Remittances

Homeis, an internet platform that creates social immigrant communities, has partnered with money transfer fintechs Remitly, TransferWise and Afriex as it registers its millionth user.

When the pandemic hit full-force and lockdowns closed many agent locations, the industry’s shift to digital accelerated quickly. Even as job losses rose among those sending money overseas, the demand from recipients kept money moving, including among legacy companies like Western Union and MoneyGram.

Xoom, PayPal’s international remittance unit, has launched a direct money transfer feature for its U.S. customers to send funds domestically to bank accounts and debit cards.

The companies looking to bolster their presence and offer more services are hoping it will lead to greater sustainability and longevity of their platform, says Ding's Rupert Shaw.

Many of the changes on the horizon were inevitable, but the pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital payments and finance, forcing banks to reevaluate their models and pivot toward faster technology adoption.

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.

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.