You send $20,000 to a supplier in China. Your bank says the transfer went through. Days later, your supplier tells you they only received $19,400.

Nobody stole anything. Nobody made a mistake. That gap is the hidden FX fee, and if you import goods regularly, it's quietly cutting into your margin on every single payment.

Where the hidden fee actually comes from

Your bank rarely charges an obvious "FX fee" line item. Instead, it builds a markup directly into the exchange rate it gives you. Industry research on cross-border payments consistently points to the same pattern: banks commonly apply a markup of 2 to 4 percent above the real, mid-market exchange rate, and that markup almost never appears as a separate charge on your statement.

On top of that markup, a few other costs stack up quietly:

• Intermediary bank charges. SWIFT payments often route through one or more correspondent banks, and each one can deduct a fee before your supplier ever sees the money.
• Receiving bank fees. Your supplier's bank may also take a cut when the funds land, on top of what your bank already deducted.
• Delay risk. If your bank holds the payment for a few days before converting it, you're exposed to whatever the exchange rate does in the meantime, and you have no control over the timing.

None of this shows up clearly at the moment you hit send. You usually only find out when your supplier flags a short payment, or when you add up a year of transfers and realise how much margin quietly disappeared.

How to pay overseas suppliers without losing money to hidden FX fees

The fix isn't complicated. It comes down to three things: knowing the real rate you're getting, cutting out unnecessary intermediaries, and using a platform built for the currencies you actually pay in.

This is exactly what the Onboard Business App is built for:

• See the real rate before you send. No guessing what markup is buried in the number, and no surprises for your supplier on the other end.
• Pay out directly in the currencies you need, including NGN, GHS, KES, and USD, without routing through multiple correspondent banks.
• Collect in USD, stablecoins (USDC and USDT), or local currency, and swap between them at competitive rates instead of converting twice.
• Move money without waiting on bank cut-off times or multi-day holds, so your supplier isn't left wondering where their payment is.

If you're paying suppliers at higher volume and would want to use the OTC Desk, we lock in a firm rate on high-volume trades, so the number you agree to is the number that actually settles. No slippage between the quote and the transfer.

Why this matters beyond the transfer itself

A supplier who gets paid the full, expected amount, on time, is a supplier who trusts you with better terms down the line. A supplier who keeps receiving less than the invoice, or waiting days longer than promised, starts pricing that uncertainty into your relationship.

Hidden FX fees don't just cost you money. They cost you leverage with the people you depend on to keep your business moving.

If you're paying overseas suppliers regularly and want to see what you're actually losing to hidden markups, book a quick call and we'll walk through your current setup. Or get started directly with the Business App and see the real rate for yourself on your next payment.