Most Neat Bank customers have now been moved over to the Rapyd platform so for anyone who was considering opening an account with Rapyd, this review should give you some idea of what the features and challenges are with Rapyd.
The Transfer to Rapyd
The move was as easy as it could be, only requiring email confirmation and setting up a new password. There was already an account set up with the funds transferred from Neat to Rapyd and all approvals are already done so no documents were needed. The most frequently used virtual card was transferred too, so that saved some time.
Cards
The most significant problem encountered so far with the move to Rapyd is with the cards. There is no longer support for physical cards which means no more ATM access. We were prewarned that that would be the case by email. But the biggest surprise was that there is only support for one virtual card on the account. Whereas with Neat and many other fintech banks these days like Revolut, it is possible to set up a different card for every provider, giving your the ability to set limits for that provider and even freeze the card if needed. With Rapyd, we appear to be going back in time to the days when every supplier needs to be on the same card. From the $1 a month software provider to a $100k a month Facebook ads account all lumped together on the same card. For a provider like Rapyd that promotes itself as a high-tech solution to banking, this looks like a major drawback.
Local Account Number
Rapyd offers the ability for the user to set up additional local accounts in addition to the default Hong Kong dollar account. It was easy to add a UK pound account and a Euro account for customers that pay you with a local transfer there, which is a nice touch. But no obvious way to add a United States account or any other local accounts.
Protect
Their ‘Protect’ feature allows you to set up rules for payouts to different providers. This could be the feature that solves the virtual card problem that was described earlier if it allows the user to set limits and block payments to different merchants, but at first glance, there is no way to easily do that. This will need to be investigated further and the support documentation will need to be delved into to effectively start using the rules feature.
Reports
Although Neat accounts were provided free of charge. A Rapyd account will be charged at, US $99. We will be evaluating the benefits and how they stack up in future reviews.
Settings
There is a range of there settings here including payout methods that looks like it allows the user to send to a wide range of institutions across the world including banks, e-wallets, and cash outlet so this looks quite promising. It could eliminate the need to use third-party services like Wise to transfer between countries and currencies.
Price
Although there is no indication on the platform or the Rapyd sales site, we understand from onboarding emails from Rapyd that the account will carry a 100 USD monthly cost. So far we have not seen anything to justify that price and the industry standard appears to be ‘no fixed fees’ as most fintech banks make money on foreign exchange transfers and other products.
Alternatives
Airwallex appears to be the next best alternative for Hong Kong companies where the owner is not in Hong Kong to open a high street bank account. They have no fixed fees and they allow the user to order physical cards and add up to 200 virtual cards. We will continue to test all of these providers and will report any developments as they occur.
For more information about Airwallex click https://airwallex.grsm.io/kshk
How we help
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