HSBC is expanding the rollout of its foreign exchange FX FlexRate multi-currency pricing (MCP) and dynamic currency conversion (DCC) commercial banking service into the international online arena. Up until now the service has allowed merchants and automated teller machine (ATM) providers to offer point-of-sale (PoS) customers, travelling or sourcing goods from abroad, the choice to transact in multiple currencies. The new expanded service will help online retailers selling on the Internet.

This is to meet the growing need for consumers to complete transactions in their currency, e.g. 70% of non-UK customers attending the Olympic Games chose to transact in their own currency when withdrawing money. The expanded global FX FlexRate MCP and DCC conversion service is intended to support online businesses’ by allowing their international customers to pay in a range of currencies, including their own, from anywhere in the world. The rate will be fixed there and then online, rather than waiting for the bank to set it when processing the credit card transaction later on, which could give treasurers and other corporate or bank customers more certainty on large trades, as well as giving consumers immediate accurate pricing.

This latest iteration of the service is intended to allow a UK resident, for example, to buy a t-shirt from an American retail website and know immediately how much that would cost in British pounds (GBP). Corporate customers buying goods abroad for later postal or shipping delivery can of course take advantage of the same automated pricing and conversion functionality for supply chain parts or other such sundries. The bank is expecting online retailers and suppliers to off the service to their global internet clients.