Travel companies are losing margin to bank fees, hidden FX charges and manual payment processes as cross-border payments remain costly, slow and difficult to track.

Atul Garg, CEO of SingX, said the pressure is acute because travel firms already operate on low margins. “Travel companies operate to very low margins, and these margins get further compressed due to the high bank and FX charges, and some of these charges are often hidden,” Garg said.

He cited a small travel company with US$10m in turnover and a 10% margin, giving it about US$1m in annual revenue. Such a firm can pay as much as US$500,000 in bank fees. Garg said SingX can help save at least half of that amount, or US$250,000, “virtually increasing their profits by 50%.” Travel aggregators collecting payments from markets such as Latin America, Africa and Asia can also face charges as high as 6% to 7%.

The issue goes beyond FX costs. Garg said travel companies with entities in multiple markets often need to manage separate bank accounts, tokens and manual processes across countries. This creates operational friction for travel agencies, online travel agencies, aggregators and destination management companies.

SingX, Wise, and Airwallex offer named bank accounts with multicurrency wallets, allowing travel companies to collect, hold, convert and pay through one account. Garg said SingX differs by tailoring payment solutions to a travel company’s operations. “We try and understand a travel company's business, and we provide solutions, not products,” he said.

One Singapore travel aggregator needed to pay 5,000 hotels in the Philippines every month and send payment confirmations manually. Garg said SingX automated the confirmations so each supplier could receive a PDF once payment was made.

SingX can also process up to 1,500 employee payments in one go, track supplier payments in real time using GPI trackers and send payment confirmations such as MT103 directly to suppliers.

For travel firms, Garg said banking “does play a crucial role” because payment costs and manual work can reduce revenue that would otherwise flow back as profit.