Finance Awards 2021

4 | Finance Awards 2021 Dec21434 Best Multi-Currency Business Banking Company 2021 When it comes to creating innovative financial solutions, Blackthorn is one of the key firms that stands out. With a breath-taking track record that includes impressive end-to-end solutions for customers, the firm has gone from strength to strength in a rapidly changing economy. In the SME News’ UK Finance Awards, the team found new heights of success. We dig a little deeper to discover more. When looking for growth, the challenge for SMEs and corporate organisations is finding the flexible financial infrastructure that they need to support their evolution. There simply aren’t that many options out there. Blackthorn is one of those options in this underserved sector, offering the future of integrated financial services with a flexible, scalable ecosystem. This opens the door for these companies to operate both locally and internationally with no friction. The team’s frictionless onboarding process allows the firm’s clients easy access to multiple financial services in one place. Whether it’s e-commerce acquiring, cash rewards, or access to numerous payment rails such as BACS, CHAPS, SWIFT, faster payments and SEPA, Blackthorn has the ability to support clients the length and breadth of Europe. The key to the firm’s success is their remarkable ecosystem and flexibility which ensures that the team can meet any requirements a customer might have, with ease. When it comes to accessing digital payment services, Blackthorn provides solutions for three key market segments individuals, commercial organisations and financial institutions. It’s essential that businesses in the banking sector work to provide cross border, multi-currency transactions in a way that is consistently frictionless. To this end, Blackthorn offers companies various ways forward including multi- currency IBANs and real time FX conversion. As a result, the team can receive and send money globally in over 120 countries. The Blackthorn team has achieved the incredible over the last few years, and this impressive growth is only set to grow in the future. By 2024, global cross border payments flow is expected to be $156 trillion annually and this movement of money is being ignored by traditional financial services. Too often, they remain siloed and inflexible, with poor FX rates and high levels of friction for businesses. Blackthorn is specifically designed to ensure that businesses can do what they need and when they need to do it. Of course, it’s not just cross border payments that are on the rise. The last couple of years have seen the world of E-commerce transform. The solutions on offer from Blackthorn are custom designed to suit the specific needs of the business. The team’s payment gateway technology allows them to connect their business and website to the largest payment methods across the globe, while also providing localised solutions that are truly second to none. Over the last few years, businesses that have never been digital have been forced online, and many have turned to Blackthorn because of their high standards and adaptability. It has secured the growth of many firms as they have learned to court an international audience. The success of the business is due, in no small part, to the way in which it is structured and organised. To ensure that employees have the ultimate in flexibility and ownership, Blackthorn is built around a flat team structure. The result is an incredibly agile business that can make decisions and changes of tack incredibly swiftly. The fluid approach has been vital to remaining ahead of both the competition and the markets as the business has grown and evolved. Those who work at Blackthorn must align strongly with its culture first and foremost. Its essential to have high energy, be driven, resilient and can maintain a strong will towards building success. The nature of the business means that all employees play a crucial role in the firm’s continued growth. An open-door policy means that everyone knows everything about the day-to-day running of the business and can make suggestions for improvement where it might be required. The degree of transparency at all levels has made for a firm which is incredibly progressive. With a firm built around such a rapidly evolving industry, it’s clear that challenges are part and parcel of how the team operates. In many ways, it is what Blackthorn thrives upon. That said, decisions to protect the firm in the short term can hamper long term goals. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated this in every sector and businesses across a multitude of industries have had to work hard to stay ahead of the crisis. Throughout this uncertainty, the Blackthorn team has explored every new opportunity presented to them. Every one of the team’s services has continued to run on a remote basis, seamlessly transitioning to the new normal of home working. As such, very little has disrupted the impressive services offered by the team. In fact, the team has taken advantage of the remote way of working to recruit a wealth of impressive talent from around the world. The new level of efficiency reached by the team has allowed them to push forward in their plans for development in spite of the difficulties of the last few years.