Despite the challenges to trade brought on by the pandemic and Brexit, more than a quarter of British businesses that don’t currently trade overseas are eager to.
The new findings, published in a survey conducted by HSBC UK, revealed that many businesses were keen to start trading abroad but that more than a fifth of UK businesses are not confident dealing with multiple markets and currencies.
In fact, the leading barriers for companies trading internationally are:
- The global economic environment (19 per cent)
- Tariffs (18 per cent)
- Dealing with exchange rates and multiple currencies (16 per cent).
Of those concerned about currencies, the biggest issues highlighted by respondents were dealing with currency fluctuations (43 per cent) when making and receiving payments from overseas, followed by risk of fraud (25 per cent) and the speed of payments (17 per cent).
Tom Wood, Head of Global Liquidity and Cash Management at HSBC UK, said: “When the global economy starts to bounce back, and trade tariffs are negotiated between the UK and its trading partners, there is a big opportunity for UK businesses to expand their operations overseas.
“Sending money internationally is often a complex and time-consuming process, with exchange rates frequently changing. This can lead to businesses paying more than expected or receiving less than expected for services and goods that are traded internationally.”
Thankfully there are many services and applications available to businesses now to reduce the complexity of overseas payments.
At Reanda UK, our partnership with many other accountancy firms around the world and the expertise of our team can help you find solutions to this and many other barriers that you may face when trading overseas.
Reanda UK is a subsidiary of leading independent accountancy firm Grunberg & Co Limited. Our aim is to help businesses and individuals to navigate the UK’s world-renowned business and tax infrastructure, and to support them with their international ambitions. To find out how we can help you, please contact us.