Benjamin Avraham is the Founder and CEO of Okoora, a next-generation financial infrastructure platform that redefines how businesses and financial institutions manage multi-currency operations, FX risk, and global liquidity. With over two decades of experience in the currency markets, Benjamin previously founded and led Ofakim Group, which became Israel’s largest non-bank FX trading room. Throughout his career, he has advised multinational corporations, SMEs, and government institutions across Europe and Israel, navigating them through complex FX risk management challenges.
Driven by firsthand experience in the inefficiencies of traditional FX risk management, Benjamin founded okoora in 2021 to build a fully automated, AI-driven financial ecosystem that allows businesses of all sizes to seamlessly manage FX exposure, payments, and liquidity in a single platform. Under his leadership, okoora is not just optimizing cross-border transactions—it is transforming how businesses operate in an increasingly volatile global financial landscape.
What inspired the idea for Okoora?
My journey in the financial sector–from managing FX trading desks to founding Ofakim group– has exposed me to the fundamental challenges businesses face when managing multi-currency operations and FX risk. Throughout my career, I’ve worked closely with businesses of all sizes, from SMEs and multinational corporations to government institutions, all of which brought my attention to two key factors that led to the creation of okoora.
The first is that FX volatility is a universal challenge. Businesses that operate with multiple currencies face high transaction costs, inefficient payment workflows, and are constantly exposed to unpredictable market fluctuations, affecting cash flow, pricing strategies, and profitability. Large corporations may have dedicated treasury teams, but SMEs and mid-sized companies often lack the tools, access, and expertise needed to manage FX risk effectively.
The second factor is the limitations of traditional banking. In my years working with banks, I saw that FX trading desks continue to be among the most profitable units, but they rely heavily on specialized personnel. The expertise required to navigate FX risk—understanding pricing, derivatives, cash flow forecasting, and risk strategies—is immense, which is why banks only utilize them to serve their largest clients. The vast majority of businesses are left exposed, with no access to institutional-grade risk management solutions.
Okoora was built to bridge this gap.
We serve both businesses and financial institutions. Companies of all sizes now have access to solutions once exclusive to elite banking clients, while banks can use okoora’s technology to expand provision of FX risk management services beyond just the largest corporations, bringing intelligent risk management to a wider market.
Can you explain what okoora offers its partners/clients? How do AI and Automation play a role?
Okoora is not just another fintech–we’ve created a complete embedded financial operating system that automates FX risk management and global payments. Our solution provides businesses and financial institutions with multi-currency wallets, deep liquidity, automated FX hedging, and seamless payments—all in one intelligent infrastructure.
Unlike traditional financial platforms that focus solely on transactions, okoora incorporates AI-driven risk management and real-time decision-making into every financial workflow. Our partners, from treasury platforms to payment providers, leverage okoora’s technology to enhance their financial services, protect against FX volatility, and unlock new revenue streams.
What sectors of business are currently using okoora?
Okoora serves a diverse range of industries where FX volatility, cross-border transactions, and FX liquidity management are mission-critical. Okoora’s key sectors include financial institutions & banks, payment service providers (PSPs) & fintechs, treasury & accounting platforms, importers & exporters, and e-commerce companies & marketplaces.
What are the biggest challenges businesses face with cross-border payments today? How does okoora help tackle these issues?
Cross-border payments continue to present significant obstacles for businesses, particularly those managing multi-currency operations, global supply chains, and international revenue streams. Despite fintech advancements, companies still face cost inefficiencies, regulatory complexities, and unpredictable FX risks.
Some of the biggest challenges facing cross-border companies include currency volatility & FX risk, high transaction costs & hidden fees, slow settlement times, lack of real-time transparency, and regulatory & compliance complexity. Okoora helps solve these challenges with our complete financial ecosystem, providing automated FX risk management, faster settlement & instant liquidity access, full transparency & cost control, and regulatory compliance simplification. At okoora, we empower global businesses to move money intelligently.
How do you balance the need for seamless, fast transactions with the complex regulatory environments across different countries?
Balancing speed, efficiency, and compliance in cross-border transactions is one of the biggest challenges in global finance. Our embedded AI-driven compliance monitoring, smart routing, and FX risk management ensure fast, secure, and regulatory-compliant transactions.
Compliance isn’t a barrier–it’s a strategic advantage that builds trust and ensures security. We have a regulatory-first approach, operating within a multi-license framework, ensuring that every transaction aligns with local and international AML (Anti-Money Laundering), KYC (Know Your Customer), and financial reporting standards. Our system is continuously updated to adapt to regulatory changes worldwide. We also integrate real-time compliance checks and automated regulatory validations.
We offer smart payment routing that optimizes transaction speed and cost-efficiency. We also partner with regulated financial institutions and payment networks worldwide, creating localized compliance hubs to adhere to regional regulations.
In what ways does okoora differentiate itself from other players in the competitive cross-border payments market?
The cross-border payments space is highly competitive, with many providers offering wallets, FX conversions, and transaction processing. However, most of these solutions compete solely on pricing and transaction speed, leading to a commoditized market with thin margins and limited strategic value for businesses. Okoora stands apart with our embedded infrastructure that integrates FX risk management, liquidity optimization, and global payments into one ecosystem. By creating one ecosystem that integrates FX risk management into workflows, okoora is not just another cross-border payments provider—we are redefining how businesses manage global financial operations in an unpredictable world.
Given the inherent risks in international transactions, how does okoora ensure robust security and risk management for its partners? How can you ensure money is transferred safely?
We actively implement risk monitoring & fraud prevention, end-to-end encryption & cybersecurity protection, multi-factor authentication & transaction verification, tamper-proof, secure API integrations, and minimized counterparty risk. Okoora also processes payments through regulated financial institutions and trusted payment rails, ensuring fast, secure, and cost-effective international money transfers.
Security and risk management are integrated into every layer of okoora’s financial infrastructure, ensuring that businesses can execute international transactions with full regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, and FX risk protection. In a world where fraud, cyber threats, and currency volatility pose increasing risks, our security framework ensures transactions are fast, secure, and intelligent.
Okoora is quickly expanding its offerings to new markets, including Germany and the US. What’s your process of choosing new markets to enter?
Expanding into new markets is not just about geographical presence—it’s about strategically embedding financial intelligence where it’s most needed. We created our market expansion
framework utilizing a data-driven, opportunity-focused approach to target markets that could easily integrate and benefit from these solutions.
Our framework includes looking into regulatory & banking infrastructure readiness, demand for embedded FX risk management, business ecosystem & strategic partnerships, market size & revenue potential, and competitive landscape & differentiation.
As we expand, our goal is to redefine financial operations. Germany is a key European financial hub with strong global trade activity and has a high demand for corporate FX risk management solutions. The U.S. has a massive fintech and banking ecosystem we believe could benefit from AI-driven FX automation and liquidity solutions.
What advice would you give to businesses just starting to navigate the complexities of cross-border payments?
Navigating FX volatility, regulatory compliance, and liquidity management can be overwhelming initially. However, by adopting a strategic and technology-driven approach, businesses can unlock a world of opportunities.
If I can offer some recommendations, it would be to:
- Understand FX Risk & Build a Proactive Strategy: Assess your FX exposure, define your risk tolerance, and implement hedging strategies to stabilize operations.
- Select the Right Payment & Liquidity Partners: Be on the lookout for partners with real-time pricing, instant settlement capabilities, and embedded FX risk management tools.
- Automate & Integrate Risk Management into Financial Workflows: Manual FX risk management is slow, reactive, and costly. Automation can proactively monitor, hedge, and optimize multi-currency transactions in real-time, optimizing workflows.
- Ensure Compliance & Regulatory Alignment: Partnering with a financial infrastructure provider that integrates automated compliance checks helps businesses avoid regulatory pitfalls and transaction delays.
How do you see the global economic climate influencing B2B cross-border payments in the near future?
The global economic landscape is shifting rapidly, and these changes will significantly reshape B2B cross-border payments. Potential shifts include rising FX volatility & market uncertainty, stricter regulatory compliance & transparency, acceleration of embedded finance & AI-driven payments, demand for faster & cost-effective cross-border transactions, and the emergence of alternative payment rails & digital currencies.
The next era of global finance will be dominated by businesses that embed financial intelligence into their operations. Companies that automate FX risk mitigation, integrate real-time payment
solutions, and align with evolving regulatory landscapes will be best positioned for success and gain a distinct competitive edge in an increasingly complex and volatile market.
