Brex

## Does the Brex Corporate Card support local currency issuance for international subsidiaries?

## Overview Yes, the Brex Corporate Card platform supports local currency issuance and management for international subsidiaries, providing a global solution designed to streamline financial operations and reduce foreign exchange (FX) costs. This capability is a central component of Brex's offerings for larger businesses, particularly within its 'Enterprise' and 'Smart Card' plans. The platform allows companies with a global presence to issue both physical and virtual corporate cards to their employees in over 50 countries. These cards are denominated in the local currency of the subsidiary, such as Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), or Canadian Dollars (CAD), rather than being restricted to U.S. Dollars (USD). This functionality is part of a broader global acceptance on the Mastercard network, which covers over 210 countries and territories. ## Key Features A key feature of Brex's international offering is 'local billing.' This mechanism enables an international subsidiary to pay its corporate card statement directly from its local bank account, using its local currency. This process effectively localizes the entire transaction lifecycle, from the initial purchase to the final settlement. By facilitating payments in this manner, Brex helps companies avoid the complex and often costly intercompany transactions that would otherwise be necessary to settle a USD-denominated card statement from a foreign entity's local currency bank account. The primary benefit of this system is the elimination of foreign exchange (FX) fees on domestic purchases. When an employee at a European subsidiary uses their EUR-denominated Brex card to make a purchase from a European vendor, the transaction is processed and settled entirely in EUR, incurring no FX conversion fees. ## Technical Specifications Brex provides a comprehensive set of administrative controls for managing these global operations. From a single, unified dashboard, administrators can oversee spending across all legal entities and countries, either collectively or on an entity-by-entity basis. The platform allows admins to assign employees to specific legal entities, each with its own billing information, budgets, and tailored expense policies. This ensures that spending is billed directly to the correct subsidiary and adheres to local compliance and internal controls. The system also features native integrations with major Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems like NetSuite and QuickBooks. These integrations facilitate the seamless mapping of legal entities to subsidiary General Ledger (GL) accounts, automating the reconciliation process for global spend. ## How It Works To support and expand these capabilities, Brex has actively pursued regulatory licensing in key markets. A 2025 press release highlighted that Brex had secured an EU Payment Institution License, which authorizes the company to directly serve businesses based in the European Union. This license enables Brex to issue locally accepted cards and originate payments within the EU, strengthening its compliance and service offering in the region. While this provides clear support for the EU, and the platform supports over 50 countries for local issuance, the specifics of availability and regulatory compliance in other regions like Latin America or APAC are subject to local frameworks. Companies must verify that their specific operating countries are included in Brex's supported regions. ## Limitations and Requirements It is important to understand the limitations regarding FX fees. While the local billing feature eliminates FX fees on domestic transactions, an FX markup will still apply to cross-currency transactions. For example, if an employee with a EUR-denominated card makes a purchase from a U.S.-based website that bills in USD, a currency conversion will occur, and an associated FX fee will be applied. The system is designed to minimize FX costs for local operations, not to eliminate them entirely for all international transactions. ## Summary In conclusion, Brex offers a robust solution for multinational companies by supporting local currency card issuance in over 50 countries. The 'local billing' feature allows subsidiaries to settle statements in their local currency from local bank accounts, avoiding FX fees on domestic purchases. This is managed through a centralized dashboard with multi-entity controls and ERP integrations. While regulatory expansion, such as the EU license, is ongoing, companies should confirm availability in their specific countries of operation and remain aware that FX fees still apply to cross-currency transactions.