Strategies of OFX for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses: CEO Skander Malcolm Discusses H1 2025 Outcomes
In a recent interview, OFX's CEO, Skander Malcolm, shared insights into the company's approach towards the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market. Amidst a challenging macro environment, OFX is making strategic moves to deepen its presence in the SMB sector and transition towards broader B2B foreign exchange (FX) services.
OFX is investing heavily in platform transformation and go-to-market strategies to serve as a trusted FX service provider for SMBs engaged in international trade. The company is enhancing its digital payments platform with AI and integrations, focusing on protecting SMBs from currency exchange risks and offering tools such as forward contracts to lock in exchange rates.
The strategy comes as intensifying competition from banks and fintech disruptors leads to significant spending on platform development and rising operating costs. This could delay profitability and create uncertainty on revenue growth. Despite these challenges, OFX is targeting the SMB segment by providing tailored FX risk management tools, dedicated account management, and competitive exchange rates to address common pain points such as hidden fees and currency fluctuations that impact profitability.
In addition to its focus on SMBs, OFX is also shifting towards a more B2B-centric model. The company is aiming to win market share in corporate FX by offering scalable technology platforms and premium FX services. OFX's investment program is aggressive in adapting to the evolving market but faces considerable challenges from regulatory costs, cybersecurity investments, and macroeconomic volatility, which introduce uncertainty into their near- to medium-term revenue outlook.
Despite the challenges, OFX reported a decline in fee and trading income for H1 2025, with a decrease of -0.09% Year-on-Year (YoY) to A$114.5m. Net interest income remained flat at 3.8% YoY to A$4.4m in H1 2025. However, the company's net operating income (NOI) decreased -3.5% YoY to A$111.2m, leading to a -43.4% drop in share price on the trading update's release day. The underlying EBITDA margin fell to 25.3% in H1 2025.
Despite the miss on the NOI outlook, OFX expects a recovery in H2 2025, with the underlying EBITDA margin returning to its full-year outlook of 28-30%. The company also launched its New Client Platform (NCP) for Australian corporations in June 2025, offering borderless transactions and global spend management as a means to introduce new income streams.
OFX saw significant growth in the Corporate segment, with regional revenue for Europe increasing by 77.6% YoY in H1 2025. The company is focusing on addressing the needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with its products, aiming to provide a comprehensive solution for international payments and risk management, differentiating it from traditional banks that often lack specialized FX services for smaller firms.
However, the specific impact of the NCP launch on OFX's financial performance in H1 2025 was not discussed in the interview. The article does not offer updates on OFX's expectations for H2 2025 or its full-year outlook for the underlying EBITDA margin. Despite the challenges, OFX remains committed to its strategy of deepening SMB market penetration and transitioning towards broader B2B FX services through accelerated digital platform transformation, enhanced customer loyalty via AI and integration features, and specialized FX risk management products.
OFX is investing heavily in platform transformation and go-to-market strategies to serve as a trusted foreign exchange (FX) service provider for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) engaged in international trade, focusing on providing tailored FX risk management tools, dedicated account management, and competitive exchange rates to address common pain points such as hidden fees and currency fluctuations that impact profitability.
The company's strategy also includes a shift towards a more B2B-centric model, aiming to win market share in corporate FX by offering scalable technology platforms and premium FX services to SMBs.
