Best online banking for sole trader sending/receiving international payments?

DullGreyGuy

LessImpecunious said:

counterparty risk (not exactly sure what that is but think I get the idea)

Counterparty risk is the risk that some that owes you money fails to pay it... most commonly because they have gone bust but in theory it could include moral risk that they simply refuse to pay it over. 

For personal banking its normally mitigated by the FSCS protection of up to £85k but Wise isnt a bank. If you are much larger organisation then there are other options like insurance, collateral, withheld funds etc but there is a gap where FSCS doesnt apply (eg digital wallets like Wise) but you're not big enough to demand/warrant other solutions.

LessImpecunious

Oh, OK, it wasn't what I thought... But with these kinds of payments we always wait until we receive the money before sending out goods - unless you're suggesting that Wise wouldn't pass the money on to us?

DullGreyGuy

LessImpecunious said:

Oh, OK, it wasn't what I thought... But with these kinds of payments we always wait until we receive the money before sending out goods - unless you're suggesting that Wise wouldn't pass the money on to us?

There is always a risk that they receive the money and then go bust before paying it out or the US applies sanctions to you/your bank or some other reason they couldn't pay it forward... risk is clearly tiny given the speed of transactions but its never 0% 

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LessImpecunious

Dollars have arrived, and yes of course, despite all misgivings and warnings, given the rising pound I'm now being tempted into watching the rate and stepping into the murky waters of speculation, on a very minor scale - just for the LOLs I'm telling myself...