Volopa is designed to help businesses efficiently make global payments and manage their employee expenses. Read on to learn more about this global payments platform.
What is Volopa?
Volopa is a business payments platform that brings together global payments, multicurrency prepaid company cards and employee expense management.
It specialises in FX payments for small businesses, allowing customers to make same-day payments in more than 10 currencies. In addition to this, customers can use its business prepaid cards for multicurrency transactions.
How does Volopa work?
Volopa has 3 different accounts to choose from.
Its international payments account has no set-up or account-maintenance fees. Instead, you will be charged a fee when making payments. With this account you’ll be able to access 36 currencies, fund international payments and collect with virtual IBANS in 17 currencies, as well as make same-day global payments.
Meanwhile, its Cards Account has an annual fee which is billed annually or quarterly. This account lets you have unlimited multi-currency business cards for your employees, and includes expense management features like spending limits, receipt capture and accounting integrations. There’s also the option to add on features like shared wallets and bulk receipt downloads. You can hold up to 14 major currencies in your multi-currency company wallet.
Volopa also has a Bespoke Business Account option that offers a personalised solution with advanced functionality and special pricing.
Is Volopa suitable for your business?
If yours is a small business that frequently needs to make international payments, then Volopa is offering a simple solution with no hidden monthly or card fees. It’s free to set up and will give you access to wholesale exchange rates.
You can also lock in exchange rates for up to 12 months, with both Fixed Forwards and Open/Window Forwards.
With its different account options, if you have employees that need to make card payments abroad, you will also be able to provide them with multicurrency prepaid cards that have global Mastercard acceptance through Volopa’s Cards Account. Everything can be managed via the Volopa Business app.
Is Volopa safe?
Volopa was founded in 2011 and is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a payment institution. This means that it is required to keep client funds in segregated accounts to keep your money safe
If you ever have any concerns about your prepaid card, you can temporarily freeze and unfreeze it using the app or online. Volopa also monitors accounts for any suspicious activity and offers multi-factor authentication to protect your account further.
Our verdict: Is this business platform worth it?
If you are a small business that regularly makes international payments, Volopa is free to set up and has no ongoing maintenance fees. While there are fees attached to payments, you’re not tied into a long contract. If you need more functionality, including multi-currency cards, then there is the option to go for the Cards Account which has a monthly fee, but offers more in terms of functionality beyond international payments.
If you do choose to go for the account with the monthly fee, just note this is on the high side compared to other competitors.
Frequently asked questions
While Volopa doesn't charge a set-up fee or have any monthly maintenance charges, it does attach fees to its international payments. It charges a 1% fee to make a currency exchange. There is also a 1% fee charged for ATM withdrawals and card payments incur the Mastercard authorised rate plus a foreign exchange fee of 1%.
You can sign up for an account online. Volopa will undertake some verification checks before your account is active.
International money transfer times vary depending on which country you are sending to. Volopa typically aims for same-day delivery.
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Kate Steere is an editor and money expert at Finder, specialising in banking, savings and fintech. She has previously written for The Motley Fool UK and Fitch Solutions, where she covered a wide range of personal finance topics and kept a close eye on market trends. Kate has a Bachelor of Arts in Modern History from the University of East Anglia. When not working, she can usually be found curled up with a good book or heading out for a run.
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