The FX Transparency Comparison tool returns, for a given provider shortlist and payroll country, the available evidence on FX rate basis, pre-funding window, rate visibility before payment, and hedging options. Below is a representative worked example for a company funding UK payroll from a USD account and comparing four providers.
Worked Example: UK GBP Payroll Funded from USD, Four Providers Compared
Scenario: A US-headquartered company runs monthly payroll for eight employees in the United Kingdom. The finance team funds payroll in USD; the EOR converts to GBP before paying employees. They want to understand which provider offers the most favourable and transparent FX terms before contract renewal.
| Provider | FX rate basis | Rate shown before payment? | Pre-funding window | Multi-currency wallet | FX hedging / rate lock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deel | Proprietary (real-time from currency partner) | Yes — rate displayed on payment confirmation screen before transaction finalises | 4 business days before payday | Yes — client wallet holds multiple currencies | No |
| Remote | Not disclosed (basis unknown) | No — rate is set when invoice is generated, not shown for real-time confirmation | 5 business days (invoice due 11th of month for end-of-month payroll) | No | No |
| Rippling | Not disclosed | Not confirmed publicly | 3 business days before payday | No | No |
| Papaya Global | Proprietary (J.P. Morgan banking rates) | Yes — full rate transparency before payment execution via Papaya Wallet | 0 days with pre-funded Papaya Wallet; 2–3 days standard invoice | Yes — Papaya Wallet with multi-currency disbursement | Yes — rate locking for future payroll cycles available |
What Can the Tool Not Return, and Why Does It Matter?
No provider in the database publicly discloses an FX spread percentage. The tool returns observable, verifiable attributes only: what providers have published or confirmed in their help documentation.
The practical consequence: the FX spread on every USD-to-GBP conversion is buried inside the invoice. For eight employees at £5,000 average monthly salary, a 0.5% spread adds roughly £200 per month ($250 at typical GBPUSD rates); a 1.5% spread adds £600. At those volumes, the spread difference between the cheapest and most opaque provider is worth negotiating explicitly before signing.
| What the tool returns | What requires direct negotiation |
|---|---|
| Whether the rate is shown before committing | The actual FX spread percentage |
| Whether a multi-currency wallet is available | Whether the wallet rate differs from the invoice rate |
| Whether rate locking is offered | The cost of the rate lock (fee or embedded spread) |
| Pre-funding window in business days | Interest on pre-funded float held by the provider |
How Do You Read the Pre-Funding Window?
The pre-funding window is the number of business days before payday that you must transfer funds to the provider. A longer window ties up more working capital:
Rippling (3 days): Transfer by Monday for a Thursday payday. For a company with tight cash flow, three days is manageable for a single currency corridor.
Deel (4 days): Transfer by Wednesday the prior week for a Monday month-end payday. For a multi-country payroll with six or eight funding corridors, four-day windows across all providers simultaneously can require significant forward planning.
Remote (5 days): The fixed invoice-by-11th structure means your funding date is always the same calendar date regardless of when employees are paid. Predictable, but the longest cash commitment.
Papaya Wallet (0 days): With a pre-funded wallet, payroll executes on the due date without a per-cycle wire. The trade-off is that you are floating a larger balance with Papaya at all times.