Banking is the foundation of every business. Every company must find a way to process financial transactions seamlessly if they want to grow. This need applies more to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that can’t afford to build custom banking solutions. The good news is that a renowned entrepreneur, Max Faldin, has built a solution to make banking more accessible for global merchants and continues to find ways to improve things.
Silverbird: The Banking Solution For SMEs
Silverbird is an online banking solution designed for global trade. Max Faldin launched Silverbird in 2020 after noticing a problem and setting out to build a solution.Â
Faldin is a serial entrepreneur whose career has taken him across the globe. He previously founded Wiki CBT, a cross-border fulfilment platform based in Singapore. While running Wiki CBT, Faldin pressed OCBC, one of Singapore’s biggest banks, to onboard Chinese merchants selling to European customers. However, OCBC was reluctant to serve these merchants.
Banking demands stringent compliance processes, and banks often don’t want to spend their resources on due diligence for SMEs. They prefer to focus on the bigger customers bringing in substantial revenues, and the small or medium-sized businesses get the short end of the stick. Faldin observed this problem and launched Silverbird, a banking platform serving smaller merchants.
Silverbird provides an online banking platform that makes it easy for merchants to trade worldwide. Small and medium-sized merchants can access banking resources often restricted to big retailers.Â
With Silverbird, merchants can create virtual foreign currency bank accounts and receive payments from global customers. They can transact with multiple currencies and convert them whenever needed.
Small merchants don’t have the well-built relationships that big businesses enjoy with banks. Hence, they get ostracised by the banking community that sees them as high risk for little reward. Faldin built Silverbird to flip the script; it’s a virtual banking platform that facilitates seamless transactions for SMEs.
Imagine a future with an inclusive global banking system. Banks are largely on the customers’ side and willing to serve every type of legit business. Cross-border transactions occur instantly, and anyone across the globe can participate. That is the world Silverbird is working towards.
The Importance of Silverbird
Global trade has been the bedrock of economic prosperity for as long as humans have existed. Humans have always found ways to trade across borders, even if moving currency in the ancient world was much more challenging. Go back to the days of the Minoans to the Romans to the British Empire, and you’ll find merchants trading across borders.
Today, we have instant connectivity via the Internet, but sending and receiving money still presents a hassle. Businesses have to deal with many obstacles, such as regulatory compliance and payment delays. Faldin launched Silverbird as a customer-centric, product-driven banking platform to eliminate these obstacles as much as possible.
Why Businesses Should Use Silverbird
Silverbird enables SMEs to create virtual bank accounts to trade in multiple currencies. The platform is available in virtually all countries and offers multi-currency accounts for 40+ jurisdictions.
Merchants can create a Silverbird account and start transacting seamlessly. They can receive foreign currency from international customers or send it to suppliers abroad. Of course, businesses must pass compliance checks before transacting, but Silverbird makes the process as straightforward as possible.
Faldin built Silverbird to accelerate global trade, and the company remains dedicated to its mission.Â
Silverbird currently serves hundreds of merchants. It aims to serve roughly 1,000 merchants at the end of 2023 and 3,000 merchants at the end of 2024. You can sign up as a business owner and start processing transactions seamlessly.