Once again cross-border payments is the subject of a posting, this one in The Paypers. The author is the CEO and co-founder of Radar Payments, an e-payments technology provider and a sub of BPC Banking Technologies, a privately held Swiss company.
The piece goes into a bit of detail about nuances and pain points of current x-border experiences. The author mentions this for both consumers and businesses and explains a bit of it, but the gist of the posting is more around consumer remittances.
‘Cross-border payments have always been a concern for consumers and businesses, as sending money internationally has been a challenging process. There is a simple reason for this, since there is not a single omnipresent system that connects various banks all over the world, through which an international transaction can be done. There are schemes, SWIFT, correspondent banks and, on top, fees are not transparent, while the variety of daily changing currency rates adds in complexity. Although the market is not a straight road, the payment business is getting bigger and bigger, as we keep seeing an increase in commerce trades.’
We have been providing consistent coverage of the cross-border space as well, most recently with a piece on these pages giving a detailed review of somewhat similar territory, although with a blockchain theme as a solution. The author of this referenced piece in The Paypers goes into a bit of detail, using examples from China and a few of the x-border fintechs, so also worth a quick read for those of you interested in the space. His overall point is that fintechs specializing in the cross-border space are more the choice for remittances, since they provide an easier and more transparent experience for the sender (and beneficiary).
‘The fintechs involved in international transfers have been showing significant progress over the years. Companies like TransferWire, a billion-dollar fintech, WorldRemit from UK, and InstaRem, a fintech from Singapore, raised funds in their initial years and are already profit-making organisations. Fintechs have certainly changed the game of international remittances, and consumers all around the globe are making them their first choice for the same reason.’
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group