Multi-currency payment gateways: what they are, how they work, and what to look for

Key takeaways

• A multi-currency payment gateway lets you accept payments in your customers' local currencies and settle funds without forced conversion, which can save you money on FX fees.

• Not all gateways labelled "multi-currency" let you hold and settle in foreign currencies. Look for like-for-like settlement and multi-currency accounts.

• Airwallex's multi-currency payment gateway supports 160+ payment methods across 180+ countries, with like-for-like settlement into Global Accounts in 20+ currencies, so you can collect, hold, and convert funds on your terms.

If you're running an eCommerce business with international customers, you've probably run into something frustrating: standard payment gateways quietly chip away at your margins every time someone pays in a foreign currency. Those FX fees can look small on each transaction, but they add up fast. Process £100,000 in international payments each month, and you could be losing £2,000–3,000 just on conversion costs.

The opportunity is too big to ignore. Global B2C eCommerce sales have grown at a 14.4% compound annual rate since 2017, and that momentum is expected to continue through 2026.¹ A multi-currency payment gateway helps you keep more of that international revenue by letting you accept and settle payments in multiple currencies without forced conversions eating into your profits.

In this guide, we'll look at how these gateways work, the pitfalls to watch for, and how to choose the right one for your business.

What is a multi-currency payment gateway?

A payment gateway is the technology that lets you accept online payments. Think of it as the digital checkout counter for your online store. It's where customers enter their card details, confirm their purchase, and finish the transaction. The gateway handles the secure transfer of payment information between your customer, their bank, and your business.

You're probably already familiar with this from the customer side. They add items to their basket, enter their payment details, and get confirmation. It's quicker and smoother than a traditional bank transfer. But there's a catch: most payment gateways charge extra for foreign currency transactions. When a customer in the US pays your UK store in dollars, a standard gateway converts that payment to pounds before it reaches you, and takes a cut along the way.

How a standard payment gateway handles foreign currencies

When a customer pays in a currency that doesn't match your base currency, a standard gateway force-converts the payment at settlement. You get the funds in your home currency, but you pay for that conversion. There's the gateway's conversion fee, often 1–3%, and then their FX markup on top of the real exchange rate. A US customer pays you US$100, but by the time it reaches your GBP account, you've lost £2–3 to conversion fees and unfavourable rates.

What makes a "true" multi-currency gateway different

A multi-currency payment gateway lets you accept payments in your customers' currencies and settle those funds into matching currency accounts without automatic conversion. That's called like-for-like settlement. So if your British eCommerce store sells a product in USD, you can receive that payment in USD and keep it in a dedicated USD account. What you do with that money, and when you convert it, is completely up to you.

But be careful. A lot of platforms call themselves "multi-currency" just because they accept lots of international currencies and payment methods. In practice, they still force-convert everything back to your native currency behind the scenes, charging you transaction fees as they do it. A true multi-currency payment gateway needs multi-currency accounts to settle into. Without them, you're just paying for the appearance of flexibility. You don't want to get caught out.

How does a multi-currency payment gateway work?

Here's how a multi-currency payment gateway processes a transaction, step by step:

• Your customer takes their basket to your checkout page and enters the payment gateway.

• They choose their payment method and currency, enter their details, and confirm the payment.

• The gateway sends your customer's card details to your payment processor, the company that handles the transaction on your behalf, like Airwallex, through a secure connection.

• Your payment processor works out which card network the payment belongs to, such as Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, or others, and routes the transaction the right way.

• The payment reaches your customer's bank or card provider, the issuer, which authorises the transaction, checks for available funds, and runs fraud detection. Once it's approved, both you and your customer get confirmation.

• The payment settles. This is where the real difference shows up. With a standard gateway, the money is force-converted to your base currency, often with conversion and settlement fees attached. With a multi-currency gateway settling into a matching currency account, you're only charged a settlement fee, with no variable conversion costs. The funds go straight to your nominated account in the currency you received.

In practice, almost all of this happens in the background. Your customer clicks a few buttons, enters some details, and their order is confirmed. It's a slick, efficient process.

How to avoid double conversion

The key to avoiding unnecessary FX costs is setting up per-currency payout accounts so funds aren't force-converted at settlement. Say you receive USD from a customer and also need to pay a USD supplier. If your gateway converts that USD to GBP as soon as it arrives, you'll have to convert it back to USD to pay your supplier. It's like being forced off the train one stop past yours and then having to pay another fare to get back.

With Airwallex, you can set settlement up into matching-currency Global Accounts. USD payments settle into your USD account, EUR payments into your EUR account, and so on. You only pay conversion fees when you genuinely need to move money between currencies.

What is the difference between MCP and DCC?

Two terms come up a lot when people talk about multi-currency payments: MCP (multi-currency pricing) and DCC (dynamic currency conversion). They sound similar, but they work very differently, and that difference matters for your margins.

Multi-currency pricing (MCP) means you show and charge prices in your customer's local currency from the start. You set the prices, you control the exchange rate you've built into your pricing, and the customer sees exactly what they'll pay before they get to checkout. Think of it like a restaurant with menus in multiple languages: the prices are already translated.

Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) works differently. The customer sees your price in your base currency, and then at checkout they're offered the option to convert the transaction to their home currency. The conversion happens at that point, using rates set by the card network or acquirer, and those rates are often 3–5% above interbank rates. It's like the waiter offering to translate the bill at the end, but charging you for the translation.

Why MCP is better for your business

With MCP through a multi-currency gateway, you stay in control of the pricing and the customer experience. You can build your target margin into the local currency price, and customers see a familiar number in their own currency throughout the whole shopping journey. DCC, on the other hand, adds uncertainty at the worst possible moment, checkout, and the unfavourable rates often leave customers feeling overcharged. For most international merchants, MCP is the better option.

The key benefits of a multi-currency payment gateway

Lower costs on every international transaction

This is the big one for businesses dealing with high volumes of international customers. FX fees add up quickly: if you're processing £100,000 in international payments every month and paying 2–3% in conversion costs, that's £2,000–3,000 disappearing from your margins every month.

Selling in international currencies and receiving the funds in matching currency accounts removes that cost entirely. You'll only pay conversion fees when you need to move funds into another currency. With Airwallex, you'll pay competitive rates above the interbank exchange rate to convert between accounts, which is far less than the hidden markups that come with forced conversions.

Take this example. You receive a customer payment in USD, but you also need to make a large supplier payment in USD. Without a true multi-currency gateway, your customer's USD would be converted to GBP, and then you'd pay the FX fee again to convert it back to USD for your supplier. It's like being forced off the train one stop past yours and then having to pay another fare to get back.

Fewer abandoned baskets

When customers see prices in a currency they don't know well, they're more likely to hesitate or leave altogether. Shopify data suggests that 30% of online store visitors come from international markets.² If those visitors only see prices in your base currency, you're adding friction at exactly the moment you want them to buy.

Showing prices in local currencies builds trust and removes guesswork. Customers know exactly what they're paying, without doing mental currency conversion or worrying about exchange rate surprises on their statement. That clarity can turn straight into higher conversion rates.

More payment methods for your customers

As global retail has grown, payment preferences have grown with it, and those preferences are often shaped by local habits. Take Pix, for example. In Brazil, over three quarters of the population use this instant payment app built by the Central Bank.³ If you're selling to Brazilian customers and you don't offer Pix, you're missing a huge part of the market.

The same idea applies across regions. Dutch shoppers expect iDEAL. German customers often prefer Klarna or bank transfers. Younger shoppers everywhere are reaching more and more for Apple Pay or Google Pay. A multi-currency payment gateway gets even more useful when it supports these local payment methods. Airwallex supports over 160 payment methods, so you can meet customers where they are.

Simpler supply chain payments

In the UK's top five manufacturing sectors, between 26% and 36% of production involves foreign markets.⁴ A lot of businesses that sell internationally are also buying internationally, as one link in a much wider global supply chain.

Handling cross-border payments in multiple currencies gives you the freedom to pay suppliers and vendors locally. Say you're selling to French customers. If one of your manufacturers is also based in France, you can keep your EUR funds in a dedicated account and pay them directly without ever exchanging the currency.

• It's clearer and easier for your customer to make their purchase.

• It's easier and cheaper for you to process the payment.

• It's easier and cheaper for you to pay suppliers.

• It's easier and cheaper for your suppliers to get paid.

Built-in FX hedging

Funds settled into multiple currency accounts act as a natural hedge against exchange rate fluctuations. You're not forced to exchange at whatever rate happens to apply on the day the money comes in. If the pound drops 2% against the dollar overnight, funds already sitting in your USD account aren't affected.

That flexibility lets you time your conversions more strategically. You can hold funds in a local currency account until rates move in your favour, or match your revenue currencies to your expense currencies so you're naturally hedged. And when you do need to convert, you can wait for favourable rates instead of taking whatever is offered at settlement.

Challenges in multi-currency payment processing

Multi-currency payment processing isn't without its complexities. Here are the main things to watch for, and how to handle each one.

Hidden and variable costs

You'll always pay a processing fee, whichever payment gateway you choose. Those fees cover your provider's running costs and contribute to their profits. But processing fees aren't the only costs to look at. The most common hidden cost is forced currency conversion, the fee you pay when your gateway automatically converts foreign currency payments into your base currency.

You should also check whether you'll be charged:

• Gateway fees: Usually per attempted or actual transaction

• Setup fees: An initial charge for getting your account established

• Monthly fees: A recurring charge unrelated to your usage

• Chargeback and refund fees: These vary significantly between providers, with some using percentage fees and others flat fees

• PCI DSS fees: Some providers charge to cover the cost of their security measures

• Termination fees: If you're tied into a contract, you might be charged for leaving early

At Airwallex, we list out all our fees upfront.

Understanding pricing models: Interchange++ vs. blended

There are usually two pricing models for payment gateways: interchange++ and blended pricing.

Interchange++ splits the fees into three parts: the interchange fee, which is paid to the card-issuing bank, the scheme fee, which is paid to the card network like Visa or Mastercard, and the acquirer fee, which is paid to your payment processor. In the UK and EU, interchange fees are capped at 0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards.⁵ Scheme and acquirer fees vary depending on the transaction type, size, and provider.

Blended pricing rolls all fees into one simple rate, usually a percentage plus a small fixed fee per transaction. For example, with Airwallex, payments made by UK cards cost 1.3% plus a £0.20 transaction fee. This model makes your costs easier to predict, because you're not relying on individual bank or card pricing.

Using Airwallex's pricing as an example, a US customer using Amex to buy your product for US$30 would cost you US$0.72 (2.4%) + £0.20. You'd receive the funds in your USD account and pay no FX fees. With a gateway that force-converted the currency, you'd pay similar transaction fees plus the exchange rate markup and commercial conversion fees, often another 1–3%.

Operational complexity and reconciliation

Managing international payments, currencies, and accounts can turn into a real admin burden. If you're accepting payments in five currencies across three eCommerce platforms, manually reconciling those payments against your accounting records takes time. A lot of time. And that's time you could be spending growing your business.

The answer is integration. Ideally, your gateway provider connects with your accounting software, like Airwallex does with Xero, QuickBooks, and NetSuite. That way, all your payments and balances feed into one place, which cuts out manual reconciliation and lowers the risk of errors.

Exchange rate volatility

If your payment gateway converts each payment as it comes in, your margins are exposed to currency volatility. If your busiest day of international sales happens to line up with a dip in currency values, you could lose a meaningful chunk of revenue to bad timing alone.

There are practical ways to manage that risk. First, use local currency accounts alongside your gateway so you can hold funds and convert when rates are favourable instead of converting at settlement. Second, practise natural hedging by matching your revenue currencies to your expense currencies. If you earn EUR and pay EUR suppliers, you're naturally protected. Third, use rate alerts or set conversion targets so you're not converting blindly. With Airwallex, you get access to interbank rates for conversions, which gives you more control over when and how you move money.

What to look for in a multi-currency payment gateway

Once you know the pitfalls, it's much easier to compare providers. Here are the main things to focus on.

Multi-currency settlement (not just acceptance)

This should be a given, but a multi-currency gateway isn't much use if it doesn't offer the currency options you need, or if it only accepts foreign currencies without letting you settle in them. Make sure the gateway offers like-for-like settlement into multi-currency accounts. Without that, you're paying for the label without getting the benefit.

Payment methods and billing options

Give your customers more ways to pay. A good multi-currency payment gateway supports:

• Major card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, UnionPay)

• Digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay)

• Buy now, pay later (BNPL) options like Klarna

• Local bank transfers and payment methods (iDEAL, Pix, etc.)

• Recurring payments and subscriptions

• Payment Links and invoicing

Fraud protection and security standards

Payment processing is high-risk activity, so your gateway needs strong security. Look for PCI DSS Level 1 certification, the highest standard for payment security. Also check that the gateway offers 3DS authentication, which adds an extra verification step for card payments, and tokenization, which replaces sensitive card data with secure tokens. These features reduce chargebacks, protect your customers, and increase payment acceptance rates.

eCommerce platform compatibility

If your store runs on Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, or BigCommerce, check that your gateway integrates directly. Native plugins mean quicker setup and fewer technical headaches. Airwallex offers Payment Plugins for all four major platforms, so you can add multi-currency checkout without rebuilding your site.

Flexible integration options

Beyond platform plugins, you want options that fit your technical resources. Most providers offer hosted checkout pages, where the gateway handles the checkout experience, plugins for major platforms, and APIs or SDKs for custom integrations. There's an option for every level of technical expertise.

How Airwallex helps you accept multi-currency payments

If you're looking for a gateway that does all of the above, like-for-like settlement, broad payment method coverage, and genuine multi-currency accounts, here's how we can help.

Our multi-currency payment gateway supports 160+ payment methods across 180+ countries and 130+ currencies. You can accept payments in your customers' local currencies and settle them directly into Global Accounts in 20+ currencies. No forced conversions and no hidden FX markups.

When you do need to exchange currencies, you get access to competitive interbank rates. And you can spend those funds directly, whether that's paying suppliers, covering expenses, or moving money where it needs to go, all from one platform.

Airwallex integrates with the biggest platforms in eCommerce and accounting, so you keep a central source of truth for all your finances. Our team is here to help you get the most from your systems and processes, so you can make and keep more of your money.

Frequently asked questions

How do I integrate a multi-currency payment gateway into my website?

There are several ways to integrate a payment gateway into your website:

• Hosted checkout page: Your checkout page is hosted by the gateway provider, and customers are directed there during your checkout process.

• Plugins: For websites built on eCommerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce, you can add your gateway without any development work.

• APIs and SDKs: For custom integrations, you can use developer kits to build the gateway into your website with custom code.

Can customers see prices in their local currency at checkout?

Yes, and on your website directly. Usually, customers choose their preferred currency and prices update across the site. Another option is to create international versions of your website, for example a .com.au domain for Australian customers, so prices load in local currency automatically.

What happens if there's a refund on a multi-currency transaction?

With Airwallex, a like-for-like refund is processed in the same currency. If a customer pays in EUR and you settle it in EUR, they get EUR back from your EUR balance. For cross-currency payments, where a customer paid in EUR but you converted to GBP, the refund goes out in the customer's original currency (EUR) and is taken from your settled currency account (GBP).

What's the difference between multi-currency pricing (MCP) and dynamic currency conversion (DCC)?

MCP lets you display and charge in the customer's local currency from the start, whilst DCC converts the price at checkout, usually at a less favourable rate. With MCP, you control the pricing and the customer sees a consistent amount throughout their shopping journey. DCC rates are often 3–5% above interbank rates, which makes MCP the better choice for most merchants.

Can I use multiple payment gateways at the same time?

Yes, some businesses use multiple gateways for redundancy or to access different payment methods in different markets. That said, a single multi-currency gateway like Airwallex can often remove the need for multiple providers by offering broad currency support, 160+ payment methods, and global coverage from one platform.

Sources and references

• https://www.trade.gov/ecommerce-sales-size-forecast

• https://www.shopify.com/uk/enterprise/blog/global-ecommerce-statistics

• https://www.bcb.gov.br/en/financialstability/pixstatistics

• https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2024/2024/a-portrait-of-the-uks-global-supply-chain-exposure

• https://www.psr.org.uk/our-work/card-payments/the-ifr/