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Half of businesses overpay by up to 20% on cross-border payments

Tuesday, July 21, 2026 — 16:27:49 (UTC)

Half of Businesses Overpay by Up to 20% on Cross-Border Payments as Fragmentation Drives Consolidation

London, July 21, 2026—PayDo analysis finds that one in two business clients arrives overpaying by as much as 20% on the total cost of moving money across borders, while two in three technology businesses joining the platform cite fragmentation rather than pricing as the primary reason for consolidating providers.

Businesses operating across borders are carrying significant financial and operational costs as payment functions become spread across multiple providers, contracts and systems. Analysis conducted by PayDo across several hundred business clients over the past 12 months found that one in two companies was overpaying by as much as 20% on the total cost of moving money internationally, relative to what the same volume would cost on consolidated, directly connected infrastructure.

The cost is distributed across several parts of the payment chain, which can make it difficult for businesses to calculate in full. PayDo attributes the overpayment to intermediary and correspondent fees applied at different stages of a transaction, FX spreads widened by routing through providers without direct market access, reconciliation work required to match payments across disconnected systems, and the financing cost of delayed settlement when working capital remains in transit.

The findings point to a wider structural challenge for businesses managing international payment operations. According to PayDo's analysis of its client base, an internationally trading business typically manages between 10 and 20 separate payment provider relationships, each involving its own contract, integration, compliance process and reconciliation file. Close to one in three businesses arrives running five or more providers for collections alone.

This fragmentation also influences how technology businesses select their payment infrastructure. PayDo's internal analysis found that roughly two in three technology businesses joining the platform over the past 12 months named fragmentation, rather than pricing, as the primary reason for moving to a consolidated provider.

The operational impact extends beyond transaction costs. PayDo estimates that consolidating a fragmented payment stack onto a single platform can reduce a finance team's reconciliation workload by around 30% and materially shorten the monthly financial close.

Serhii Zakharov, CEO and founder of PayDo, said: "The reason fragmentation persists is that no single bill shows you the total. You see a small fee here, a slightly worse rate there, a few extra days of float. Individually, they look like the cost of doing business. Add them up across a year and you're looking at real money, and a finance team buried in reconciliation instead of strategy."

PayDo brings acquiring, multi-currency accounts, Open Banking collections, payouts and FX together under a single contract and integration. The company is a principal member of Visa and Mastercard and a direct member of SWIFT and SEPA, enabling payments to be routed through its own infrastructure connections.

As cross-border payment operations become more complex, businesses are placing greater scrutiny on the total cost and operational burden of fragmented infrastructure. The findings suggest that consolidation is increasingly becoming an operational decision as much as a commercial one, particularly for technology and digital-first companies managing payments across multiple markets.

For more information about PayDo, visit paydo.com/

About PayDo

PayDo is a unified payment ecosystem for online businesses, providing multi-currency accounts, international transfers, merchant acquiring, card issuing and Open Banking collections through a single contract and integration. The platform processes over €5 billion annually.

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Source: Company press release.

Categories: Reports and research