Remittances and the advent of technology
Remittances, explained as a transfer of money to a friend or family member in another country, play a paramount role in the lives of many families around the globe especially those from developing countries. Migrant remittances are deemed to be the largest source of foreign finance to developing countries, overwhelmingly more than the international aid these countries receive.
But high costs of sending remittances is a major drain on these resources. The average global cost of sending $200 was estimated at 7.1 percent by the World Bank in the initial quarter of 2018. In contrast, the Sustainable Development Goal targets that the remittance cost must be chipped down at 3 percent.
Exorbitant fee charges by traditional remittance service providers is also a major challenge for policy makers who are concerned about facilitating migrant remittance flows to developing countries. The World Bank has argued for recognizing remittance services as a self-standing industry separate from banking services, which would aide in simplifying regulations and consequently encouraging competition in remittance trade.
There was long seen a dire need to revamp the outmoded method of money transfer. Introducing efficient technology and improving market competition were envisioned as high-priority issues for lessening remittance costs.
Good news is that like every other field, remittance industry service providers and the consumers have also fairly turned tech-savvy. The remittance industry is experiencing positive systemic changes with the advent of internet and mobile based remittance instruments. These changes are having far-reaching effect on remittance flux to under-served areas.
These advances in technology are proving particularly beneficial for the consumers who have the history of being victimized by commercial monopolies and extortionate charges by the banking industry and high street money transfer players. Technology is making the craft of money conveyance not only faster, convenient and secure but is also driving down the cost of the process.
CurrencyTube (CT) has since emerged as a prominent digital remittance service provider, in response to the global community’s search for technology driven companies which will improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of of these cross-border payments. CT focuses on the individual and families as their prime market to strive for better, cheaper and faster provision of its financial services to those who need it the most. We have adopted a simple and efficient setup that integrates latest technology at an affordable cost, thereby reducing cost and transfer time.
