Business money transfer guide for Dutch SMEs

Key takeaways 

• In the Netherlands, you’re facing specific transfer challenges, including hidden FX fees, SWIFT delays, and fragmented reconciliation. All of these are critical, particularly when they account for 89% of Dutch GDP.

• When choosing a transfer provider, prioritise FX transparency, speed and reliability, regulatory compliance, multi-currency coverage, batch payment capabilities, and seamless tech integrations.

• Using Airwallex means Dutch businesses can pay up to 1,000 recipients at once, across multiple currencies, with automatic reconciliation and support for local Dutch payment methods like iDEAL. Plus, we’re authorised by the Dutch central bank. 

Looking to optimise domestic and international business money transfers? Good thing you’re here then. That’s exactly what we’ll explore in this guide.

If you’re a Dutch business paying international suppliers, you have employees around the world, or you take customer payments or issue customer refunds in different currencies, you need to research money transfer methods to keep costs low, improve security, speed and the reliability of your transfers. 

What is a business money transfer?

A business money transfer is what it says on the tin — it’s the method of transferring money from your business to someone else. Whether that’s a supplier or a customer. A money transfer can be international or domestic and can be anything from a customer refund to an invoice payment.

Why money transfers matter for Dutch SMEs in 2026

Most businesses deal with another country at some point — maybe you purchase from a supplier in China, or you service a global audience through your e-commerce store. 

Let’s talk stats. The exporting of goods and services made up 89% of Dutch GDP in 2023, so cross-border transactions are the norm for Dutch companies. This means it’s essential you find a reliable, accurate and cost-effective way to transfer money internationally. Or else face the monetary (and other) consequences. 

Common challenges Dutch businesses face with transfers

Challenges are common in every part of business, but when it comes to money transfers, there are several very specific challenges you might find yourself facing. (But fear not, we have a solution for all these problems!)

Hidden FX fees

There’s nothing worse for financial planning than poor FX transparency. And hidden FX fees are rife in international money transfers. You never truly know how much a payment costs you until you make it. Which doesn’t make business sense.  How can you forecast cash flow? How can you align spending with budgets? 

Delays with SWIFT transfers

Although you might use iDEAL for local money transfers, you might turn to the SWIFT network to process international money transfers. Many businesses experience delays using SWIFT, with transfers taking between one and five days on average. Delays can come from incorrect bank details or Dutch bank cut-off times.

Manual errors in payment details

Let’s say you mistype the IBAN number; that payment won’t go through. But by the time you realise your mistake, business operations become disrupted, cash flow takes a hit and supplier relationships suffer. And human errors are pretty common; all it takes is missing off a number, or rushing the process slightly, and you create a ton more admin work.

Lack of real-time visibility and reconciliation

If you’re using multiple systems to manage your entities, you’re fragmenting spend visibility and slowing reconciliation. Real-time visibility and transaction reconciliation mean you can make informed spending decisions, you can make off-the-cuff adjustments to budgets, allocate resources where necessary and adjust spend limits to reflect in-the-moment business needs.

Domestic vs international transfers: what’s the difference?

There are some key differences between domestic and international money transfers:

Domestic transfers. Domestic refers to local payments between two bank accounts based in the Netherlands. Most businesses use the iDEAL bank-to-bank payment; this system doesn’t rely on intermediaries to process payments, so the payment process is straightforward and instant.

International transfers. These are cross-border payments made from your Dutch business bank account to another account outside of the Netherlands. The payments you make are based on a fluctuating exchange rate and must comply with multiple regulatory frameworks, passing through several banks and intermediaries (think SWIFT). As you might expect, you’ll find the fees to process international payments are higher than domestic, and can take a few days longer to process.

What to consider when choosing a business transfer method 

So, you’re ready to evaluate the tools and platforms on offer, but what criteria can you measure them against? Here are six things to consider:

1. FX rate and fee transparency

Without FX rate and fee transparency, you can’t accurately manage your finances. No global business is built on ambiguous financials. Find a platform that gives you transparent rates — you need to know how much a payment will cost you before you press that pay button. 

2. Speed and reliability

Keeping stakeholders happy is crucial. So if you partner with a system that delivers unreliable and delayed payments, your customers, vendors, suppliers, employees — you name it — no one will be happy. You’re building a business built on trust, and unreliable payments don’t help you build that trust.

3. Batch payment or API support

Batching anything speeds up processes, but processing batch transfers drastically reduces admin time for your finance team. Being able to click a button and make multiple payments, batch verify details and connect them to automatic approval workflows is a game-changer for sure. 

4. Regulatory compliance

To prevent criminal abuse of financial systems, you need a business transfer method that complies with KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations. Cross-border payments pose higher risks than other types of transactions, that’s because they cross multiple jurisdictions.

5. Currency and country coverage

If you need to make cross-border payments, you’ll want to ensure they’re seamless. That means using a system that supports the exchange of goods and services across multiple jurisdictions. From holding, receiving and sending multi-currency funds to supporting substantial local payments and providing competitive interbank FX rates, you need a system that can offer it all.

6. Accounting and ERP integrations

If your tech stack doesn’t integrate, you’re not able to enjoy seamless data flow. Integrating your accounting systems and ERP means you access a single source of truth for all spend data across multiple entities. Managing payments from a centralised location means real-time reconciliation, accurate supplier data, and granular spend control. So prioritise a system that comes with native ERP and accounting integrations or has the ability to support custom API builds. 

Best business money transfer providers in 2026

What platforms should you consider to support your Dutch business with money transfers? Here are the top seven:

Airwallex. Extensive global reach with multi-currency support, competitive and transparent FX rates, with fast and reliable batch transfers.

Wise Business. Mid-market exchange rates with no markup, multi-currency capabilities, and 24/7 customer support. 

Revolut Business. Fast transfer options, including Revolut-to-Revolut instant transfers, bulk payment features, and customisable plans to suit all business sizes.

ING. Verify payments conveniently with the ING app, supports US customers with tax compliance, and offers a digital-friendly experience.

ABN AMRO. Robust security features like additional identifiers for 2FA, the predicted payments feature, and clear country-specific rules to help reduce errors and payment delays.

PayPal Business. Helping SMEs and freelancers send and receive global payments with business management tools built in, e.g. invoice creation, recurring billing management, and automatic fund transfer options that give business owners flexible access to their funds. 

Currencycloud. Supports multi-currency and pays out in over 180 countries, infrastructure that enables easy API integrations, transparent fee structures, and the ability to manage currency conversions. 

How to send a business money transfer step-by-step 

Just four steps stand between you and sending your first business money transfer. So if you’re new to money transfers, follow these short steps:

1. Set up recipients. Create a new recipient or select an existing one from your contact book. If adding a new one, you’ll need details including routing numbers like IBAN and SWIFT, name, bank account details and more.

2. Add transfer amount and currency. Select the source currency account from where you want to send the funds from and select the currency the recipient wants to receive the funds in. 

3. Choose FX conversion or not. You can choose to enable/disable the automatic currency conversion feature to make this easier.

4. Confirm, approve, and track payment status. Track progress in real-time in the dashboard.

Tips to save time and money on business transfers

We’re all looking for new ways to cut costs, maximising profit margins while reducing admin workload, so here are five handy tips to take on board:

Schedule transfers based on FX trends

If the rates are favourable, you can take advantage of this trend and make payments to enjoy cost savings, and, in the same way, if currencies are looking volatile, you can monitor and adjust transfers if possible to avoid higher rates.

Use batch uploads for multiple invoices

By batch uploading invoices, the system automatically validates and handles rejections, which means payments are more accurate, so you spend less time correcting human errors and more time driving strategy.

Avoid unnecessary conversions

Some money transfer systems let customers receive funds and hold them without converting them immediately. This helps you avoid the “conversion trap” of double currency conversions. Instead, you can spend the funds in your account in the currency you received them in. Spend with suppliers or expenses as it is, without converting.

Automate recurring payments via API

If your business has a subscription model or is thinking about implementing one, consider using a system that allows you to automate those recurring payments. Not least saving you the manual effort of managing those subscriptions individually, but you decrease churn rate with handy features like smart retry logic.

Reconcile payments weekly, not monthly

Syncing your ERP and accounting platforms with your spend management system automatically reconciles your transactions and payments, helping you save hours each month and speeding up month-end close. Increasing reconciliation to weekly rather than monthly also helps your finance team spot any discrepancies within the data, helping you quickly resolve issues.

How Airwallex supports business transfers from the Netherlands 

• Pay up to 1,000 recipients at once across different countries in multiple currencies.

• Save time with automatic reconciliation, like McLaren Racing, which saved half a day each month by automating international financial operations with Airwallex.

• Ultimate transparency on FX rates. You can see distinct cost components, including the FX margin, before completing a transaction.

• Supports local Dutch payment methods, including iDEAL.

• We support secure and compliant payment services in the Netherlands (we’re authorised by the Dutch central bank as an e-money institution).

• Hold, convert, and transfer funds in more than 23 currencies.

• And, much more. 

Ready to start saving on your FX rates and improve real-time spend visibility? Book a free personalised product demo and check out our features in action. Request a live demo. 

FAQs

What’s the difference between SWIFT and iDEAL for business transfers?

iDEAL is used for instant domestic transfers, primarily between Dutch bank accounts. Where SWIFT processes international transfers, tapping into intermediaries, making the process up to five days long.

How can I avoid hidden FX fees on international payments?

Choose a provider with transparent FX rates to help you understand exact costs. This means you can confirm the transaction when you’re happy with the cost, rather than discovering costs after payment.