Volopa is designed to help businesses efficiently make global payments and manage their employee expenses. Read on to learn more about this free-to-set-up business 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?
Like many other business payment platforms, Volopa looks to bring its 3 solutions under one banner. Its Standard Business Account has no set-up or account-maintenance fees. Instead, you will be charged a fee when making payments.
Volopa also has a Bespoke Business Account option that offers additional features such as a shared company wallet balance and a dedicated account manager.
However, for its Standard Business Account its main solutions are the following:
International payments. You can use your existing UK bank account to fund same-day international payments in more than 10 currencies.
Business prepaid cards. Your employees can use multicurrency prepaid cards. Volopa allows you to fund your multicurrency company wallet in GBP, EUR or USD and then convert balances to any of the 14 supported currencies.
Accounting integration. You can sync your Volopa account with your Xero and QuickBooks accounts. Through doing this, you will be able to track spending and view payments in real time as well as sync transactions.
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 is free to set up and will give you access to wholesale exchange rates.
When making an international payment, your total fee will not exceed 1% of the value of the transaction plus the payment fee. You will be able to see all of these before you confirm the transaction.
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. 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 are not tied into a long contract and can get access to unlimited multicurrency business cards for your employees.
However, the number of currencies available is limited compared to some of the larger, more established business payment solutions. Its fees are also charged as a percentage, so the larger the payments you make, the more you will have to pay.
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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