This week we spoke to Bhavin Vaghela, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships at RationalFX to understand their journey, the reality of running a business during COVID-19, and what they see as the future of fintech.
When was RationalFX set up, and who was involved from the beginning?
We were formed in 2005 with just a laptop and $3,000 by Rajesh Agrawal, now Deputy Mayor of London for Business, and Paresh Davdra. They built the company with a simple mission in mind — to help our clients, whether they’re businesses or individuals, transfer money abroad in a simple, rational and cost effective way.
What are the things you are most proud of in your company’s journey?
As a company, we’ve accomplished many things that we are proud of. Hitting the £10bn traded mark was a real milestone and testament to what we can do and how far we’ve come. Introducing the Pay What You Want fee model as a social initiative for Xendpay, our remittance brand, was another big one.
But right now, our Mass Pay platform is something we’re especially proud of. Our platform allows clients to pay multiple recipients in various countries simply by uploading the payee information to our platform. We do the rest. Clients can pay employees, investors, freelancers and suppliers, all at once, wherever they are in the world. They can edit payments without fuss, track payment statuses in real time, all while getting individual platform training and the regular wider foreign exchange advice you’d expect from a RationalFX currency specialist.
We’ve also just introduced multiple currency accounts. Thanks to a virtual IBAN, these operate like regular bank accounts so our clients can pay recipients with personalised references and track their transactions in real time.
COVID-19 has been inescapable in 2020. Can you share any survival tips for businesses?
Working in foreign exchange means you’re constantly at the mercy of external factors. So it’s in our DNA to try and see every challenge as an opportunity to be creative. This was no different. We adapted to new work conditions and ensured we were left relatively unscathed or slowed by the global situation.
When the pandemic first hit, the entire company had to quickly begin working from home. This isn’t something that we were used to. Suddenly we found ourselves at home, unable to organise meetings or in-house seminars and videos. But we’re a passionate and dynamic team and we adapted. Quickly.
Our attitude and work ethic made it clear to our clients they were in safe hands. They felt confident in our ability to serve them as well as we always had and to remain innovative in the face of adversity.
The result is that today, when many companies are scaling back efforts, we’re working hard on improving our existing products and developing new ones.
What do you see as the future of fintech?
It’s APIs for me. What the industry is doing as we speak is exciting enough, so I can’t wait to see where that will go over the next decade or so, as new innovations emerge
APIs allow for huge scalability as they enable far quicker routes into new markets and they often end up turning competitors into partners, which is great for the whole industry.
And this is especially good for a business like ours where we’re constantly looking to strategically partner with banks abroad and fellow MSBs so we can offer our customers a service that feels localised, wherever they are in the world.
Find out more about partnering opportunities with Railsbank.
