Interview with Javier Quintana, Managing Director of Moneycorp
Having an adequate currency management strategy must be a priority for internationalized companies, especially in a volatile context like the current one.
In this regard, actors with Moneycorp, thanks to innovation and advances in digitalization, have put new services on the market that facilitate this operation for companies. Its Managing Director in Spain, Javier Quintana, tells us.
How would you define the current economic situation? In particular, what currently defines the behavior of the euro-dollar pair?
Javier Quintana: “Today what moves the markets is inflation, and the measure that central bankers are taking to combat it are increases in interest rates. In the United States they started early and this week they began their first pause after 10 consecutive increases; clarifying that it is a pause and not a break, and therefore giving rise to new increases in the future. While in Europe they started slower but this week they raised rates again by 25 basis points and have said that they do not even want to hear about stops. With which It is practically certain that there will be new increases.
As for how these monetary increases on both sides of the pond have affected the euro-dollar, when the trend was faster and started earlier by the FED it favored the dollar; At the moment when this distance is shortened, it is logical that the euro will be the one favored. Today we are with a euro-dollar at 1,09, and the market consensus places the euro-dollar at 1,10 or a little above for the remainder of the year. There is still a lot of year ahead and I think the best thing in the currency market is to wait and see.”
What do you think are the most disruptive trends in the international payments sector today? How prepared is Moneycorp to face them?
JQ: “There are many but if I had to choose I would say three: Artificial Intelligence, robotics and blockchain. Artificial Intelligence is already present in our lives through chatbots and other applications, it seems to have many advantages; However, it also seems to entail risks that have yet to be determined, and that is why we all want to move forward but with some caution to measure those risks well.
El blockchain, neobanks and other entities are already using it to access markets such as the crypto, and robotics is nothing more than the machine compared to the human that has always been there and now goes a little faster. There are three trends whose ultimate objective is improvement for the client; However, it has risks, and therefore the client has to be protected and for this there is very strong regulation. This regulation can create entry barriers that do not allow everyone to enter or advance as quickly as possible.
At Moneycorp we do not think that fintech and banks must work opposite each other; quite the opposite, We work with 20 banks and we believe that we should go hand in hand with each other. Collaborating and learning from each other will go much better and the beneficiary will be our client.”
Specifically, at Moneycorp, what weight do innovation, sustainability and digitalization have in your activity? Any examples of innovative services you've launched recently?
JQ: “All the weight in the world. Until recently Moneycorp was a broker of traditional fex of the City, and in a few years we have gone from broker a fintech with a presence in half the world, moving money through 190 countries, and that cannot be achieved without innovating and investing. Innovation and digitalization is part of our flagship and represents a very important item in our budget.. This has allowed us in 2022 to move more than 90.000 billion dollars around the world, and develop new products, such as ESG trends or applicable to clients such as Multi-currency IBAN: With a single IBAN you can receive up to 30 currencies; either massive payments through APIs: With one click you can be making thousands of payments simultaneously.”
What percentage of your services are already performed directly by clients digitally?
JQ: “The other day this matter came up in a meeting and they commented that in Spain it was close to a third, at the group level the percentage is higher and is around 50%. Almost half of our clients already access our services digitally or through an app.”
From your area of activity, what do you recommend to companies that they must implement, if they have not already done so, in their business models?
JQ: “If you haven't already, A currency strategy seems essential to me. Consider that in less than a year the euro-dollar, which is the most negotiable pair and therefore not the most unstable, has fluctuated around 15%. If we look at other more volatile or less liquid pairs, the oscillation can be around 40 or 50% annually. These are much higher percentages than the commercial margin of many sectors, and therefore, if you are abroad, you work internationally, and the currency impacts you, It is necessary to have a strategy that allows you to mitigate this risk and protect your commercial margin.".
What services and support does Moneycorp offer to Spanish companies to improve their international competitiveness?
JQ: "When it comes to currency, we have it all: from cash operations, exchange insurance, to more complex structures or even supplying physical banknotes to the bank itself. The way I see it, it's about having the licenses, having the products, having the tools and putting the resources so that the client can get the offer he needs. That is, we need to understand the situation of each client and their objectives, and once we know this we put our resources to work so that costs are reduced and a tailored strategy is provided that perfectly suits what that client is pursuing in terms of their currency operations.
By the way, we already work with more than 40.000 companies around the world, and we are here for that, if anyone finds themselves in that situation, welcome to Moneycorp.”
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