The Short Answer
Excalibur Systems, an Israeli-American aerospace engineering company, was converting $200,000 to $400,000 from USD to NIS every other month through their bank. They were being overcharged on every conversion and had no clear picture of the real cost. After switching to Adesco, they saved hundreds of thousands of shekels and gained a level of service their bank never offered. Adesco is licensed by the Israel Capital Market, Insurance, and Savings Authority (License 57103).
Excalibur Systems builds the tools that keep aircraft systems running. Their products help engineers design, test, and simulate avionics. It is precise, high-stakes work, and the company operates on both sides of the Atlantic: sales in the United States, operations and staff in Israel.
That means one thing from a finance perspective. Every dollar they earn eventually needs to become shekels. Employee costs, vendor payments, day-to-day Israeli operations. The conversion happens roughly every other month, at volumes between $200,000 and $400,000 per transfer.
For years, they did it the same way most companies do. Through the bank.
What Was the Bank Actually Costing Them?
The honest answer is: they did not know.
That is the thing about using a bank for currency conversion. The rate looks reasonable. There are no obvious line-item fees. But inside that exchange rate is a spread the bank applies before you ever see a number. No transparency, no benchmark, no way to know how much you left on the table.
“Probably not,” was how Excalibur’s finance team described their picture of what they were actually paying. They knew the transfers were slower than they should be. They suspected they were paying more than necessary. But they had no way to quantify it, so they accepted it.
Most companies do.
Why They Gave Adesco a Try
The conversation started simply. Jeff Balsam, Adesco’s founder, reached out directly. The pitch was not complicated: you are converting significant volumes of dollars into shekels every two months. There is a meaningful gap between what your bank charges and what you should be paying. We can close that gap.
The company was interested. Not because of the pitch. Because of the math.
At volumes of $200,000 to $400,000 per conversion, even a small improvement in the exchange rate compounds quickly. Adesco offers up to 4,000 NIS in savings per $100,000 transferred compared to a typical bank rate. On a $300,000 conversion, that is up to 12,000 NIS returned to the business. Every time. On a schedule they run six times a year.
One conversation. One rate comparison. The decision followed.
What Changed When They Switched
Two things stood out immediately: the savings and the service. Both were different from what they had been getting.
The savings were real and visible from the first conversion. Where the bank had given them a rate with no explanation, Adesco gave them a market-based rate with full transparency. What you see is what you get. No hidden spread added after the fact.
The service was a different experience entirely.
“When I call, you answer. I can hold. I can change. I can watch. I have someone to talk to.” That is how Excalibur’s team described working with Adesco, against the comparison of their bank’s wire desk. Personal. Responsive. The kind of service that treats a $300,000 business transfer as an event that deserves attention, not a ticket in a queue.
Same-day processing replaced the bank’s 3–7 business day timeline. For a company running scheduled payroll and vendor payments in Israel, that matters.
The Result After Time With Adesco
When asked to estimate their total savings since switching, the number Excalibur’s team used was hundreds of thousands of shekels.
That is not a rounding error. That is the cumulative effect of getting a better rate on every conversion, run after run, on significant volumes.
There is no secret to how it happens. Adesco is not doing something exotic. They operate within Israel’s formal banking system, fully licensed and AML/KYC compliant. The difference is that Adesco’s model is built around the client’s rate, not the bank’s margin.
Companies converting at Excalibur’s volumes have historically accepted that the bank is the only serious option. It is the path of least resistance. It is also one of the most consistent ways to quietly lose money on every finance cycle.
This Happens Every Week: A Costly Mistake You Can Avoid walks through exactly how this plays out for companies that have not yet made the comparison. The pattern is almost always the same.
Is Your Business in the Same Position?
If your company earns in USD and operates in Israel, you are converting regularly. The question is not whether you should be doing it better. The question is how much has already been left behind.
Adesco works with Israeli companies across a range of volumes. Setup is straightforward. The first conversion usually runs quickly enough that the decision pays for itself before the end of the month.
For companies that take fund security seriously before trusting any new financial partner, Adesco Keeps Your Funds Safe explains exactly how client money is held, segregated, and protected. Every transfer is executed under explicit client instruction only, with funds held in trust at major Israeli banks.
Start with a rate comparison. The number will tell you what you need to know.
Request your first transfer at adesco.co.il/transfer-request
About the Author
David Balsam is the CPO and Co-Founder of Adesco. He previously helped scale Melio into one of the fastest-growing B2B payment platforms in the United States. He joined Adesco in 2024 to bring product innovation and seamless digital infrastructure to Israel’s currency exchange industry.
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