Cross border payments

With consumers and merchants alike sharing the need to be paid faster, the case for adopting real-time payments globally has quickly advanced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital remittance provider WorldRemit has agreed to acquire Sendwave, a mobile app-based remittance company focused on servicing the African money transfer corridors.

Remitly has added 11 new mobile wallets to its network, almost doubling its reach to 300 million consumers, to meet demands for cash alternatives amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brad Windbigler, treasurer at Western Union, talks to us about how the company navigated the challenges of the pandemic — particularly as the global nature of its network meant it had to contend with moving money across parts of the world that recovered at vastly different rates from one another.

The massive shift to digital has created new challenges in cross-border payment processing, says Tipalti's Manish Vrishaketu.

As the global economy continues to unlock more opportunities for cross border transactions and payments, the ability for businesses to communicate with global consumers in their language (or currency) of choice is vital, says Fiserv's Brian Frey.

Western Union confirmed yet again that for a payments company to survive the coronavirus pandemic, it needed to enter the crisis with a strong footing in digital payments.

MoneyGram International's digital transformation came at just the right time, considering walk-in traffic at MoneyGram locations in certain regions of the world was stymied for months by the coronavirus pandemic. But for many people, digital is still no replacement for the human touch.

Cross-border payments do not and should not exist in a vacuum, says Veem's Marwan Forzley.

One way banks can prepare for a smooth cutover to new standards is by implementing a core banking / payment solution that uses ISO 20022, says Infosys Finacle's Peter Ryan.