Merrill Brink News Reviews and Opinion on Apr 17, 2015: How Language and Localisation Fuel Global Expansion for Financial Service Companies

London, UK (PRWEB UK) 18 April 2015

Many companies in the financial services industry are targeting the international marketplace as their best bet to achieve continued revenue growth. However, for even the largest companies, business expansion into new countries requires an organisation-wide effort. Partnerships with outside resources such as local counsel in the target countries and the services of a professional language translation services provider are essential, since thorough localisation and language translation is crucial to gaining the confidence and trust of international consumers.

Preparing for international expansion can be a complex and time-intensive process. However, focusing on the following tasks can help you establish a solid foundation on which to build your global brand.

Identify Legal Issues That May Complicate or Prevent Entry to the Target Market



As a first step, before you invest in localising your software, marketing materials and website for foreign markets, your company must analyse the local laws relevant to the financial services industry. For example, data privacy laws have been strengthened recently in many European countries. The Russian government requires foreign companies that provide their services via the Internet to store data about their Russian users on servers located in Russia. The likely passage of a new bill would give foreign companies in 2015, to become compliant with this law.1 Other countries such as China, India and Brazil have introduced forced localisation policies that affect many industries including financial services. These policies require the use of in-country products and resources, a factor that may complicate or make it impossible for foreign companies to enter these markets.2 Only by researching the target country’s laws and policies can you establish the feasibility of selling your services.

Prepare Your Systems for International Transactions



The next step, after you’ve analysed the legalities of conducting business in a target market, is to ensure that your business systems and technology platforms are capable of handling foreign transactions. As in the case of Russia, you may need to house your servers within the country in which you are offering your services. Additionally, you must decide on the currency you will use to store monetary values, and the mechanisms needed to retrieve current exchange rates and display monetary amounts to foreign customers in their local currencies. You must also consider the implications of time zones and how you will store and display times to your international customers. Accuracy is crucial to your success, so do not overlook or take lightly the need for quality assurance to test your systems before going to market.

Fully Localise and Translate Customer-Facing Materials



Your next step is to ensure that any form of communication that presents your company to customers, including your marketing materials, website and mobile apps will meet your customers’ expectations. When buyers are completing transactions on your website or mobile app, they should see monetary amounts in their local currency with the proper symbols and formatting. Currency formatting varies by country and includes the representation of negative values and the ways in which commas, spaces and periods are used to separate numbers.3 In all your marketing materials as well as your user interface, the text must be translated into the local language or languages of the target country. Ensure that your text includes local terminology and that it is used appropriately.

These key areas are core components of any localisation plan in the financial services industry. The specifics of how each aspect is addressed will depend on the target country in which you plan to do business. A final note: consumer trust is essential to the success of financial service companies. Take special care to provide accurate and timely information in the language and format that your customers expect and can easily understand. To fully localise your software and marketing materials, work with a language services provider that employs translators who are native speakers of the languages spoken in the target country and who are also knowledgeable in the financial services sector offered in the country. These efforts will give your company an edge in attracting and retaining international customers.

References



1 Paul Sonne and Olga Razumovskaya, “Russia Steps Up New Law to Control Foreign Internet Companies,” The Wall Street Journal, 24 September, 2014, http://ift.tt/1unQYhg (accessed November 21, 2014).



2 Stephen Ezell, “Forced Localization Policies Threaten Global Trade in Innovative Industries,” Office of Science and Technology Austria, Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC, blog posted August 2013), http://ift.tt/1yHdhSC (accessed November 21, 2014).



3 Nitish Singh, Localization Strategies for Global E-Business (New York: Cambridge UP, 2012): 136.

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About Merrill Brink® International

Merrill Brink International (http://ift.tt/1aA41TK) is a leading provider of complete translation and language solutions for global companies and law firms, with special expertise in serving the legal, financial, life sciences, software, heavy machinery and corporate markets. A proven leader with more than 30 years of experience, Merrill Brink offers a wide range of language solutions including translation, localisation, desktop publishing and globalisation services.

Merrill Brink is recognised in the industry for its commitment to quality and its pioneering approach of leveraging technology to reduce costs, eliminate redundant processes and accelerate translation life cycles. Merrill Brink is certified to ISO 9001:2008; ISO/IEC 27001:2005 and ISO 13485:2003, and compliant to EN 15038:2006 and ISO 14971:2007.Together, these standards provide assurance that the most stringent process and quality standards for translation are followed. Merrill Brink International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Merrill Corporation.

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