.
None of these costs are visible until after a sale has already gone through, which makes them easy to underestimate when pricing for export markets.
Ways to Get Paid Without a Local Bank Account
A few practical routes let a UK business collect payment from international customers without setting up banking relationships in every market it sells into.
Multi-Currency Accounts and Local Payment Rails
Providers now offer virtual local account details in major markets, so an EU customer can pay what looks like a domestic transfer while the funds land in one multi-currency account back home. Around 23% of UK small and medium-sized firms already use a fintech or non-bank provider for cross-border payments rather than their high street bank, roughly double the share using one for domestic payments.
Crypto and Stablecoin Settlement
Stablecoin payments typically settle in under three minutes on a 24/7 basis, compared with three to five business days for correspondent banking, at an all-in cost of 0.1% to 0.5% versus 2% to 7% through traditional rails.
A 2025 survey of corporate and financial executives by EY-Parthenon found cross-border payments to be the most compelling stablecoin use case for 77% of respondents, largely due to lower transaction costs.
That gap matters most for businesses invoicing across multiple time zones, where standard banking hours already slow settlement before a single correspondent fee is even applied.
Choose a Payment Partner for International Sales
Not every provider suits every business, and the choice matters more once sales volume grows. A few questions are worth answering before signing anything:
- Regulatory status: Confirm the provider is authorised or registered with the FCA or an equivalent regulator in its home market.
- Currency and market coverage: Check that the target markets and currencies are genuinely supported, not just listed on a marketing page.
- Settlement speed: Ask how long funds take to clear into a usable account, not only how fast the payment itself confirms.
- Total cost: Request the full fee structure, including the FX spread, rather than just the headline transaction fee.
A short list built around these four points usually narrows the field faster than any comparison table published by the providers themselves.
Reaching customers abroad no longer requires a banking presence in every country served. What it requires instead is a clear view of where costs hide and which rails move funds fastest for the markets that matter most. Building that view early saves more than any single fee negotiation later on.