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Running a business, nurturing its growth, and managing its finances is a ton of work, but thankfully there are tools and services that can help you succeed.
The Loop banking platform is designed to help businesses manage their money around the world so that they can access more markets, grow faster, and simplify their operations.
In this article, we go over how Loop banking works and how you can leverage the company’s products and platform to streamline your global banking needs and save on your expenses.
Loop is a Toronto-based fintech company that offers a banking platform and tools to help small- and medium-sized Canadian businesses access better international banking solutions.
Loop Financial is structured to help your business operate internationally with lower costs and fewer hurdles using tools and services such as:
To access Loop’s financial products, you’ll need to sign up via the Loop website and meet the account requirements.
If you’re not sure if the platform and products are right for you and your business, you can schedule a free 30-minute consultation call with a Loop representative. During this call, the representative will go over Loop’s products and platforms, and they will help identify if/how Loop can help you save money, grow your business, and automate your financial workflows.
Keep in mind that in order to be eligible for Loop’s products and services, your business needs to be a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or charity and meet the following requirements,
Sole proprietorship:
Partnership:
Corporation:
Charity:
Once you’ve determined that Loop’s platform and products suit your business needs, you can choose from one of three account levels — Loop Basic, Loop Plus, and Loop Power — with Loop Basic and Loop Power being the most popular options.
Loop Basic can be used for free and is ideal for smaller businesses. It offers features like free USD, EUR, and GBP bank accounts, free international payments, basic transaction limits, no monthly fees, and more.
Comparatively, Loop Plus is designed for larger and/or more established businesses that have additional needs. The service builds on the Loop Basic offerings, giving you higher transaction limits, better rates, additional support, and more.
Regardless of whether you enjoy Loop Basic, Loop Plus, or even Loop Power, you can also expect to likely incur costs such as transactions fees, FX fees, and more (depending on which services you use and how you use them).
Loop helps you set up and access bank details in the US, UK, and EU, letting you send and receive payments in other countries easily.
Using these banking options can help simplify your finances in multiple ways:
Acronym Alert! ACH = Automatic Clearing House — EFT = Electronic Fund Transfer — SEPA = Single Euro Payments Area
Each term refers to a different infrastructural way that money moves within a country or group of countries.
Perhaps Loop’s most notable product is their multi-currency corporate credit card, the Loop Global Visa Card (issued by Equitable Bank), which allows you to spend in CAD, USD, GBP, and EUR.
Some of its key features include:
As you can see from the image below, the Loop multi-currency credit card offers a number of ways to save you money compared to the more traditional business credit cards that are issued by banks.
As a Loop client, you’ll be able to save money on the payments you send to over 180 countries in 25+ currencies.
Using Loop’s tools, you can send money quickly, pay suppliers in their own currency, incur zero wire fees, and keep track of it all with Loop’s integrated dashboard.
Plus, the payment system uses two-factor authentication and offers additional security features to keep your money and your clients’ money safe.
Using Loop’s integrated system, you can request and receive your payments more easily and save on the number of trips to the bank.
The system comes with traceable invoicing to help eliminate follow-up emails chasing payment, and by using Loop, you can save up to 3.5% compared to using PayPal or Stripe.
For most global businesses, a considerable amount is usually spent on fees when transferring money from one currency to another. These types of transactions are not only subject to the current exchange rate, but they also typically incur bank fees such as foreign transaction fees (FX fee) and others.
In fact, just about every Canadian credit card charges a 2.5% FX fee on top of the exchange rate when you use your card to pay for a transaction in a foreign currency. This is why many travellers keep a no-FX credit card in their wallet to save a bit of cash whenever they’re abroad.
With Loop, clients get access to FX rates that are up to 80% cheaper than traditional banks, putting them in a position to save a ton when transferring money between currencies.
The FX rate that you can access is based on which type of account you have with Loop, and are as follows:
Through Loop’s banking platform, you can access capital a couple of ways to help manage your cash flow and keep your business growing the way you want.
First, the Loop multi-currency credit card has a flexible credit limit (up to $1,000,000) that you can easily distribute across multiple cards to organize your expenses.
Second, Loop offers capital for invoices to let you take advantage of new opportunities when they come up.
As we mentioned earlier, as a Loop customer, you’ll have access to the system’s dashboard, making it easy to track each aspect of your business finances.
The integrated dashboard lets you track your credit card expenses, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and more. Additionally, the system offers features like digital receipt capture to help you verify expenses while limiting paper clutter and easy ways to access, download, and organize your transactions.
With Loop’s multi-currency credit card, you’ll earn points on all your business purchases, whether it’s you doing the spending or another authorized cardholder.
With the Loop Basic package, you earn 1 point per $1/€1/£1 spent, and with the Loop Plus package, you earn 2 points per $1/€1/£1 spent. The Loop Power package comes with customizable rewards that you can discuss with a Loop representative when you set up your account.
Your accumulated points can then be redeemed on brands like Amazon, Air Canada, Uber, and more.
This feature is particularly impressive since even the best business credit cards in Canada don’t always earn points on foreign currency transactions, and most of these cards also usually charge a 2.5% FX fee, which takes away from the value of your earned rewards.
Loop’s banking platform and products can assist you and your business manage your finances around the world to help you access more markets, grow faster, and simplify your operations.
If you’re currently running a Canada-based business, it’s certainly worth taking a look at Loop’s products and platform to see how it’s integrated systems can help save you time and money.
Also, as a business owner, if you’re interested in learning additional ways to earn rewards on your business expenses, take a look at our recommendations for best business credit cards to see all the perks and benefits on offer.
Yes, Loop is available in Quebec; however, Loop’s banking platform and products, including the Loop Global Visa Card, are not available to sole proprietors based in Quebec.
No, Loop Financial is not a bank; it is a financial technology company that runs a banking platform.
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