Increasing globalization and the dispersion of the internet throughout the world is fast blurring physical boundaries in the context of online shopping.  Today, a customer in China can remotely access a wide variety of products available in the USA at the click of the mouse.  Additionally, eCommerce is becoming popular in not just developed nations, but also major emerging markets such as China, Korea and India.  With increasing affluence, they are discovering premium goods from first-world countries such as the USA and the UK.

Financial barriers still exist, however, and currency conversion needs to be transparent and instantaneous for global e-commerce to be effective. A Chinese consumer interested in a US product will expect to be able to pay in his or her local currency, and this is where multi-currency credit card processing comes in. By obtaining a multi-currency merchant account, an e-tailer can effectively market and sell products globally. The way it works is simple: a user visits a multi-currency enabled retailer site, where prices will be displayed in a default currency as chosen by the retailer, for example, GBP. The non Great Britain customer (say, from India) will have the option, perhaps from a drop down box, to change the displayed currency from the GBP to, in this case, the Rupee (other currency options will also be displayed, depending on the arrangement between the retailer and the multi-currency merchant account provider). Upon checkout, the intermediary will withdraw the payment from the customer’s credit card in his or her local currency and remit to the retailer in his or her chosen local currency (in this case the Rupee)

There are three available options to accept multi-currency payments through a merchant account:

DOMESTIC MERCHANT ACCOUNT: Provided with multi-currency processing capabilities, this type of merchant account is made available through a local acquirer that can provide acceptance in the foreign currency. The disadvantage is with this type of merchant account, the bank will cap the limit that the amount of sales that can be processed through the account. It will be unsuitable for high-volume businesses and high risk businesses unless the company can come up with a security deposit.

INTERNATIONAL MERCHANT ACCOUNT: These are onshore merchant accounts with multi-currency capabilities, but with no ceiling on the volume or value of transactions per calendar period. These are also available onshore and may be opted for by high volume merchants. International merchant accounts will usually provide excellent fraud protection and multi-layer security.

OFFSHORE MERCHANT ACCOUNT: Multi-Currency credit card processing can be obtained by opening an offshore merchant account, or an international merchant account. With this type of merchant account, a merchant can process a high volume of transactions; there may be a minimum processing requirement with most banks. This account may be the only option for businesses with bad credit or high risk classification.