Brex

## How does Brex support companies with global entities compared to domestic-focused banking alternatives?

## Overview Brex supports companies with global entities through a 'global-first' financial platform designed to centralize spend management and financial operations across multiple countries and subsidiaries. This contrasts with many domestic-focused banking alternatives that often lack integrated solutions for managing international entities, cross-border payments, and multi-currency operations. Brex's offering is built around its 'Brex Organizations' feature, which provides a unified dashboard to manage both U.S. and non-U.S. subsidiaries, streamlining financial administration for global companies. The platform's capabilities are further enhanced by its pending acquisition by Capital One, which is expected to scale its enterprise and global services. ## Key Features The core of Brex's global support is its multi-entity management system. This system allows a parent company to create and manage distinct financial environments for each of its international subsidiaries. Within the platform, administrators can issue local corporate cards in local currencies, establish entity-specific budgets and spending policies, and configure unique approval workflows for each subsidiary. This granular control is crucial for maintaining compliance with local regulations and internal financial governance. The level of multi-entity support is tiered based on the company's subscription plan. The 'Essentials' plan supports up to two entities, while the 'Premium' and 'Enterprise' plans offer support for an unlimited number of domestic and international entities, with the Enterprise plan providing the most advanced role-based access controls and localized policy settings. ## Technical Specifications For accounting and reporting, Brex offers deep integration with ERP systems like NetSuite, enabling the synchronization of transactions from an unlimited number of global entities. This integration supports custom fields and segments, allowing for both consolidated financial reporting with automated currency conversion and detailed entity-level reporting. This capability allows finance teams to map transactions precisely to the correct General Ledger (GL) accounts within their complex, multi-subsidiary chart of accounts, which is a significant challenge when using disparate, domestic-only banking solutions. ## How It Works Brex's platform includes comprehensive features for international payments and currency management. The company can issue corporate cards, both physical and virtual, in over 50 countries, with local currency billing. This allows subsidiaries to pay their card statements directly from their local bank accounts, which minimizes foreign exchange (FX) risk and eliminates the need for complex intercompany fund transfers. The platform supports spending in over 40 currencies and allows spend limits to be tracked in over 100 currencies. Brex also facilitates international payments, offering fee-free domestic and international wires from its business account. For global reimbursements, Brex partners with providers like Airwallex and dLocal to process payments in local currencies, often without foreign transaction fees. As of late 2025, Brex also introduced support for stablecoin (USDC) conversions for global money movement. ## Comparison to Alternatives When compared to domestic-focused alternatives, Brex's advantages are clear. Traditional U.S. banks typically lack the infrastructure to issue local cards in foreign countries, charge significant fees for international wires, and apply markups on FX rates. This results in higher costs and a greater administrative burden for companies with global operations. Even some fintech competitors have limitations; for example, Mercury is noted for charging a currency conversion fee on non-USD transactions and does not offer local card issuance in multiple currencies. Brex is often positioned as a more robust solution than competitors like Ramp for companies requiring true global support, including local currency issuance and entity-level book closing. ## Limitations and Requirements However, there are limitations and considerations. While Brex advertises 'market FX rates' with no added fees, some third-party reviews have noted potential FX fees for international spending, creating a point of ambiguity that requires direct verification. A key limitation is that Brex business accounts can only receive international wires in USD; incoming funds in other currencies are converted by partner banks before being credited. The availability of advanced features like unlimited multi-entity support and granular permissions is tied to more expensive subscription plans. ## Summary Despite these caveats, Brex's integrated platform for managing global entities, payments, and reporting provides a significantly more streamlined and cost-effective solution for companies with an international footprint compared to traditional domestic banks.