You ask, we answer

iBanFirst is a financial service provider offering payment solutions to SMBs operating internationally. With our platform, you can collect payments from customers and pay suppliers, partners, and employees across the globe in different currencies.

Additionally, you can use our range of FX products and expert knowledge to protect your business against currency risk.

To learn more about how iBanFirst can help you, feel free to contact us directly.

With iBanFirst, you can hold and receive funds in 25 currencies and execute payments in 135+ currencies. You can check the list of currencies available here.

At iBanFirst, we offer competitive and transparent foreign exchange rates and fees. Here you can find a complete overview of all our fees applied.

Unlike most corporate banks, iBanFirst does not charge any fees to open an account nor any monthly subscription fees.

iBanFirst earns a spread on every currency conversion, calculated as the difference between the market rate and the client rate. This spread is transparent and shown on the web platform or communicated over the phone.

iBanFirst doesn't currently offer credit solutions.

With a multi-currency account, you can hold, send and receive different currencies, all from one centralised account. It’s like having a wallet containing every currency you need for your business — euros, dollars, yen.

iBanFirst offers the possibility to open multiple accounts in 25 currencies online. You can then choose to hold those funds or convert at the real-time exchange rate (with a low conversion fee) and use them to pay suppliers, partners and employees.

No, currently iBanFirst does not offer card payments.

Yes, you can connect iBanFirst to your accounting software, bank accounts and internal tools via the iBanFirst API, EBICS, Isabel 6, or SwiftNet, plugging into your existing workflows to streamline payments, FX, reconciliation and more.

The iBanFirst REST API covers all the main tasks that you need to automate your accounts payable processes: You can submit payments, get real-time FX quotes, execute spot transactions, open accounts autonomously, create beneficiaries, retrieve your financial history and upload invoices.

Payments between iBanFirst accounts are instantaneous (and free of charge!).

For euro payments within the SEPA zone, funds are usually available the same day.

For international payments in other currencies, funds typically arrive within 1-3 business days, depending on the complexity of the routes, how many intermediary banks and time zones the funds pass through, and local cutoff times. Find out more about international payment speeds.

With iBanFirst, you don’t have to deal with a chatbot or join a seemingly never-ending support ticket queue to solve a problem. Instead, you have a dedicated account manager to help you make the most of our tools, establish an FX strategy that works for your business and support you with any questions you may have.

As a regulated payment institution authorised by the National Bank of Belgium, iBanFirst follows strict rules to safeguard your money. Our regulatory framework ensures that we maintain rigorous procedures to protect client funds, giving you confidence in the security of our services.

For instance, under the PSD2 directive, funds must be segregated from the payment institution's own funds and held in a separate bank account set aside solely for client money. In the unlikely event that iBanFirst encounters financial difficulties or becomes insolvent, your money will remain fully secure and protected in one of these accounts.

iBanFirst S.A. is duly authorised and regulated by the National Bank of Belgium (under company number 0849.872.824) as a payment institution. Our registered address is at Avenue Louise 489, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. The products and services that iBanFirst S.A. offers are limited to unregulated spot FX transactions and deliverable forward payment contracts (forward payment, flexible forward payment and dynamic forward payment) excluded from MiFID and EMIR regulation, as they are intended to cover an underlying future payment for identifiable goods and services. iBanFirst S.A. does not offer options or any other financial instruments for investment or speculative purposes.

At iBanFirst, we do our utmost to keep our clients’ accounts safe and secure by investing in robust infrastructure and SSL connection encryption and carrying out steady audits and penetration tests. 

Our servers are hosted in industry-grade data centres and protected by hardware and software firewalls. Data transmitted between your web browser and our servers is encrypted using SSL certificates and RSA SHA-256 encryption. Our servers and software regularly undergo independent audits and penetration tests.

No. You control who can initiate payments through customisable user permission rights. You can configure payment limits and multi-level approvals for different user roles, with granular access rights across different entities.

Additionally, iBanFirst requires dual authentication via our mobile app to approve and execute sensitive operations, including payments.

iBanFirst uses Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) methods to keep accounts and funds secure.

Two-factor authentication requires you to authenticate access credentials using both something you know (your iBanFirst username and password) and something you hold in your possession (your phone).

Click here to learn more.

Additionally, there are other measures that you, as a user, can and should do to protect your accounts against fraudulent attempts: 

• Do not share a single user access with people in your company
• Do not store your user ID and password
• Do not share your SCA method with anyone
• Use a unique, strong password
• Use time-based one-time password (TOTP) or Yubikey rather than SMS as your SCA method

iBanFirst will NEVER ask you for your user ID, password, or strong authentication code.

If you believe that your user ID, password, or strong authentication code have been compromised, please contact your account manager as soon as possible.

No sensitive data is accessible by iBanFirst teams. We cannot access the data related to external account balances or transactions. We only have access to the account name, the account currency, the synchronization dates and the connection state.

iBanFirst is regulated by the National Bank of Belgium as a payment institution and complies with GDPR requirements.

How Your Data is Used: Your data is processed to provide payment services, manage your account, comply with legal obligations (including anti-money laundering and sanctions screening), communicate with you about services, and improve customer experience. Phone calls with account managers and dealers are recorded for evidentiary purposes.

Data Storage: Personal data is stored only for the time necessary to achieve the stated purposes, taking into account legal retention requirements. Customer service calls are stored for maximum 130 days.

Third-Party Sharing: iBanFirst may share your data with external service suppliers for identity verification and fraud prevention, IT service providers, marketing agencies, security companies, law enforcement when legally required, potential buyers of the business, professional advisors, and companies within the iBanFirst group.

International Transfers: Data may be transferred outside the EEA/UK only to parties with appropriate data protection safeguards, such as EU standard contractual clauses or where adequacy decisions exist.

Your Rights: You have the right to access, correct, erase, restrict processing, data portability, object to marketing, and lodge complaints with supervisory authorities.

Please refer to our Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy for more.

As a regulated payment institution authorised by the National Bank of Belgium, iBanFirst follows strict rules to safeguard your money. Our regulatory framework ensures that we maintain rigorous procedures to protect client funds, giving you confidence in the security of our services.

For instance, under the PSD2 directive, funds must be segregated from the payment institution's own funds and held in a separate bank account set aside solely for client money. In the unlikely event that iBanFirst encounters financial difficulties or becomes insolvent, your money will remain fully secure and protected in one of these accounts.

If you suspect fraud or any unauthorised activity on your iBanFirst account, you should contact your account manager directly.

Any company with international and foreign exchange payment volumes of more than €200,000 per year can open an iBanFirst account. Restrictions may apply depending on the country of origin, the activity of the company or the origin of the funds.

Simply fill out the account opening form to be contacted by our team.

Opening an account with iBanFirst is a 100% paperless process. 

1. Fill out the account opening form to be contacted by an iBanFirst adviser.
2. Send us the documents identifying your company and its beneficial owners.
3. Our customer support team will set up your account so you can be up and running right away.
4. You will need to activate your iBanFirst account by making a first transfer from your main bank account. 
5. Your account will be ready to use upon receipt of this activation transfer.

Nothing, opening an account at iBanFirst is completely free.