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Tag: money

  • RAM Malaysia lowers inflation forecast for 2019 to 2%

    RAM Malaysia lowers inflation forecast for 2019 to 2%

    RAM Ratings, which expects inflation to inch up to 0.3% in December 2018 from 0.2% in the previous month, has revised its full-year headline inflation forecast for 2019 to 2.0% from 2.7%. The rating agency said in a statement that inflation in December 2018 is estimated to rise to 0.3% from 0.2% in the preceding month due to dissipation of deflationary pressures from the transport fuel component.

    The price of RON95 petrol fell 3.3% year on year in December, after a 4.5% drop in November.

    On that note, overall inflation is envisaged to come in at 1.0% in 2018.

    As for 2019, RAM Ratings has revised its headline inflation projection downwards to 2.0%, mainly due to changing expectations on global oil prices, which are increasingly pointing to a lower average range of US$60-US$65 (RM248-RM269) per barrel for 2019.

    RAM head of research Kristina Fong said the rating firm’s sensitivity analysis indicates that for every US$5/barrel move in the price of Brent crude, headline inflation potentially changes 0.3 percentage point.

    “The move back to the weekly Automated Pricing Mechanism for pump prices – effective January 2019 – is not expected to exert any significant downward pressure on inflation given the short period it will be in place ahead of the anticipated targeted fuel subsidy mechanism to be implemented in second quarter 2019.

    “Moreover, global oil prices are expected to trend a little higher compared to the start of the year, An escalation in oil (petrol) prices beyond RM2.20/litre will trigger the use of subsidies to maintain this ceiling. This will also contain inflationary pressure,” she added.

    The Department of Statistics released the December inflation data yesterday.

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  • Japan offers most overseas jobs for Vietnamese workers

    Japan offers most overseas jobs for Vietnamese workers

    Japan is expected to receive more Vietnamese workers this year, having become the most attractive labor export market in 2018. Last year marked the first time Japan became the most popular destination for Vietnamese migrant workers with over 68,700 people finding jobs there, beating Taiwan with nearly 60,400 people and South Korea with over 6,500, according to statistics released by the Department of Overseas Labor.

    The department’s deputy director, Nguyen Gia Liem, said the Japanese market’s rise in popularity was due to the implementation of a new law that allows migrant workers to stay for five years instead of three.

    Furthermore, Vietnam was the first country to sign with Japan a memorandum of cooperation on the latter’s technical intern training program, which came into effect last June.

    In 2018, a total of 13 Vietnamese businesses were also licensed to directly bring Vietnamese citizens to Japan to work as caregivers. The long language and skill training required, however, limited the number of Vietnamese citizens taking this route last year.

    However, Liem asserted: “These establishments would help increase even further the number of Vietnamese laborers going to Japan.”

    Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Doan Mau Diep, has said the ministry will reduce the number of labor export firms. The move follows last October’s request by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Vietnam shut down bad labor export agencies and reduce costs for people wanting to work abroad.

    “The country currently has 2,000 companies taking workers overseas, which is too many, causing companies to compete with each other for contracts, and they collect high fees,” Diep said.

    The ministry would also review current regulations on overseas students to prevent this system from being abused as many Vietnamese citizens wanting to work in Japan have been using student visas in recent years to reduce cost and time spent on language and skills training.

    Last year, Japanese authorities already reviewed and suspended multiple companies for taking Vietnamese workers to Japan under the guise of international students.

    Diep also warned that citizens wanting to work overseas need to use legal labor export firms and not use tourist visas, as happened in the recent infamous case in Taiwan.

    “If going on a worker’s visa the fees can be expensive, such as about VND80 million [$3,400] for Taiwan. The travel route meanwhile only costs flight tickets and visa fees so many still choose to travel then escape to work, but they will face many risks,” he said.

    A Vietnamese migrant worker can make $1,000 to $1,200 a month in Japan and South Korea, four times the average monthly salary in Vietnam, which was VND6.5 million ($290) last year.

    A total of over 142,800 Vietnamese laborers went to work overseas in 2018, a six percent increase compared to the previous year.

    With this number, which includes about 50,300 female workers, 2018 became the fifth consecutive year in which the number of Vietnamese working overseas exceeded 100,000 people.

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  • KoinWorks Indonesia Announces Investment From Quona Capital

    KoinWorks Indonesia Announces Investment From Quona Capital

    Indonesian peer-to-peer lending platform KoinWorks said in a statement on Monday that it has received an investment from US-based venture capital firm Quona Capital. “We’re very happy we could collaborate with Quona as one of our investors,” said Benedicto Haryono, chief executive and co-founder of KoinWorks. “With the inclusion of Quona among our line of investors, it will further help develop KoinWorks in becoming a responsible peer-to-peer lending firm and continue to innovate and provide a positive impact for society,” Benedicto added.

    Quona Capital focuses on investment in financial technology companies it deems to have potential in facilitating access to financial products. The Washington-based company provides financial access in various regions, including Latin America, Africa, Britain and Asia.

    KoinWorks said in the statement that the collaboration between itself and Quona Capital is based on a mutual understanding that technology has a strong role in improving quality and access to financial access for those beyond the reach of traditional banks.

    The Jakarta-based fintech company, which has 100,000 investors on its platform, is one of the first fintech companies in the country to have obtained a license from the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

    KoinWorks bridges the gap between investors and investees through its online platform and provides unbanked individuals with access to financial services.

    The company focuses on business and educational loans. It won Bisnis Indonesia’s Most Innovative Fintech of the Year award in 2017.

  • Maybank Asset Management sees AUM expanding US$50m in next 2 years

    Maybank Asset Management sees AUM expanding US$50m in next 2 years

    Maybank Asset Management Group (MAMG) expects its assets under management (AUM) to increase between US$30 million (RM126 million) to US$50 million (RM209 million) in the next two years, following its collaboration with Schroder Investment Management (Singapore) Ltd to co-develop investment solutions for sophisticated investors.

    As of end September 2018, MAMG’s AUM stood at RM33.7 billion.

    MAMG and Schroders Singapore announced their first long-term strategic partnership with the launch of two discretionary portfolios, namely Global High Dividend Equity Portfolio and Global High Conviction Portfolio.

    These solutions will be managed by Maybank Asset Management (MAM) Malaysia, a unit of MAMG, with Schroders Singapore as the investment adviser.

    “This is a very targeted high net worth segment so we are leveraging on Maybank private banking customers,” MAMG CEO Badrul Hisyam said.

    “The (market) sentiment right now is quite weak generally, unless the sentiment improves, then we would see better response to this kind of product,” Badrul added, revealing that at least three more products would be available under this collaboration in financial year 2019.

    “By integrating our strength in local wealth management with their global investment capabilities, the resulting synergy will allow us to deepen our foothold in the Malaysian wealth market, through dedicated offerings designed to achieve investors’ desired outcomes.

    “We recognise the growing demand for sophisticated, outcome-oriented global investment solutions, particularly among the high net worth community. We are therefore committed to delivering a range of global investment strategies to cater to their evolving financial needs,” he noted.

    Meanwhile, Schroders Singapore country head Susan Soh said as part of the continuing partnership, both companies would undertake further collaboration projects to co-develop solutions across other asset classes, including Shariah-compliant investment and private assets.

    “We believe our ability to combine the key tenets of asset management and wealth management offers differentiated value proposition to MAM Malaysia’s clients,“ Soh said.

    According to Badrul, the Shariah-compliant investment is expected to be available to the market by third quarter of 2019.

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  • Five Things to Check Before Taking Personal Loan

    Five Things to Check Before Taking Personal Loan

    Personal loan helps everyone in an unexpected financial crisis. Whether it’s an unforeseen expense during a wedding or renovating your home, emergency medical needs, restructuring your debts, starting a small business, etc., a personal loan can help you with immediate resources.

    Here is a list of five things to check before you avail of a personal loan –

    Interest rate offered

    The interest rate can vary depending on your creditworthiness. In addition, interest rates must be reviewed and compared with those of another institution before applying for loans, since interest rates usually vary due to several factors including competition among lenders. In this case, you can benefit from a loan at lesser interest.

    Since personal loans do not carry any security they attract high interest rates. Since there is no guarantee of repayment and nor does the lender have any asset in his possession to sell off the rate of interest is unusually high. As a customer you have to find a loan with lower interest rate to benefit

    Loan tenure

    Make sure that the tenure of the loan is acceptable to you. Loans with very short or long tenure can cause financial loss. You must always select a tenure that is suitable to your needs. A very long tenure would mean low EMI but also you must remember that you will be paying interest for a longer period. Thus your total outflow of interest will be more. Short tenure would mean rapid payback of principal which reduces total interest but makes the EMI expensive. The mean between these two would be best.

    Eligibility

    For being able to receive a personal loan you would have to check your eligibility to receive such a loan. Most banks and financial institutions have a web page with loan eligibility calculator. The amount of personal loan which can be given to you depends on the applicant’s income, age, credit score and other outstanding debts. If the loan is at all provided the loan amount and tenure of loan would depend on the above factors too. These factors vary widely between different financial institutions and it is quite possible that another bank will accept someone who has been refused earlier.

    Capacity to pay back

    It is always best to think calmly about your ability to repay. What is the EMI that you can afford depending on your income and monthly expenses and other commitments. The bank that is providing you with the loan will also carry out similar due diligence. It is of utmost importance that a borrower has sufficient funds to repay the monthly installments.

    Applicable penalties

    Lenders usually charge a fee if there is pre-payment. It is because early repayment prevents the bank from earning interest which they had expected as an income. One must always find a bank with least rate of prepayment penalties. Also watch out for exorbitant processing fees and late payment fines.

    Conclusion

    Take a personal loan only if it is absolutely needed for an emergency. It makes no sense to go on a vacation by paying exorbitant interest rates. Use personal loans judiciously and pay them back as soon as possible.

    Since a personal loan is associated with high interest rates, it is always advisable to obtain a personal loan only if you need money urgently and do not want to provide other assets as collateral. Personal loans are not secured, which means that nothing has been given as collateral.

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Inevitable’ growth of Vietnam’s consumer lending market attracts newcomers

    ‘Inevitable’ growth of Vietnam’s consumer lending market attracts newcomers

    Early this month, EVN Finance, a subsidiary of national power utility, Vietnam Electricity, launched a consumer lending program called Easy Credit in Ho Chi Minh City. Customers with a monthly minimum income of VND4.5 million ($194) in five southern localities – Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Long An and Vung Tau – are eligible to borrow cash from the program.

    Eligible customers can take loans of VND10-90 million ($432-3,882) with payback periods of 6-60 months.

    EVN Finance is one of many finance institutions looking to cash in on the growth in consumer lending, which had a value of over $5 billion at the end of last year, according to the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC).

    SHB Finance and VietCredit Finance Company have also introduced similar credit schemes.

    Some banks and foreign investors have announced plans to set up consumer finance divisions to increase their market shares in the sector.

    Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) is planning to set up a subsidiary with a capital of around VND500 billion ($21.7 million) or acquire an existing finance company in the market.

    In June, SeABank acquired the subsidiary of Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), Posts and Telecommunications Finance Company, for VND710 billion ($30.87 million).

    In addition to the Vietnamese banks, foreign investors are also eyeing this market. Early this year, Korea’s Shinhan Financial Group bought Prudential’s consumer finance unit for $151 million.

    Industry insiders say more companies are coming in because of increasing demand in Vietnam for consumer lending services. NFSC statistics show consumer lending surged 50.2 percent and 65 percent in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

    The commission attributed the surge to a high demand for housing, arising from a young population and increasing urbanization.

    Kalidas Ghose, CEO of financial firm FE Credit, said that while consumer lending has developed rapidly in recent years, the market has vast room to grow.

    He said the potential for exploiting the market is still large since consumer lending is an inevitable trend across the globe.

    The share of consumer lending in Vietnam’s total outstanding loans is only about 11.4 percent, while the figure in developed countries is between 40-50 percent, Ghose added.

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  • Online lending booms in Vietnam, but lack of regulations

    Online lending booms in Vietnam, but lack of regulations

    It is easy these days to find a site for online lending and borrow quickly with simple procedures. Companies have entered the peer to peer (P2P) online lending realm that directly connects borrowers, whether individuals or companies, with lenders, and get up to 2,000 customers a day, Can Van Luc, chief economist of the state-owned creditor BIDV, said.

    This lending format does not require the involvement of an intermediary. It is flourishing because there are always people who have need for loans or want to lend money, and the rapid growth of technology precludes the need to go through intermediary financial institutions, he said.

    “This model has several strong points, including low cost and quick disbursement time, but the worry is it is easy for investors to make use of it for other purposes. There are many lenders who come to the P2P platform not to find borrowers but to invest in other fields and the relationship between the suppliers of the platform, borrowers and lenders is unclear due to the lack of a legal framework.”

    And because of this, lenders have been using gangs to recover their loans and put up their interest rates much higher than the legal cap set by the State Bank of Vietnam.

    Luc said there is a risk for both borrowers and lenders.

    He said authorities need to create a legal framework for this model soon to meet the strong demand in the market for credit.

    Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu argued authorities should create legal regulations related to contracts, interest rate, fees, and other aspects to avoid problems.

    Nguyen Thi Hong, Deputy Governor of the central bank, told a government meeting early this month that online lending has more or less turned into loan sharking.

    It is a no-go area for the central bank but it would monitor and make recommendations to the government to regulate the market, she said.

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  • GSMA launches mobile money certification scheme

    GSMA launches mobile money certification scheme

    The GSM Association (GSMA) has launched a new global certification scheme for mobile money services.

    The certification will involve an independent assessment of a mobile money provider’s ability to provide secure and reliable services, protect customer privacy and combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

    The new scheme has been developed based on three years’ feedback from the GSMA’s consultations with providers in Asia, Africa and Latin American. It will be open to all mobile money providers, including mobile operators, banks and digital service providers.

    Easypaisa Pakistan – provided by Telenor Microfinance Group – is among the five initial recipients of certification under the scheme.

    Independent scheme operator Alliances Management will assume responsibility for training and overseeing independent assessors under the scheme.

    Recipients will need a 100% pass mark on criteria covering eight principles – safeguarding funds against the risk of cyber loss, combating crime and fraud, managing staff and agents, operating the service reliably, ensuring the security of systems supporting the service, ensuring transparency in fees and terms, providing effective customer service and protecting data privacy.

    “The GSMA Mobile Money Certification is a consumer-focused initiative, aimed at giving customers confidence that a provider has taken steps to ensure their funds are in safe hands, their rights are protected and they can expect a high level of customer service,” GSMA chief regulatory officer John Giusti said.

    “With over 690 million accounts globally, the mobile money industry is having a clear impact on the global effort to expand financial inclusion, providing access to life-enhancing financial services and serving as a gateway to the digital economy.”

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  • Fintech transforming B2B money transfer market

    Fintech transforming B2B money transfer market

    The cross-border B2B money transfer market is ripe for disruption, as new technologies and legislative changes redefine traditional banking practices across the globe, according to Juniper Research.

    Cross-border B2B transactions will exceed $218 trillion by 2022, up from $150 trillion in 2018, the company predicts.

    Disrupting traditional cross-border B2B transactions

    B2B Money Transfer: Cross-border Market Opportunities 2018-2022 Research author Lauren Foye explained: ‘While traditional banks still facilitate the vast bulk of B2B cross-border transactions, new technologies, such as virtual accounts, eInvoicing, and blockchain technology will aid in driving businesses to solutions which provide savings in time, efficiencies, and transparency’.

    The proportion of cross-border B2B transfer values facilitated by newer Fintech start-ups and disruptive technologies, will grow from 7.5% in 2017; equating to $10.4 trillion, to reach 13.3% or $29 trillion by 2022. This will occur as more businesses utilize these efficient and transparent methods in a notoriously cloudy industry.

    Juniper cited activities by Visa and Mastercard as beacons in this space. In addition to offering its own Visa B2B Connect’ service which utilizes blockchain-based Chain Core, Visa has partnered with Fintech start-up ‘Billtrust’ to provide virtual cards for B2B transactions. Likewise, Mastercard is working with Optal, to offer virtual accounts to businesses.

    Opportunity to lead innovation charge

    Juniper believes that banks are well placed to benefit from the opportunity posed in B2B transfers. For instance, legislative changes such as PSD2 in Europe, serve as a perfect opportunity to partner with Fintechs to deliver innovative services to companies; lest institutions fall behind and see Fintechs ultimately out maneuver them.

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  • Banks apply free on-net money withdrawal, account transfer

    Banks apply free on-net money withdrawal, account transfer

    Despite being allowed to charge on-net fees for automatic telling machine (ATM) transactions, some commercial banks have recently applied the exemption to on-net money withdrawal and account transfer to attract new customers and develop the retail banking segment.

    Platinum debit cards, while Viet Capital Bank and SCB have exempt money withdrawal fee for international and domestic debit cards.

    The exemption of money withdrawal fee at all ATMs nationwide is also being offered by other banks such as TPBank and BaoVietbank.

    Talking about the move, Viet Capital Bank said free money withdrawal via ATM will encourage people to make non-cash payments. This policy is being implemented with great support from banks.

    A representative from another bank said State Bank of Việt Nam approved commercial banks to charge on-net fees for ATM transaction since March 2013 to offset the cost of purchasing machines and periodic maintenance, however, some banks are now willing to offset the losses to increase customers.

    According to the representative, the bank having cardholders still has to pay VNĐ3,300 to their partner for each external money withdrawal. Therefore, ATM operations of the bank have never been profitable.

    Industry insiders admitted that ATM card service companies often incur losses because an ATM costs tens of thousands of US dollars besides large annual maintenance fees. In addition, the cost of renting sites to install ATMs is becoming more and more expensive. Interest from non-term deposits of ATM cardholders therefore is not enough to offset the costs.

    To offset the costs, the money withdrawal fee charged at other banks averages VNĐ1,000-3,000 per transaction and the fee for inter-bank money transfer is VNĐ11,000.

    According to banking experts, the fee exemption policy at some banks is within the banks’ retail banking development plan, and is also a way for banks develop individual customers as well as products and services for the customers.

    This is also the premise based on which banks can promote other products and services, such as Mobile Banking and Internet Banking, they said.

    The country currently has more than 17,000 ATMs nationwide.

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  • Indonesia to bring home tax money parked in Singapore

    Indonesia to bring home tax money parked in Singapore

    The government is to hunt down tax money from Indonesians who park their money in Singapore, following an offer from Singapore to allow Indonesia to access the financial data of Indonesians in the neighboring country.

    Singapore and Indonesia are soon to sign a Bilateral Competent Authority Agreement (BCAA) to implement the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI) between the two countries.

    Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati received the offer from Singapore on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Germany last week.

    “This is a positive. I will follow up so that we can benefit from the agreement,” said Sri Mulyani.

    Sri Mulyani estimated that Indonesian wealth parked overseas amounted to about Rp 1 quadrillion (US$74.68 billion), 60 percent of which was in Singapore.

    Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry’s tax compliance expert Suryo Utomo said that of the Rp 835.7 trillion parked in Singapore that was declared during the tax amnesty, only Rp 84.52 trillion had been repatriated.

    Taxation Directorate General spokesman Hestu Yoga Saksama said that Sri Mulyani and Director General of Taxation Ken Dwijugiasteadi would visit Singapore sometime this month to follow up on the agreement initiated by Singapore.

    Indonesia and Singapore has an open exchange of information, said Hestu. He added that Indonesia should also seek a BCAA with Hong Kong, as well as stipulate confidentiality and data safeguards.

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  • Money market changes course unexpectedly

    Money market changes course unexpectedly

    The money market has been seeing unexpected happenings in the last two weeks. Until two weeks ago, the liquidity of the banking system had been in a state of tension because lending was higher than mobilized capital. According to the National Finance Supervision Council, while lending increased by 5.2 percent, mobilized capital increased by 3.7 percent only in the first four months of the year.

    However, the money market has unexpectedly reversed with liquidity considerably improved. The interest rate performance in the interbank market last week was different from the weeks before when it decreased sharply from 4.7-4.9 percent to 3.9-4.1 percent for overnight loans (O/N).

    In OMO (Open Market Operations), no commercial bank registered to borrow capital from the State Bank on May 19, which was the first time since the beginning of the year. The average balance in OMO, which was always over VND35 trillion, has dropped to VND4 trillion.

    A BVSC report shows that the banking system’s liquidity has returned to a surplus state.

    Where’s the cash flow coming from?

    In theory, the sudden reverse in the two markets would occurs only if the State Bank (SBV) pumps capital into the market, and the quickest way for SBV to support liquidity is pumping capital through OMO.

    However, the scenario did not occur as the outstanding balance of the banks on OMO is on the decrease and is nearing zero next week.

    In the second scenario, SBV might have bought a big volume of foreign currencies from the market. This could be the foreign direct investment (FDI) flow, foreign portfolio investment (FPI), or foreign currency capital from domestic commercial banks.

    However, analysts don’t think this could happen because it was nearly impossible for foreign investors to disburse more than $1 billion within one week.

    Meanwhile, the foreign currency buy price quoted by SBV is now at VND22,675 per dollar, far lower than the prices in transactions made at commercial banks, at VND22,700 per dollar.

    The third scenario is the most likely one at this moment. SBV might have refinanced commercial banks through VAMC special bond discounts. And the VAMC special bond discount rate must be lower than the interest rate on OMO.

    With the total VAMC bond balance of up to VND280 trillion, the discount of VND35-40 trillion, or 13 percent, will not be a concern for the system.

    If the third scenario is true, many questions will be raised. How much has SBV pumped into the market, to which banks and at what interest rates? Will SBV continue pumping more capital? Which criteria do banks need to have to be refinanced?

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  • InstaReM launches free money transfers for HK users

    InstaReM launches free money transfers for HK users

    Singapore-based money transfer provider InstaReM is introducing free money transfers exclusively for users in Hong Kong.

    InstaReM, a Money Services Operator licensee in Hong Kong, is running this campaign until end of April 2017.

    By offering interbank rates directly from the exchange rates provided by Reuters.com, InstaReM will charge zero margins. InstaReM also doesn’t charge any handling or transaction fee for money transfers as a rule.

    “We are keen to introduce our new way of money transfer to Hong Kong residents. We feel remittance services should be easier, quicker and more cost effective. Traditional services are costly. InstaReM enables individuals, SMEs, and financial institutions to send across payments at the lowest possible cost and fastest possible time,” said Prajit Nanu, InstaReM co-founder and CEO.

    InstaReM also provides a separate service to help corporations and SMEs to make bulk payments to its payees in the quickest possible time.

    Individual users can sign up with basic personal information, with a simple upload of valid HKID copy and residential address proof on www.instarem.com. Upon verification, users could immediately perform money transfers online. The payees will receive the exact amount in the designated currency on the same or next business day.

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  • Money transfer firm WorldRemit eyes new markets, growth

    Money transfer firm WorldRemit eyes new markets, growth

    WorldRemit, an online service for overseas money transfers, is looking to expand into new markets and add services like direct payments for bills and school fees, its president said on Friday.

    The UK-based financial technology start-up, which has raised $192.7 million since its founding in 2010, also wants to grow in Canada and is open to taking the company public, Andrew Lee said in an interview.
    “We think about it, we think about other options as well,” he said. “It’s not on the radar at the moment. We’ve got plenty to do before we worry about that.”

    WorldRemit, which caters to migrants and people with no bank accounts, allows money transfers to over 100 countries. Growth is fastest in mobile transfers, though bank deposit and cash pick-up options are also available.
    Online payment service providers are shaking up the remittance industry and retail-based operations like Western Union Co by offering fast, secure service with lower fees, saving recipients travel time to pick up deposits.

    Over 2 billion people in the world do not use banks or are unlikely to have access to retail banking, said Lee, but the vast majority have mobile phones, allowing them to receive and store money, or pay bills.
    WorldRemit, which has partnerships with 34 mobile companies in 26 countries, also lets senders add air time to the prepaid phones of family members, for example.

    WorldRemit is seeking to add domestic transfers and primary banking, Lee said, and is applying for licenses in areas like Singapore, where foreign workers send a lot of money to their home countries.
    WorldRemit expects in the coming months to secure licenses for a few U.S. states that it does not already serve, Lee said. The United States is WorldRemit’s fastest growing market, and is soon expected to account for at least 10 percent of its revenue, he added.

    Canada, with 20 percent of its population born overseas, is WorldRemit’s third-largest market after Australia and Britain. That proportion is the highest among the Group of Eight industrialized countries, according to Statistics Canada.
    Canada has great growth potential, Richard Meseko, the company’s Canadian director, said in the joint interview. About 60,000 WorldRemit overseas transfers are made from Canada each month, but the 55,000 users over the last 12 months is a small number for the size of the immigrant population, he noted.

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  • Mobile money halves overseas remittance costs

    Mobile money halves overseas remittance costs

    The average cost of sending international remittances with mobile money is less than half that of using global money transfer operators (MTOs), a new GSMA report reveals.

    Such lower prices contribute directly toward achieving targets within United Nations sustainable development goal (SDG) 102. Lower transaction fees also translate directly into additional income for remittance recipients.

    “Through mobile money services, the industry is directly supporting the goal of expanded financial inclusion for migrants and their families by reducing international remittance costs,” GSMA Chief Regulatory Officet John Giusti said. “The potential gains of achieving this target could be as high as $20 billion in additional income for remittance recipients.”

    The report noted that if people were able to send remittances from a mobile money account, the average cost of sending $200 was 2.7%, compared to 6% when using global MTOs.

    GSMA estimates that there are more than 400 million registered consumer accounts for mobile money across over 90 countries.

    “While today mobile money services are largely used for domestic transactions, international transfers represent the fastest-growing segment of mobile money services. In just a few years’ time, mobile money has moved from a purely domestic service to one that allows migrants to send remittances between more than 20 countries globally,” Giusti explained.

    World Bank data shows that more than 250 million people live outside their country of birth and regularly send money home, providing a financial lifeline to their families and contributing to the economies of their home countries.

    In 2015, global remittances totalled $581.6 billion, of which $431.6 billion, or nearly 75%, was sent to the developing world. However, the cost of international transfers remains high and directly impacts the income of remittance recipients.

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