Currency One launches Europe cross-border payments platform

Poland’s Currency One has launched Valuto.com, a European multi-currency platform for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) payments.

The Warsaw-based online currency exchange service provider said that it plans to demonstrate the site’s open application programming interface (API) at the forthcoming Finovate Europe technology conference, to be held in London on February 9-10.

Currency One describes Valuto as “a cost-effective solution that facilitates everything from foreign exchange to sending and receiving transfers in local currencies across Europe.

“The solution accesses the company’s network of bank accounts across Europe, enabling customers to send and receive same day transfers at a fraction of the cost offered by their banks. The platform also leverages the company’s existing currency-exchange marketplace, which boasts over 380,000 registered users and facilitated over €3.2bn in exchanges in 2015,” the company states.

“We use the term ‘cross-border’ when, in reality, customers are able to make domestic, localised payments using our network of bank accounts throughout Europe,” said Currency One’s chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder Michał Czekalski.

“If a Swedish user would like to make a payment to his supplier in Hungary, he can exchange krona (SEK) for forints (HUF) using our peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace before making a pay-out via our account in Budapest.”

“I believe that an API is the best way to access banking,” added Lukasz Olek, chief product officer and co-founder. “It puts financial transactions in a context that has greater meaning for end users.

“We think that forcing customers to perform their operations manually through a banking system located behind a firewall is old fashioned. Making account operations such as sending or receiving a transfer part of an automated workflow will increase our customer’s productivity.”

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