Cross-border is no longer optional for SMBs
International payments now sit at the centre of everyday business activity for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across Europe – and their importance is still rising. In fact, 75% of SMBs expect their cross-border payment values to increase in the next 12 months.
But “cross-border” is still too often treated as a single category by many payment providers; that is, a one-size-fits-all solution with the same pricing logic, user experience, and controls applied across the board.
However, in practice, SMB needs vary dramatically depending on the type of business – its industry, size, operating model, and the kinds of cross-border payments it makes.
Cross-border payments come in different shapes and sizes
To illustrate the variance in cross-border payment needs, let’s consider two personas:
Those differences matter because they shape what SMBs actually require
Both Marco and Alex are making international payments, but their needs are very different.
For Marco, predictability and transparency come first. Transaction fees are the biggest source of friction, closely followed by FX volatility and exchange rates. The priority is knowing what a payment will cost upfront and being confident it will arrive on time.
Even so, 53% of SMBs still use business cards for supplier payments, suggesting strong demand for flexibility, even when the tool isn’t perfectly suited to the use case. Cards offer reach and convenience, but supplier flows often demand better pricing clarity, settlement confidence, and stronger controls.
Alex faces a different set of pressures. High processing fees (26%) and lack of real-time tracking (18%) cause the most frustration. In his world, speed and uninterrupted continuity matter more than negotiation or settlement structure. He’s optimising for momentum rather than margin.
Trying to serve both Marco and Alex through the same cross-border flow forces compromises that satisfy neither. A single “cross-border solution” becomes too blunt – and too generic, too disconnected from the moments where value is actually created or lost.
Why this matters now for payment providers
Cross-border payments now sit at moments that directly affect SMB growth, liquidity, and operational continuity. That’s why sentiment is shifting.
81% of SMBs say they’re willing to try new cross-border solutions.
To stay ahead, payment providers won’t offer a generic cross-border solution – they’ll design payments around the different moments SMBs actually face.
The stats referenced on this page are from a Visa commissioned online quantitative survey, designed by Basis Research, to explore SMB cross border payment behaviour and the opportunities for payment providers. The research focused on four recurring cross-border use cases: travel, digital advertising, software subscriptions, importing goods and services, and fintech account top-ups. Respondents were financial decision makers or influencers at businesses with fewer than 250 employees, making multiple cross-border payments in the last 12 months across at least two of these use cases.
* The personas and scenarios depicted in these use cases are fictional and for illustration only. They do not depict real individuals, events or outcomes and should not be taken as a guarantee of results or as a factual account. The customer expectations and the analysis of friction points in each fictional scenario are based on statistics and claims drawn from Visa’s research into cross-border payment behaviour and opportunities for payment providers.