The outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) is impacting nearly every business and institution around the world today. This is true for the payments industry at large, as well as for the vertical markets Flywire serves, including education, healthcare and travel. We know that many of our customers are trying to navigate the best path forward to support both their payers and the bottom line. Flywire is committed to providing the same high levels of service that our customers have come to depend on, so that they can continue to operate their business without friction or disruption.
Throughout the past few weeks, we’ve received a number of important questions from our customers and their payers across the globe. We wanted to share these broadly in the hopes that everyone can benefit, regardless of one’s industry. To that end, we’ll continue to post on the most pressing questions we’re receiving.
Today, we’ll address some inquiries we’ve gotten about our business operations generally and what we’re implementing from an employee perspective. The situation surrounding the Coronavirus and measures being taken to contain its spread and manage through exposure are changing rapidly. Policies adopted by governments, private industry and medical professionals will continue to impact our response. In upcoming posts, we’ll drill into some of the questions we’re receiving and trends we’re seeing across education, healthcare and travel. Check back for those in the coming days.
How does Flywire ensure business continuity in situations like this?
Redundancy and resilience are native to Flywire’s payments network and platform. We have both the digital technology and expert resources needed to ensure your customers’ most important payments go through – whether they are international or domestic.
Our global footprint, operations and business continuity plans minimize any potential disruptions to the flow of monies. And our relationships with the world's top banking institutions and trusted regional and local payment partners assure continuity and minimize risk in the face of market volatility. We’ll continue to offer convenient payment options to your customers and securely process transactions from over 240 countries and territories, in more than 150 currencies.
What Flywire services or regions do you expect to be impacted?
All regions are impacted – travel, work environments and other limitations on activity are affecting health and global commerce. Flywire, at this time, does not anticipate interruptions to its service. Our global network has fail-safe mechanisms that ensure we can maintain uptime if there is a problem at any point in the system.
Do you expect any transaction delays?
Not in general. However, there could be specific circumstances such as regional bank closures (which occurred when the Chinese New Year was extended) that might slow transaction times through a specific corridor, but we hope those would be isolated. We are always monitoring these situations and will alert customers in real-time if we expect any fluctuation.
How will Flywire handle refund requests for payments already made by our customers? What kind of response time can they expect?
These would be handled as normal, based on the specific service agreements you have with your customers. There is nothing that would happen in our process that would change things.
Where can we reach Flywire with specific questions about the epidemic?
As always, our global customer support team is here to answer your questions and put your customers at ease over any concerns they might have. We are available 24/7 via phone, email, and live chat. Your relationship manager is always an available resource as well.
As a global company, what is Flywire doing to minimize employees’ exposure to the virus?
First and foremost, we’ve made the health and well-being of our FlyMates our top priority. Concurrent with government authorities in the areas we operate, we’ve initiated professional travel bans and enacted remote working policies in high-risk areas. We’ve equipped employees who are working from home with the necessary IT equipment to maintain productivity and engagement. As the situation remains fluid, we’ve been in constant communication with our employee base to ensure we are managing risks appropriately and sharing the “why” and “how” of any steps we take.
Where can I get the most up to date information about the epidemic?
Check your local public health departments in your city and country.
In addition, we recommend:
CDC
Johns Hopkins Global Tracker
Check back here for more information in the coming days and weeks.