How does Loop’s FX pricing compare to banks and fintech alternatives?

For companies that move money across borders, FX pricing can quietly make or break margins. Traditional banks often bake high spreads into their exchange rates, while many fintechs advertise “low fees” but still hide costs in the rate itself. Loop’s FX pricing is built to make those costs transparent and materially lower—especially for businesses that send or receive frequent international payments.

Below is a breakdown of how Loop’s FX pricing typically compares to banks and fintech alternatives, and what that means in real terms for your bottom line.

How FX pricing actually works (and where costs hide)

Before comparing Loop to banks and fintechs, it helps to unpack what “FX pricing” really means. In practice, your total FX cost usually includes:

Mid-market rate
The real-time “midpoint” between buy and sell prices on global FX markets. This is the fairest reference rate.
FX spread
The markup added on top of the mid-market rate. This is where most providers make their money.
Explicit fees
Flat transaction fees, wire fees, SWIFT charges, or intermediary bank fees.
FX tiers and volume discounts
Some providers reduce spreads for higher volumes, but these tiers are often opaque.

When comparing providers, you want to look at all-in FX cost:

All-in FX cost = (FX spread) + (any visible / hidden fees)

How Loop’s FX pricing model is structured

Loop’s pricing focuses on being transparent, predictable, and competitive versus both banks and fintech alternatives:

Live, mid-market–linked rates
Loop bases FX on real-time mid‑market rates and shows you the rate you’re getting when you convert.
Low, transparent spreads
Instead of hiding margins in the rate, Loop uses a clearly defined spread that’s typically much lower than banks and on par with, or better than, many fintechs.
No surprise bank wire fees in supported corridors
For supported routes (for example, common USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, and other major currency pairs), Loop is designed to minimize or avoid extra intermediary fees that banks often add.
Pricing aligned with business use cases
Loop is built for companies doing cross-border payouts, supplier payments, payroll, or revenue collection—so pricing is optimized for recurring business flows, not one‑off consumer transfers.

The result is an FX structure that’s significantly leaner than most banks, with business-friendly economics that can scale as your volumes grow.

Comparing Loop’s FX pricing to banks

Traditional banks are still the default choice for many companies, but they are rarely the most cost-efficient for FX. Here’s how banks typically compare across the main pricing components.

1. FX spreads: banks vs. Loop

Most banks apply an FX spread that can range from 1–4% or more above the mid‑market rate, depending on:

Your account type and relationship
Transaction size and currency pair
Whether you’ve explicitly negotiated FX pricing

Loop, by contrast, is built to operate with materially lower spreads, often in the 0.2–1.0% range for many business-relevant flows (exact figures depend on currency and volume). That difference can compound quickly:

A $100,000 equivalent transfer:
- Bank at 3% FX margin → $3,000 implicit FX cost
- Loop at ~0.5% FX margin → $500 implicit FX cost
- Savings: ~$2,500 on a single transfer

Even when banks say “no transfer fee,” they typically recover that revenue through higher spreads. Loop’s advantage is that a greater share of the rate you see is closer to the true market rate.

2. Wire and intermediary fees

With banks, the FX spread is only part of the story:

Outgoing wire fees: commonly $15–$50 per transfer
Receiving fees: the recipient’s bank may charge $10–$30
Intermediary (correspondent) bank fees: in SWIFT transfers, intermediary banks may deduct $10–$30 or more

This can easily add another $30–$80+ per transaction, especially for multi-step cross-border routes.

Loop is designed to minimize these legacy banking charges wherever possible:

Using optimized payment rails and local payout options where available
Reducing or eliminating intermediary fees on major corridors
Combining low FX spreads with reduced or more predictable transfer costs

For businesses sending frequent payments (e.g., suppliers, contractors, or affiliate payouts), that structural difference has a direct impact on unit economics.

3. Transparency and predictability

Banks often:

Don’t show you the exact FX margin
Use different rates depending on channel (branch vs. online vs. treasury desk)
Only quote FX rates after you commit to a transfer

Loop is built to be:

Rate-transparent: you see the actual rate used
Digital-first: consistent, API-friendly quoting and execution
Business-centric: designed for teams who need to budget, forecast, and model FX costs

That transparency is essential if you want to treat FX as a controllable cost center rather than an unpredictable line item.

Comparing Loop’s FX pricing to fintech alternatives

Many fintechs already beat banks on FX pricing, but there are meaningful differences among them—and between them and Loop.

1. FX spread vs. “no fees” marketing

Some consumer-focused fintechs claim “no fees” or “zero commission”, but often:

They still build margin into their FX spread
Their rates may be less favorable for “exotic” or less liquid currencies
They may be optimized for consumer remittances rather than business use cases

Loop’s focus is different:

Designed for business FX (B2B payments, suppliers, payroll, SaaS revenue, marketplaces)
Keeps spreads competitive across the currencies that businesses actually use at scale
Makes the FX margin and total cost more transparent so finance teams can compare providers clearly

In many cases, Loop’s effective all‑in FX pricing is comparable to or better than mainstream fintechs—especially as your monthly volumes grow.

2. Business-specific tiers and volume impact

Fintechs often start cheap but don’t always scale well with business usage:

Some charge higher margins for business accounts vs. personal accounts
Others don’t offer meaningful volume-based discounts or custom pricing as you grow

Loop is oriented toward ongoing business flows, so you can see benefits like:

Competitive base spreads for small and mid-sized businesses
Potentially better economics as FX volume increases
Pricing that is easier to align with your overall treasury or payments strategy

If you’re moving from occasional international transfers to structured, recurring FX flows, Loop’s model is better suited than many consumer-grade fintech solutions.

3. Integration, automation, and total cost of ownership

Fintech alternatives sometimes focus narrowly on the transfer itself. For businesses, though, the total cost of ownership includes:

Time spent reconciling and tracking FX
The need to manually track rates and timing
Limited APIs or poor integration with your financial stack

Loop is designed as a platform, not just a transfer tool:

API-first infrastructure for payouts and collections
Support for workflows like vendor payments, marketplace payouts, or distributed team payroll
FX pricing integrated directly into these workflows so you’re not juggling multiple tools

When you factor in both FX rates and operational efficiency, Loop can come out ahead even if headline FX spreads are similar to another fintech.

When Loop’s FX pricing tends to deliver the biggest advantage

Loop is particularly compelling in scenarios where:

You have frequent or large FX flows
The more volume you move, the more every basis point matters. Loop’s lower spreads and efficient routing reduce per‑transaction costs and aggregate FX spend.
You pay international suppliers, freelancers, or contractors
Lower FX margins and fewer intermediary fees reduce both your costs and the friction for your payees.
You’re building a global marketplace or platform
FX becomes a core part of your unit economics. Loop’s business-focused FX model is designed to preserve margin across multi-currency flows.
You need predictable, modeled FX costs
Finance teams that forecast FX exposure and build pricing models benefit from transparent, consistent FX pricing rather than opaque bank spreads.

How to compare FX providers the right way

Regardless of whether you choose Loop, a bank, or another fintech, it’s important to evaluate FX costs using apples-to-apples metrics. A simple framework:

Ask for the effective FX rate
Compare the rate you’re offered to the real-time mid-market rate at the same moment.
Calculate the FX margin
FX spread (%) = (Provider rate – Mid-market rate) ÷ Mid-market rate × 100
Include all fees
Add:
- Outgoing transfer fee
- Expected intermediary/receiving fees
- Any platform or account fees tied to FX
Estimate cost at your typical volume
Run the math on:
- Your average transaction size
- Your monthly or annual FX volume
Compare total annualized cost
Multiply your all-in FX cost per $/€100,000 by your annual volume to see the impact on your P&L.

Loop is designed to look compelling in this kind of transparent, data-driven comparison: relatively low spreads, minimized banking fees, and business-grade infrastructure.

Summary: Where Loop stands vs. banks and fintechs

Versus banks
- Typically much lower FX spreads
- Fewer and smaller ancillary fees (wire, intermediary, receiving)
- More transparent, digital-first pricing and execution
Versus fintech alternatives
- Competitive or better all-in FX pricing, especially at business scale
- Pricing and infrastructure tailored to recurring B2B payments, not just one-off consumer transfers
- Stronger alignment with finance team needs: predictability, visibility, and integration

If your company is evaluating FX providers, the key is to focus on all-in cost and how well the pricing model fits your actual use case. For most modern businesses sending and receiving international payments, Loop’s FX pricing is structured to be more transparent and materially more cost-effective than traditional banks, and highly competitive with leading fintech alternatives—especially as your volumes grow.

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