International Payments, Made Easy
International payments don’t have to be complicated. However, for many businesses and financial institutions, cross-border transactions are still slow, expensive, and frustrating. Outdated processes, high fees, limited transparency, and growing compliance requirements all add risk.
Currency markets move constantly. Even small fluctuations can erode margins between the time a payment is approved and when it settles.
The good news? There’s a solution.
Financial Transmission Network, Inc. (FTNI) is now part of Ascendant, a global leader in cross-border payments and foreign exchange (FX) solutions. Ascendant offers a variety of powerful payment tools through their aPay platform designed to accelerate cross-border payments, provide end-to-end visibility, and help businesses scale globally without needing in-house FX expertise.
What is aPay?
aPay is Ascendant's payment platform enabling cross-border transactions end-to-end. aPay works alongside your existing accounting software and banking partners, integrating into your current systems with hands-on support from Ascendant's FX and payment experts.
Offering payments in 140 currencies to more than 190 countries and territories, aPay gathers a variety of powerful payment tools on one platform. Clients can access these tools 24/7 enabling the freedom to handle payments when needed with robust security and lower payment costs.
Forward contracts, secure data storage, end-to-end payment tracking, and Ascendant's Payee Intelligence™ system are just some of the ways aPay helps businesses simplify international payments and mitigate FX risk more effectively.
Common Challenges Businesses Face with International Payments
For too long, businesses have faced the same persistent problems in the world of international B2B payments. aPay was designed to tackle these problems head-on.
Unpredictable fees and transaction costs
International payments often come with a lack of cost transparency. Between wire fees, intermediary bank charges, and wide FX spreads; businesses may not know the true cost of a payment until it has already been settled.
aPay offers competitive, straightforward pricing that is lower than what banks charge. Businesses will see any costs upfront before a payment is processed, with rates depending on the payment type, currency, and destination.
This level of clarity is especially valuable for clients who already prioritize operational efficiency in their receivables and payables processes.
Returned payments
Returned international payments are more common than many businesses expect. A single incorrect detail, such as invalid SWIFT code, missing intermediary bank information, typos, and outdated payee data cause payment failures.
Each failed payment creates delays, vendor frustration, and additional cost.
With aPay, businesses can eliminate errors before they occur by utilizing Payee Intelligence™, an advanced validation engine that ensures every international payment is set up correctly the first time. This tool prompts users for the exact country and currency specific requirements including CNPJ numbers, Sort Codes, ABA routing numbers, BSB Codes, and IFSC codes.
Payments are validated before they are transmitted. That keeps return rates below 1% and reduces administrative burden dramatically.
Foreign exchange (FX) risk
Many businesses lack the tools or internal expertise to manage FX exposure effectively. This leaves them vulnerable to unfavorable rate changes between the time a payment is approved and when it’s executed.
aPay provides built-in FX risk management tools, including secure forward contracts at favorable exchange rates, allowing businesses to lock in rates and reduce uncertainty. This gives businesses greater predictability and protection against currency volatility without requiring in-house FX specialists.
For clients expanding internationally, this adds a critical treasury layer that complements existing A/R and A/P automation.
Compliance and data risk
International payments introduce additional regulatory requirements and data security risks. Manual workflows and storing sensitive banking information across multiple systems increase the risk of errors, compliance failures, and data exposure.
aPay centralizes payee data and payment details in a secure environment with robust controls, secure data storage, and configurable approval workflows. Anti Money Laundering (AML)and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes are built-in. This ensures full compliance by storing sensitive data off-site using encrypted servers, so businesses don't have to store it themselves.
Manual and time-consuming processes
As international payment volume grows, manual processes can break down. They become increasingly inefficient, leading to delays, errors, costs, and strained internal teams.
aPay processes payments faster and reduces up to 80% of workflow time by automating internal payment processes. Easily integrate aPay with existing ERP and back-office systems to automate payment workflows and eliminate repetitive manual work.
Limited tracking and visibility
Businesses often lack real-time tracking and visibility of where their payments are in the payment process.
With aPay businesses can track their payments in real-time using the Track 360® end-to-end payment tracking tool. Businesses and their payees gain access to the current status, location, intermediary fees, and when the funds are credited, just like tracking a package. This transparency improves vendor relationships, reduces follow-up inquiries, and gives finance teams confidence that payments are moving as expected.
When aPay Makes Sense for Your Business
aPay is ideal for corporations that want to automate international payments, reduce admin, and scale globally. If your business is making cross-border payments (vendors, contractors, payroll, etc.) but is experiencing high bank fees for international wires, payment delays, limited payment tracking, and risk of errors or compliance failures then Ascendant’s aPay platform would be a perfect fit for your finance team.
aPay Pro is ideal for financial institutions looking to expand their international payment capabilities without building global infrastructure. Financial institutions want to offer competitive FX rates, multi-currency access, and real-time tracking. Building that infrastructure in-house is costly and complex. aPay Pro provides a fully white-labeled solution that integrates directly into your existing systems.
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How FTNI & Ascendant Can Support You
Together, Ascendant and FTNI are building a leading financial technology portfolio spanning accounts receivable (AR), accounts payable (AP), foreign exchange (FX), and cash application automation, giving businesses and financial institutions one trusted partner to streamline money in, money out, and all the reconciliation in between.
We want to help businesses and financial institutions identify the challenges their current payment operations are facing and support the conversation around the future of AR, AP, and FX solutions delivered from a single platform.
For more information, please visit www.ftni.com/ascendant-apay.