We would like to share a couple of our user stories, but before that we wanted to share how we understand innovation here at iCard. On the one hand, it is about providing you with a plethora of financial tools to manage your personal or business finances more effectively. On the other, it is about making your life easier by saving you time, saving you money, protecting you and delighting you in new ways.
Opening a company bank account can be monstrously time-consuming. Depending on where you live in Europe, things can be quite unusual but in general, there are quite a lot of steps involved, especially if your business is active. There are dozens of documents involved, continuous visits or calls to the branch to check the status, and finally, after weeks or months, receive the much-desired OK.
We also require proof of your business purpose and dealings but at the same time we take extra effort to take you through the onboarding process as quickly as possible. You do not need to visit a branch – we do not have any, thus we do everything for you online.
Our business account holders rely on us for two reasons: Speed and Simplicity
Simplicity lies in how an account is opened with iCard for Business.
Speed is about how we are verifying your company identity online.
All you have to do to open an account for your company is to visit our iCard For Business page, fill in the registration form, verify the email address associated with the account, download the iCard for Business app, and complete a short 5-minute video call.
Since a company account requires checks beyond simple ID verification (like with our personal account), the verification time usually fits within a working week. You just need to be carefully following our instructions and have all your documents ready after you register for a business account, otherwise the account-opening process might extend alongside your particular circumstances.
All that is to say that waiting time is (1) very acceptable for what you would expect throughout Europe and (2) you already saved a lot of your time dealing with bank employees in person.
Freelancers, independent consultants and digital nomads prefer free IBAN accounts in multiple currencies
Maybe you are a professional translator like one of our freelance users – Peter. He has been working and improving his translation skills in 4 languages – English, French, Romanian, and Croatian. His clients are literally finding him from around the globe and Pete has been a highly sought after professional for the past 15 years. Right now, he is actively taking job after job on platforms like MyTranslation or Speakt and not only – he works with referred clients from all over the world.
Peter’s immaculate skills and many happy clients made him so busy lately that he needed the occasional help of fellow translators from around the world. This situation naturally creates the need to pay and get paid in different currencies. And it’s not just Peter, but many others like him – translators and other professional freelancers like Marta, who is a web designer.
Solving problems in today’s digital world means looking for solutions online. This is how Peter and Marta came to the iCard for Business website. iCard’s multi-currency account helped both avoid currency conversion. Now they keep money separately in various currencies.
Beyond Peter and Marta, our users are fascinated with how easy and fast it is to open an account, from the comfort of their homes, offices or home-offices.
How can a free multi-currency account help you juggle on the international business landscape?
The hyper-connected world of today is literally unifying the different markets worldwide. This was possible due to the faster and faster adoption of information technology innovations. By now, it is very common for a startup, a small or medium enterprise to step into a business relationship with foreign suppliers and partners.
But let us give you an example to make it clearer how you can work smart with your money.
How did this business owner get an edge with iCard for Business?
If you are the owner of a business in Vienna that imports UK-made cosmetics like one of our clients – Tobias, then you will likely need to send some of your staff to be making deals in person.
Tobias is very selective and cares for the diversity in his 2 shops. This naturally translates to frequent flights to England and around the UK for one of his mail deal-makers.
The company was losing about 10% per flight ticket without even realizing!
How come?
Tobias’ employee had a company bank card in Euro at a local bank and was using that for the travel expenses, including booking her own flight tickets with a low-cost company.
Every time she was buying the ticket in GBP, the local bank was charging excessive fees for converting Euros to Pounds Sterling.
Naturally, she was choosing to pay in Euros, which carried hidden fees coming from the low-cost air carrier website.
See how much the last-minute ticket costs and how it compares to iCard’s exchange rate.
This is a 10% loss for Tobias’ business!
Not anymore!
Before Tobias found iCard for Business, his deal-maker used to carry GBP in cash for the miscellaneous expenses. Once she even lost that and had to cover her expenses from her own pocket.
Now Tobias is happy because he can receive payments in other currencies, while his deal-maker never has to go to the bank to convert Euros to Pounds.
And since you are here, what are the things you do not like with your current business bank account? Drop your thoughts in the comments below, have a nice day and good luck with your business.
Curious how iCard for Business can help your company improve? The best way to find out is to give it a try!
