Strategies of OFX for Small and Medium-sized Businesses: CEO Skander Malcolm Discusses H1 2025 Results
In a recent interview, OFX CEO Skander Malcolm outlined the money transfer company's strategy for navigating the small and medium-sized business (SMB) space while transitioning towards the B2B market.
The strategy involves a strong focus on transforming digital marketing and product offerings to better serve business customers, particularly accounting firms and businesses requiring sophisticated financial operations management.
One of the key elements of this approach is refocusing digital marketing and website efforts specifically for B2B needs. This includes lead generation, funnel optimization, campaign execution, and content strategies tailored to attract and convert B2B clients.
OFX's platform offers a comprehensive suite of financial operations solutions, including global business accounts, multi-currency payments, currency risk management, corporate cards with spend management, bill payments, vendor management, and integrations with popular accounting and HR software. These tools are designed to simplify and automate cross-border business financial operations and reduce operational risks.
The company is also investing in targeted sales and marketing talent, hiring roles such as B2B demand generation managers and outbound sales executives skilled in SaaS and B2B sales to drive pipeline growth and business customer acquisition in key markets like North America.
In addition, OFX is pivoting towards B2B spend management solutions and expanding its platform offerings to capture a larger addressable market driven by digital global trade and cross-border business needs.
To enhance security and compliance, OFX has formed partnerships with firms like Know Your Customer Limited, which helps improve business verification and compliance processes, critical for serving business clients that demand higher security and streamlined onboarding.
OFX acknowledges that their growth strategy involves increased investment and higher operating expenses in the near term, with operating leverage targeted post-fiscal year 2027, as they scale acquisition of higher-value business clients and improve margin profiles.
The company's new Client Platform (NCP), launched in June 2025 for Australian corporations, offers borderless transactions and global spend management, aiming to introduce new income streams. However, the NCP's impact on OFX's financial performance was not discussed in the interview.
The company reported a challenging macro environment as a major headwind in H1 2025, with fee and trading income declining 0.09% YoY to A$114.5m, net operating income (NOI) decreasing 3.5% YoY to A$111.2m, and the underlying EBITDA decreasing by 8.8% YoY to A$29m. Despite these challenges, OFX expects a recovery in H2 2025, with the underlying EBITDA margin returning to its full-year outlook of 28-30%.
The Enterprise segment continued to grow, with revenue up 6% YoY to A$4.4m, achieving a three-year compound annual growth rate of 24.5%. Net interest income remained flat at 3.8% YoY to A$4.4m, the same level as H2 2024.
OFX saw significant growth in the Corporate segment, with regional revenue for Europe increasing by 77.6% YoY. The company's net cash held decreased by -19.5% YoY to A$74.7m due to an active capital management strategy that included a A$3.3m share buyback and A$11.5m debt repayment.
In conclusion, OFX is shifting from a primarily SMB-focused model to a more mature B2B SaaS-style platform by tuning marketing efforts to business buyers, offering integrated and automated financial operations tools for businesses, investing heavily in sales and marketing resources, and expanding product scope into B2B spend management. This strategy aims to capture growth opportunities in global digitization and cross-border trade, despite risks from macroeconomic volatility and competitive pressures.
The strategy of OFX involves investing in targeted sales and marketing talent, such as B2B demand generation managers and outbound sales executives, to attract and convert business clients. Furthermore, the company is pivoting towards business-to-business (B2B) spend management solutions, expanding its platform offerings to cater to the needs of digital global trade and cross-border businesses.
