Getting Paid in GBP from Latin America: What Changes
Getting paid in GBP changes three things compared to the dollar: how liquid the pair is, how you calculate the rate without an official reference, and when it makes sense to hold GBP balance instead of converting it.
A Latin American company invoicing a client in London gets paid in pounds sterling and runs into a question the dollar rarely raises: is there enough depth in the market to convert that pound without paying a wide spread, and does it even make sense to convert now instead of waiting for the next payment to that same counterparty? The dollar, as the vehicle currency of international trade, answers that question by default almost every time. The pound does not.
In Soulbit Academy we explain what changes operationally when a Latin American SMB starts getting paid in GBP: how liquid the pair is compared to the dollar, what hours the market actually moves, how to invoice without an official reference rate published in most countries in the region, and when it makes sense to hold GBP balance instead of converting it right away. If your company already holds balance in several currencies and wants a general framework for which one to keep, that is covered in multi-currency account for companies: USD, EUR or GBP; here the focus is specifically the pound and the operational side of getting paid in it.
What getting paid in GBP means for a Latin American company
Getting paid in GBP means receiving a payment from a UK client or counterparty in pounds sterling, then deciding whether to hold that balance in GBP or convert it into the company's local currency. The decision is not automatic: it depends on whether a payment is coming up in that same currency, just as with the dollar or the euro. The operational difference is that the pound has less liquidity and less exchange infrastructure available outside the United Kingdom. The regulatory framework that governs these operations on the UK side, led by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England, determines who can offer exchange and custody services in pounds; that regulatory detail is not the subject of this article, here the focus is treasury operations.
GBP liquidity: why it does not trade like the dollar
Pound sterling is the fourth most traded currency in the world, with a 10.2% share of daily global currency market turnover as of April 2025, according to the latest Triennial Survey from the Bank for International Settlements. That share fell from 12.9% recorded in the prior 2022 survey, and the gap with the third most traded currency narrowed from 5.9 to just 1.7 percentage points. For a Latin American company, that decline does not change anything from one day to the next, but it does confirm a pattern: the dollar concentrates the vast majority of currency trades as the vehicle currency, and the pound holds a minority, shrinking share.
Why is it harder to convert pounds than dollars in the Latin American market?
Almost no central bank in the region certifies an official rate for GBP against its local currency, unlike the dollar. Most countries publish a daily reference rate for the dollar; almost none do for the pound. That forces companies to calculate a cross rate, an extra step the dollar does not need and one that usually widens the margin an exchange counterparty charges.
| Criterion | Dollar (USD) | Pound sterling (GBP) |
|---|---|---|
| Share of global currency turnover (BIS, April 2025) | Most traded currency in the world, on one side of the vast majority of trades | Fourth most traded currency, with a 10.2% share, down from 12.9% in 2022 |
| Official reference rate in Colombia | TRM certified daily by Colombia's Superintendencia Financiera, exclusive to USD/COP | No official rate exists: converting to pesos requires a cross rate calculated from GBP/USD and the day's TRM |
| Counterparty availability across Latin America | Virtually any bank or exchange counterparty in the region trades USD | Counterparties and liquidity are concentrated almost entirely in operations tied to the United Kingdom |
| Peak liquidity hours | Reasonable liquidity across most business hours, given its role as the vehicle currency | Highest liquidity during the London session, which only partly overlaps with the Latin American business day |
Market hours and why the pound's spread moves more during the day
The pound sterling market reaches its highest liquidity during the London trading session, which falls in the morning and early afternoon in most Latin American time zones, and thins out noticeably outside that window. The dollar, by contrast, keeps reasonable liquidity across nearly any business hour because it sits on one side of most currency pairs traded worldwide. For a company receiving a GBP payment outside the London session, the spread an exchange counterparty charges tends to run wider than if the operation happened within that window.
This intraday spread variation is different from medium-term exchange rate volatility, which is managed with hedging instruments. If your company needs to lock in the cost of a GBP collection several months ahead, we cover the hedging options available in Latin America in currency hedging for companies.
Pound volatility against the dollar: what it means for company treasury
Sterling is not inherently more volatile than the dollar against the peso or the real, but holding a GBP balance with no upcoming payment in that currency adds an FX exposure the dollar, as the vehicle currency, rarely creates. On top of that, its share of the global currency market fell 2.7 percentage points between 2022 and 2025, according to the Bank for International Settlements: that figure does not predict where its value against the dollar will move over any given period, but it does signal that the pound is increasingly concentrated in operations tied directly to the United Kingdom, and less in broad international trade. For a Latin American company's treasury, the practical consequence is that holding a GBP balance only makes sense when there is a specific commitment in that currency, not as a general store of value.
Should a Latin American company hold part of its balance in GBP as a general hedge?
No, unless it has an upcoming payment in that same currency. Unlike the dollar, which functions as the vehicle currency in nearly any international transaction, the pound does not play that role for a company outside the UK corridor. Holding a GBP balance with no nearby payment commitment only adds currency exposure with no natural hedging benefit.
How to invoice in pounds sterling: the invoice, the reference rate and the conversion
Invoicing in pounds sterling means issuing the invoice in GBP, receiving the payment in that currency, and deciding the local currency conversion rate at the point the company actually needs it, not before. Unlike invoicing in dollars from Colombia, where an official TRM certified daily, exclusive to the USD/COP pair according to Colombia's central bank, serves as the accounting reference, converting pounds into Colombian pesos has no published official rate: it is calculated as a cross rate from the international GBP/USD quote and the day's TRM. What Colombian invoicing rules require and how a foreign currency invoice is booked is covered in dollar invoices from Colombia: what they mean; the documentation logic is the same for pounds, with the added step of the cross rate.
For the payment to arrive, the company needs a collection method the UK client can use without friction, typically a payment link or a traditional SWIFT transfer. How a payment link works for collecting from a client abroad is explained in what is a payment link for international collection, and the cost and timing comparison between a SWIFT transfer and a stablecoin-settled payment is covered in SWIFT vs stablecoin for international payments.
When to hold the GBP balance and when to convert it
It makes sense to hold a GBP balance when the company has an upcoming payment scheduled in that same currency, for example to a UK supplier or a subsidiary in the United Kingdom; it makes sense to convert it into local currency when no payment commitment in pounds exists within the cycle. This is the same principle that applies to the dollar and the euro, which we cover in more detail in multi-currency account for companies: USD, EUR or GBP, but with a nuance specific to the pound: lower liquidity in the pair makes the cost of converting twice, once on receipt and again to buy back the currency, proportionally higher than with the dollar.
| Signal | Hold the GBP balance | Convert into local currency |
|---|---|---|
| Upcoming payment in pounds | A payment to a UK supplier, subsidiary or counterparty falls due in the next 30 to 60 days | No payment is scheduled in pounds within the collection cycle |
| Source of the paying client | The client or distributor invoices recurringly from the United Kingdom | The GBP collection was a one-off, with no recurring commercial relationship |
| Conversion cost | Converting now would mean buying pounds back later at an added spread | The conversion spread does not repeat because no second operation is expected |
| Purpose of the balance | Naturally cover the next payment in pounds without buying the currency twice | Cover payroll, rent and taxes in local currency |
The same logic applies when comparing pounds with euros: if your company also collects from European clients, the decision of which currency to invoice and hold balance in follows the framework we cover in collecting from European clients: digital euro and stablecoins, with the difference that the euro carries greater structural liquidity and, in some countries in the region, more developed reference rates than the pound.
What Soulbit delivers today for getting paid and holding balance in GBP: what the V1 covers and what it does not
Soulbit's V1 lets a company hold fiat balance in pounds sterling, alongside dollars and euros, plus USDC and USDT, without needing to open its own bank account in the United Kingdom. The balance is held through third-party omnibus accounts under institutional MPC custody, not in an individual bank account under the company's name, and the local banking rail to move that balance into the company's own bank account is available today only in Colombia.
Is Soulbit's GBP balance the same as opening a bank account in the United Kingdom?
No. The company does not receive a UK bank account number or the deposit insurance coverage that would apply to an account opened directly at a UK bank. The GBP balance is managed through third-party omnibus accounts under institutional custody, and converting it into local currency or stablecoin remains a decision the company makes, not an automatic rule of the product.
The V1 does not include automatic conversion between GBP and other currencies, a card with a pre-funding requirement removed, yield on the GBP balance, or a cross rate calculated inside the product: the company still needs its own market reference, or its accountant's, to work out the GBP to local currency rate. eOTC conversion under quote remains available on request, with institutional custody and KYB verification, the same as for USD and EUR.
Frequently asked questions
What does getting paid in GBP mean for a Latin American company?
It means receiving a payment from a UK client or counterparty in pounds sterling, then deciding whether to hold that balance in GBP or convert it into the company's local currency. The decision depends on whether an upcoming payment falls due in that same currency, the same logic that applies to the dollar or the euro, but with less liquidity available in the Latin American market.
Why is the pound less liquid than the dollar in the currency market?
Because the dollar is the vehicle currency of international trade and sits on one side of the vast majority of currency trades worldwide, while sterling ranks fourth by turnover, with a 10.2% share according to the Bank for International Settlements' April 2025 Triennial Survey, down from 12.9% in 2022. That lower liquidity usually shows up as a wider spread when converting pounds outside London trading hours.
How do you calculate the GBP to local currency exchange rate when there is no official rate?
In Colombia, the Superintendencia Financiera certifies an official daily rate, the TRM, only for USD/COP, as confirmed by the country's central bank. To convert pounds into local currency, a company or its exchange counterparty calculates a cross rate from the GBP/USD quote on the international market and the day's local reference rate for USD, an extra step that dollar invoicing does not require.
When does it make sense to hold a GBP balance instead of converting it right away?
It makes sense when the company has an upcoming payment scheduled in the same currency, for example to a UK supplier or a subsidiary in the United Kingdom. If there is no payment commitment in pounds within the collection cycle, converting the balance into local currency right away avoids currency exposure with no natural hedging benefit.
Is Soulbit's GBP balance the same as opening a UK bank account?
No. Soulbit is not a bank: the GBP balance is held through third-party omnibus accounts under institutional MPC custody, not in an individual UK bank account under the company's name. The company does not receive a UK bank account number or deposit insurance coverage.
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