How to Structure Bank Accounts for an International Group Structure

The Core Problem with Multi-Entity Banking

If you operate a group structure — a UK holding company, a German operating subsidiary, a Singapore entity — you are almost certainly managing three entirely separate banking relationships, each with their own fee structures, onboarding requirements, and compliance obligations. When money needs to move between your own companies, the banking system treats it as an anonymous international wire.

The result: SWIFT fees of £15–40 per transaction, correspondent banking charges, FX spreads of 1–2% on converted amounts, and delays of 1–3 business days. For a group doing £500,000 in intercompany flows per month, the annualised cost — in direct fees, FX losses, operational overhead, and float — easily exceeds £50,000. None of it delivers business value.

The Optimal Structure: Unified Multi-Currency Platform

The correct architecture consolidates all group entities under a single payment infrastructure that understands group structure.

What this requires:

• •Dedicated IBANs for each entity in each operating currency — GBP, EUR, USD, SGD — so each entity has a real account number for customer payments, supplier payments, and banking correspondence
• •Unified account visibility — group treasury sees all entity balances in real time, in a single interface, without logging into multiple banking portals
• •Instant, free intercompany transfers — within the same platform, transfers between group entities are ledger entries, not SWIFT payments. No fees, no delays, no correspondent banking costs
• •Transparent FX conversion — a stated margin (e.g. 0.5%) applied to interbank rates at the moment of conversion, disclosed before the transaction executes. Not a hidden spread embedded in an exchange rate that requires forensic analysis to understand
• •Accounting integration — direct connection to your ERP or accounting software, eliminating manual reconciliation of intercompany transactions

Step-by-Step: Migrating a Multi-Entity Group

Step 1: Map your current intercompany flows. Document every regular money movement between group entities — payroll funding from holding to subsidiaries, service fee payments, loan repayments, dividend flows. This is the basis for calculating your actual cost savings from consolidation.

Step 2: Identify your currency pairs. List every currency in which your group holds balances, receives revenue, or makes payments. You will need dedicated IBANs in each.

Step 3: Onboard all entities to a single platform. With EXFI, each entity onboards to the platform and receives dedicated IBANs. Group treasury gains consolidated visibility from day one.

Step 4: Reroute intercompany flows. Update your treasury instructions to route intercompany transfers through the platform rather than via SWIFT. Flows become instant; fees drop to zero.

Step 5: Configure FX rules. Set FX conversion rules for routine currency management — rate thresholds, conversion timing, or automatic pooling — reducing the manual FX management burden on your finance team.

Transfer Pricing Compliance

Intercompany transactions carry transfer pricing documentation requirements in most jurisdictions. The optimal banking infrastructure supports compliance, not just operations:

• •Automated intercompany invoicing — the platform generates intercompany invoices for each transfer, creating the documentation trail that transfer pricing audits require
• •Transaction categorisation — distinguish between service fee payments, intercompany loans, capital contributions, and dividend flows within the platform
• •Audit trail — every transfer is timestamped, categorised, and retrievable — meeting the documentation standards that regulators expect

The Cost Case

For a group of four entities with £500,000 in monthly intercompany flows:

The savings fund the platform cost many times over.